Walking in the Air

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"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the animated short The Snowman, which has been broadcast on TV and published on videotape and DVD; also released as a single, LP and CD. In The Snowman, it was performed by a St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy, Peter Auty. The song was released as a single, reaching number 5 in the UK charts, sung by Welsh chorister Aled Jones.

In the second part of The Snowman story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. The song "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey; they attend a snowmen's party, 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.

[edit] Original Lyrics for “Walking In The Air”

We’re walking in the air

We’re floating in the moonlit sky

The people far below are sleeping as we fly

I’m holding very tight

I’m riding in the midnight blue

I’m finding I can fly so high above with you

Far across the world

The villages go by like dreams

The rivers and the hills, the forests and the streams

Children gaze open mouth, taken by surprise

Nobody down below believes their eyes

We’re surfing in the air

We’re swimming in the frozen sky

We’re drifting over icy mountains floating by

Suddenly swooping low on an ocean deep

Arousing of a mighty monster from its sleep

We’re walking in the air

We’re dancing in the midnight sky

And everyone who sees us greets us as we fly

The song was so popular that a parody version of it was used in a British television commercial -- the Christmas 2006 Irn-Bru advert in which the slightly edited song tells the story of a boy and a snowman flying though Edinburgh, over Loch Ness, and over Glasgow before The Snowman drops him into the snow near George Square due to the boy not giving the snowman a taste of the drink.

[edit] Versions

The song has been performed by a number of artists:

Chloë Agnew title of album and title track.
All About Eve
Ambra (Avenue Music Germany)
Angelis
Peter Auty - original soundtrack version single, LP (1982) and CD (1996 - Columbia CDX 71116)[1] [2]
Avalanche (Walking in the Air) 1992
Boys Air Choir
Sarah Brightman with Plácido Domingo, Riccardo Cocciante & Helmut Lotti.^{[citation needed]}
Celtic Woman
William Chen ('Walking in the Air' from 'Lifecycle' ABC Classics) 2003
The Choirboys 2005
Christmas Rapping (UK 1994)
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra (Telarc digital) 1993
Cliff Richard (Cliff at Christmas, EMI) 2003
Digital Dream Baby (Sony Music)
DJ Killer (Natural Breaks)
Placido Domingo and Riccardo Cocciante (Christmas in Vienna) 2000
Dawn French performed 'Walking in the Air' (By making nasal humming) in a sketch on French and Saunders, by request from Jennifer who had lost her leg bones.
Declan Galbraith
Goldie Lookin' Chain (2005)
Gottinger Symphonie (Der Schneemann, Deltaphon) 1986
Aled Jones, reaching number 5 in the UK charts - singer on re-released version of The Snowman [3]
Libera
George Martin (Presents The Medici Quartet) 1995
Joseph McManners, in his debut album "In Dreams" - Sony/BMG 2005
Nightwish (Oceanborn)
Elaine Page (Christmas album) 1985
Rainbow on the album Bent Out of Shape 1983, referred to as "Snowman" on the album
Kenny Rogers (Walking in the Air) 1999
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Tring Music School (Hybrid) 1995
Shadows (Simply Shadows) 1987
King's Singers (Kid's Stuff, EMI) 1988
Kenneth Smith (Walking in the Air) 1992
Spoonbender 'TBA' (EMI Records) 2005
Tangerine Dream, used as the end music 1983 in the film The Keep
Tarja Turunen
'Ten' (a film by Kiorostami) 2002
Hayley Westenra 2000; this is also the title of her first album at age 12, a demo album done for friends and family
George Winston (The Snowman, Walking in the Air) 1992; Forest (album) 1994 with two other selections from The Snowman ("Building the Snowman" and "The Snowman's Music Box Dance") [4]
Oceansize (played it live twice)
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 soloduel between the two guitarists , the second half of which Murray played the vocalmelody whilst Smith played supporting rhytm.
Breakcore musician Shitmat uses samples from "Walking in the Air" on his song "Dis Dancehall Ting is Better Than That T.V. Ting Tony".