“I’ll Sail My Ship Alone”, The Last Song Patsy Cline Sang

“I’ll Sail My Ship Alone” is a 1950 song written by Aubrey Wilson Mullican, known as Moon Mullican. He was Jerry Lee Lewis’ major influence on his own singing and piano playing. The song was Mullican’s most successful recording, reaching number one on the Country and Western chart for a single week. It spent a total of nine months on the chart. Patsy Cline also had this song on her last recording session before she died in a plane crash. Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams, George Jones and many other country artists also have their versions of the song.

Patsy Cline’s Last

Fifty-five years ago, Patsy Cline performed her final show. It has been said that the last song Cline ever sang was “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone.”  On the evening of March 3, Cline performed three benefit shows at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. She did this with the hope to raise money for the family of DJ Jack “Cactus” Hall, who was killed in an automobile accident that January. Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Dottie West, Billy Walker, George Jones and Wilma Lee, and Stoney Cooper also appeared at the benefit shows.

Giving you a picture of her last shot performance, Cline, who was sick, wore a white chiffon dress for the last show at 8 PM. Cline’s final song was a new tune, “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone,” which she had recorded the previous month. She sang like an angel, and she looked like one. Following a standing ovation, Cline ended the show. She slept at Town House Motor Hotel, where she stayed until March 5. The weather prohibited her from flying out right after the show. On March 5, Cline, along with Copas and Hawkins, died in a plane crash on their way back to Nashville.

We found an audio of Patsy Cline’s “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone”. Let us put ourselves to that night when she left the stage with the song – the same night we last saw her perform.