Walking in the Air

"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film of Raymond Briggs' 1976 graphic novel "The Snowman". In the film the song was performed by St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty. For the subsequent single release, which reached number five in the UK pop charts, the vocals were sung by Welsh chorister Aled Jones, who became a popular celebrity on the strength of his performance. Jones' version was not an official "The Snowman" tie-in though it was authorised by Howard Blake. "Walking in the Air" has subsequently been covered by several different artists, in a variety of styles.

The song forms the centrepiece of "The Snowman", which has become a seasonal perennial on British television. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy, and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. They attend a party of snowmen, at which the boy is the only human. They meet Father Christmas and his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern.

The song has remained so popular that a parody version of it was used in a British television commercial in 2006, for an Irn-Bru advert in which the slightly edited song tells the story of a boy and a snowman flying through Edinburgh, over Loch Ness, and over Glasgow. In the commercial, the snowman drops the boy into the snow near George Square after the boy refuses to give the snowman a taste of the drink [ [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xfiqrkV_ZqI Irn Bru Snowman parody on YouTube] ] .

Versions

* Rainbow Snowman (Bent Out Of Shape) 1983
* Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Tring Music School (Hybrid) 1995
* The Shadows ("Simply Shadows") 1987
* King's Singers ("Kid's Stuff", EMI) 1988
* Kenneth Smith (Walking in the Air) 1992
* Barry Manilow & Celine Dion Did a duet rendition of Walking In The Air.
* Spoonbender 'TBA' (EMI Records) 2005
* Tangerine Dream, used as the end music 1983 in the film "The Keep"
* The Swingle Singers (Walking in the Air) 2006
* Angelis 2006
* Bill Thompson did 6 versions of walking in the air, including a duet version with Peter Auty.
* Nightwish (Oceanborn) 1998
* Declan Galbraith 2001
* Tarja Turunen (Henkäys Ikuisuudesta) 2005
* Hayley Westenra 2000: "Walking in the Air", a demo album done for friends and family
* Connie Talbot 2007: "Over The Rainbow"
* Joshua Redman 2007: "Back East" first instrumental version of the song
* George Winston (The Snowman, Walking in the Air) 1992; ("Forest" with two other selections from The Snowman: "Building the Snowman" and "The Snowman's Music Box Dance") 1994 [http://www.georgewinston.com/notes/01934-11157-2.php]
* Oceansize played it live twice during their Effloresce tours, recorded a studio version in December 2007 and released it on their Myspace as a 1st Xmas Single
* The two guitarists of Iron Maiden, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray, played an altered version during their tour to support Somewhere in Time, first half containing a solo duel between the two guitarists, the second half of which Murray played the vocal melody while Smith played supporting rhythm.
*Breakcore musician Shitmat uses samples from "Walking in the Air" on his song "Dis Dancehall Ting is Better Than That T.V. Ting Tony".
*Christine Guldbrandsen used part of the lyrics from "Walking in The Air" on her song "Surfing In The Air" found in the album with the same name
* Laura Greenwald, on the album "Believe - a holiday music collection"
* Celtic Woman, on the self-titled album, in the song Last Rose of Summer/Walking in the Air
* Grand Belial's Key play an organ version of Walking in the Air on "At the Blessed Grotto" in their 1997 album, "Mocking the Philanthropist"
* This song is from "Ernie and his Rubber Ducky" and "Bear in his New Car".
*Aled Jones (Boy Soprano) and Aled Jones (Adult Baritone) as part of his 2007 Album You Raise Me Up-The Best of Aled Jones

References

External links

* [http://www.howardblake.com/snowman-recordings.php Recordings of The Snowman & Walking In The Air]
* [http://www.musicfromthemovies.co.uk/review.asp?ID=6068 Review of original soundtrack]