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Sea of Love sheet music

"Sea of Love" is a song written by John Phillip Baptiste (aka Phil Phillips) and George Khoury. Phillips' 1959 recording of the song peaked at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, Marty Wilde covered the song, and Phillips' version failed to chart there. It has been covered by a number of artists since then, most notably The Honeydrippers, whose version (from the album The Honeydrippers: Volume One) reached #3 on the Hot 100 chart in 1984, and by The Heptones. Tom Waits also covered the song for the soundtrack to the 1989 Harold Becker film Sea of Love starring Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin and included it on his 2006 collection Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards.

It was the first and only Top 40 song for Phillips, who never recorded another hit.

John Baptiste, who was working as a bellboy in Lake Charles, Louisiana, wrote "Sea of Love" for a love interest. Baptiste was soon introduced to local record producer George Khoury, who brought Baptiste into his studio to record the song. At Khoury's request, Baptiste took the stage name of Phil Phillips. The song, originally credited to "Phil Phillips with The Twilights," was released on a small record label owned by Khoury, but due to its success was eventually leased to Mercury Records. Despite the song's success, Phillips claims that he has only ever received $6,800 for recording it.

The song was also subject of the 1989 Harold Becker film Sea of Love starring Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin.

Most recently, the song was featured at the end of an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Future-Drama".

• Marty Wilde, 1959: reached No 3 in the UK. This version was engineered by British record producer Joe Meek.
• Iggy Pop (3:37) available on Party (1981)
• Del Shannon (2:36) available on Drop Down And Get Me (1982)
• The Honeydrippers (3:03) available on Volume One (1984)
• Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (3:05) available on Ka 'Ano'i (1990)
• Cat Power (2:19) available on The Covers Record (2000)
• Tom Waits (3:43) available on Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards (2006)

• One-hit wonders in the United States

• "Sea of Love" article by Andrew Hamilton

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