• Writer: Dennis DeYoung
• Producers: Styx
• Recorded: Early 1977 in Chicago, Illinois
• Released: Summer 1977
• Players:
  Dennis DeYoung — vocals, keyboards
  Tommy Shaw — guitar, vocals
  James “JY” Young — guitar, vocals
  Chuck Panozzo — bass
  John Panozzo — drums
• Album: The Grand Illusion (A&M, 1977)
• Also On:
  Caught In The Act–Live (A&M, 1984)
  Classics (A&M, 1987)
  Greatest Hits (A&M, 1995)
  Return To Paradise (CMC International, 1997)
  Styx World: Live 2001 (CMC International, 2001)
  20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best Of Styx (Universal,2002)
  21st Century Live (Sanctuary, 2003)
  Come Sail Away: The Styx Anthology (A&M, 2004)
• The Chicago-based Styx was named after the river of Hades in classical mythology.
• The Grand Illusion, Styx’s seventh album, was not an immediate hit. Although it charted when it was released in 1977, the album didn’t take off until early 1978 when “Come Sail Away” — whose arrangement was similar to that of the band’s 1975 hit “Lady” — hit the Billboard Hot 100.
• The album followed suit, hitting Number Six on the Billboard 200 and scoring Styx their first platinum-album award.
• “Come Sail Away” begins as a slow ballad, and then picks up in its second half, and also includes a long synthesizer solo.
• The Grand Illusion was a coming-of-age album for guitarist Tommy Shaw, who had joined Styx in 1976. His “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” was the album’s second single and a Top 40 hit.
• The Grand Illusion has sold well over three million copies since its release.

FAST FORWARD:

• “Come Sail Away” is mentioned periodically in Cartoon Network’s South Park. Whenever the character Cartman hears the song, he is unable to stop singing the whole song through to the end.
• Styx broke up in 1984 and reunited in 1990, without Shaw. The group reunited again, with Shaw, in 1995 and has toured and recorded since.
• Singer-keyboardist Dennis DeYoung was forced off the road by a mysterious illness in 1998, and Shaw and Young decided to continue on without him. DeYoung sued his former bandmates, and they remain estranged.
• Shaw has recorded solo and has worked in the band Damn Yankees and as a duo with Yankees partner and Night Ranger singer-bassist Jack Blades.
• DeYoung and singer-guitarist James “J.Y.” Young have also released solo albums over the years.
• Drummer John Panozzo died of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage in 1996, at age 47.

Bassist Chuck Panozzo gave up his full-time duties with Styx in 1998, though he still makes some concert appearances with the band. After acknowledging his sexuality and health status, Panozzo is now active in the AIDS and HIV-positive communities.