Sandman America

Sandman Album: America (1971)
by America

America is the debut studio album by America, released in 1971. It was initially released without "A Horse with No Name", which was released as a single in late 1971. When "A Horse with No Name" became a worldwide hit in early 1972, the album was re-released with that track.

Credits are per back cover of 1972 vinyl issue.

America

Dewey Bunnell – lead and backing vocals, 6-string acoustic guitar
Gerry Beckley – lead and backing vocals, electric guitar
Dan Peek – 6 and 12-string acoustic guitars , lead and backing vocals , electric guitar
with:

Ray Cooper – percussion
Dave Atwood – drums on "Sandman", "Here", "I Need You" and "Donkey Jaw"
Kim Haworth – drums on "A Horse with No Name"
David Lindley – electric guitar on "Children", steel guitar on "Rainy Day"
Technical

Ian Samwell – producer
Jeff Dexter – executive producer
Ken Scott – engineering
Nigel Waymouth – cover photos and design
Flash Fox – logo and graphics

Sandman was never released as a single, but got a lot of airplay on Album Oriented Rock (AOR) radio stations.

The three members of America - Bunnell, Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek - were sons of American military service members stationed in England. They formed the band while they were going to high school near London, and stayed in the area when they graduated in 1969 and got a record deal.

This being the height of the Vietnam War, the trio would often encounter soldiers that had seen action and hear their war stories. Bunnell wrote this song based on some of those tales he heard, stories about how when stationed in Vietnam, they were afraid to sleep for fear of attack, so they would stay up as long as they could (sometimes with the help of various substances), since sleep could mean death. The "sandman" represents sleep, which they feared. Thus they were always "running from the sandman."

There is a widespread rumor that this song is about the US Navy's VQ-2 air squadron which was formerly based in Rota, Spain. It would stand to reason, since the members of America were all children of American servicemen. Rota, Spain's VQ-2 Naval base is the one known as "Gateway to the Mediterranean."

If you ask most comic fans today, they'll pin the origin of Sandman as a fictional comic character to either the Neil Gaiman comic, or one of Marvel Comics' Spiderman's foes (who can literally turn into sand). However, DC Comics had the Sandman years before that, in various forms as superhero rather than villain. The earliest was the delightfully noir and creepy Sandman introduced in Adventure Comics #40, July 1939. This character wore a business suit, a fedora, and a WWI-era gasmask, and fired a gun that shot sleeping gas to incapacitate his enemies.

Writer: DEWEY BUNNELL
1972

Ain't it foggy outside
All the planes have been grounded
Ain't the fire inside?
Let's all go stand around it
Funny, I've been there
And you've been here
And we ain't had no time to drink that beer

'Cause I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

Ain't the years gone by fast
I suppose you have missed them
Oh, I almost forgot to ask
Did you hear of my enlistment?

Funny, I've been there
And you've been here
And we ain't had no time to drink that beer

'Cause I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned

I understand you've been running from the man
That goes by the name of the Sandman
He flies the sky like an eagle in the eye
Of a hurricane that's abandoned