Songs about Aviators

[Saab Dastard]

For some reason, the song "Lucky Lindy" started going through my head last night (as these things are wont to do).

So, apart from Charles Lindbergh, can anyone think of any aviators about whom songs were written?

I remember one song about "The Bloody Red Baron" from the late sixties - but not what it was called.

Cheers

SD

[Peter Barron]

SD.

The song was called " Snoopy vs. The Red Baron " it was by the group called The Royal Guardsman.

10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more, the Bloody Red Baron was running up the score, 80 men tried and 80 men died trying to end the spree of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany.

All together now :ok:

Peter.

[barit1]

"How's about a little kiss,
Ameeeeee-lia?..." :hmm:

[Saab Dastard]

Thanks Barit - there is a song called:

"Amelia Earhart's Last Flight" byRed River Dave McEnery!

I also came across this:

"Original song performed at Amelia Earhart collection ceremony
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –

Purdue University today (Thursday, 5/2) enlarged its longstanding association with Amelia Earhart by becoming the largest, most comprehensive repository of materials relating to the life, career and mysterious disappearance of the famous aviator.

During today's ceremony, an original song about Earhart was performed. The copyrighted song by Laura Clavio was arranged and accompanied by Michael Kelsey and was performed by Julie Ricciardi, all of Greater Lafayette. "

Also, looking up songs about Lindbergh, I discovered that there were hundreds, of which "Lucky Lindy" is by far the best known -

"In the two-year period following Lindbergh's flight, the U.S. Copyright Office recorded three hundred applications on Lindbergh songs. But the competition didn't fare as well as "Lucky Lindy." Thirty songs carried the same title, "Spirit of St. Louis." A dozen were just "Lindy," thereby avoiding the spelling problems which afflicted many of the others: Lindberg, Lindburg, Linberg, Linderburg, Linbergh. "Lone Eagle" came in a close third. Among the catchier titles: "Won't You Take Me to Heaven, Please, Lucky Lindy Do," "Like an Angel He Flew into Our Hearts," "Just Like a Butterfly through Sun and Rain," and "He Did It, the Thing that Couldn't Be Done." Lindbergh's tour of the United States after his triumphant return spawned a number of competitors for "Lucky Lindy," including "When Lindy Comes Home" by George M. Cohan, with which Cohan made his radio debut on the eve of New York's welcome-home ceremony".

[Mr_Grubby]

Amelia Earharts Last Flight written by McEnery & McPhali by Ronnie Lane & the Slim Chance.
From the LP Anymore for Anymore, 1974.


Clint.

[ozplane]

Wasn't there a song about Amy Johnson, "Wonderful Amy" or somesuch? Although it wasn't about a specific airman Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain" always gives the feel of an early departure from a windswept airfield and does mention a "707 set to go".

[Genghis the Engineer]

Not so much about as by, but a favourite of mine... "Mountains on my mind", by Bill Fries & Chip Davis but performed by CW McCall...


Rollin' down the runway
Thinkin' 'bout the one way
Of my life
With another cup of coffee
And another lonesome city
Far behind
This old Seven-Fourty-Seven
Will be flyin' over heaven
One more time
And the tears begin to fallin'
When I think about the mountains
On my mind

But now the skies above are sunny
And it's time to say it's funny
How I never thought I'd ever fly this high
But maybe someday when it over
When I'm just a little older
I can go back to the mountains on my mind

Flyin' through the nighttime
To a far off city skyline
In the dawn
And a thousand lights below me
Are like fireflies tryin' to tell me
That I'm wrong
So I try to find a reason
To forget the changin' seasons
In my mind
But the winds of time are blowin'
And I gotta go on knowin'
That I've tried

Cause now I hear a different drummer
An' I've used up all my summers
Chasin' rainbows that I really didn't wanna find
But maybe someday when it over
When I'm just a little older
I can go back to the mountains on my mind

[barit1]

Saab Dastard, Are you looking for songs about individuals - or aviators in general? I have a book of MANY US Air Force pilots' songs.

[skua]

What about that "learning to Fly" by Tom Petty?

Applies to us all - even Amelia

Has Bruce D written any aviation songs yet? If not why not?

Happy New Year and fair tailwinds,


Skua

[Saab Dastard]

Barit,

Sorry if the title of the thread wasn't specific enough! Songs ABOUT specific, named individuals!

Although trying to keep any pprune thread on topic is like ...
:rolleyes:

[ShyTorque]

How about a helicopter one? Often sung by RAF Puma pilots, in years gone by, after ground resonance put a Wessex on its side during start up:

"There's a Wessex on the ground, (on the ground)
With it's rotors spinning round (spinning round)
And it jumps up and down and shakes itself to bits
and gives its passengers the $hits, $hits, $HITS!"

Sheer poetry! :E

Albeit about the aircraft rather than the pilot ;)

[barit1]

Although trying to keep any pprune thread on topic is like ...

Herding cats???

[Saab Dastard]

Heard of cats?

Of course I've heard of cats!

The old ones...


Are still the old ones :p

[Rolling-Thunderbird]

Although it is not a song, there was a musical score written specifically for Glenn H. Curtiss, appropriately titled:

"King of the Air" by Julius K. Johnson - Koninsky Music Co.

It was written after his historic Albany to NYC flight of May 1910


I am building a full-scale flying replica of the 1910 Hudson Flier, which was featured on the cover of the sheet music, with plans to re-enact the flight.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/steve1995/koa-1.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y205/steve1995/hf-12-7-05-2.jpg

[Saab Dastard]

RT,

Thank you for that - I wish you every success with the building of the replica, and best of luck for it's flight(s)!

Keep us posted on progress. :ok:

SD

[forget]

Shackletons don't bother me,
Shackletons don't bother me,
............................................
............................................ Anybody?

Only verse I know;

When you're flying along with a Mig on your tail,
don't let your British blood boil.
Don't hestitate -
Slam 'em all through the gate,
and smother the bastard in oil.

:p

[SirPeterHardingsLovechild]

Here you go

The Shackleton Song (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=160245)

[You want it when?]

How about the Masters of the Air by Oscar Brand? Seems to mention most of the "greats".

I had the record (LP) out a few weeks ago - my seven year old asked how I knew which side to play it. DOH! I'll try and find the words if anyone is interested!

[Saab Dastard]

Masters of the Air sounds good - do post the lyrics if you can find them!

We don't expect you to transcribe them by hand... ;)

[SASless]

Cobra 7....a Vietnam song about a Forward Air Controller flying a Cessna O-1E Bird Dog near Nui Ba Din (Black Virgin) Mountain near Tay Ninh.

He responded to a Mayday Call of a Huey that had been shot down...crew survived but were surrounded by bad guys. Cobra 7 called for Tac-Air...saw the bad guys moving in...made rocket runs with the four White Phosphorus marking rockets...then gun runs shooting his rifle out the window....and finally dry runs giving cover to the Huey that came in for the pickup. Cobra 7 was shot down and killed during the action. I will try to find the words......about a true story.


MP3 files for Cobra 7 and other Vietnam era songs.....

http://www.immortalia.com/html/records-and-cds/CDs/in-country/

[Footless Halls]

What about 'The Bold Aviator...'

I know some versions of this, partially, which I've not come across on the internet:

'he spat out a valve and a gasket,
and stirred in the sump where he lay'...

any takes?

[Saab Dastard]

The version I've read goes as follows:

A poor aviator lay dying
At the end of a bright summer's day
His comrades had gathered about him
To carry his fragments away

The airplane was piled on his wishbone
His Hotchkiss was wrapped round his head
He wore a spark-plug on each elbow
'Twas plain he would shortly be dead

He spit out a valve and a gasket
And stirred in the sump where he lay
And then to his wondering comrades
These brave parting words he did say

"Take the magneto out of my stomach,
And the butterfly valve off my neck,
Extract from my liver the crankshaft,
There are lots of good parts in this wreck"

"Take the manifold out of my larynx,
And the cylinders out of my brain,
Take the piston rods out of my kidneys,
And assemble the engine again."

There is a later variation:

Oh, the bold aviator was dying
And as 'neath the wreckage he lay, he lay
To the sobbing mechanics about him
These last parting words he did say

"Take the cylinders out of my kidneys
The connecting rod out of my brain, my brain
From the small of my back get the crankshaft
And assemble the engine again"

Etc.

[barit1]

Probably of WWI vintage.:8

[Simtech]

As related by my late father who served with 230 ASRU during WW2:

(Sung to the tune "The Church's One Foundation")

We are the Air-Sea Rescue,
No f*****g good are we.
The only time you'll see us
Is breakfast, dinner and tea.
And when we sight your dinghy,
We'll all stand up and say
Per Adua Ad Asbestos,
F**k you Jack, I'm OK.

[IFHP]

How about a whole album. Captain Lockheed and his Starfighters.All about the F104G ...." G for for Germany Herr Prime Minister ."..... "Want to buy a Starfighter ? ....... buy an acre of ground and wait."

[JDK]

The Dying Aviator is quoted in Biggles, and published in the 1930s.

Every damn recordbreaking aviator of the 1920s it seems had a host of songs - many (thankfully) shortlived pennned about them. It was an occupational hazard!

I've read (can't remember where) that there were over 100 songs about 'Lindy' and about the same about 'Wonderful Amy'.

[You want it when?]

For Saab Dastard and others, "The Masters of the Air" by Oscar Brand - copied from memory as I cannot find the lyrics anywhere...


When man was bound unto the earth, and knew not how to fly,
The wings of Otto Lilienthal, went flashing across the sky,
But then like Icarus of old, and others un-renown,
He spread his gliding wings to high, and so came crashing down.

T'was Samuel Langley's models, lead the way to powered flight,
His motors were in miniature, his planes were tiny kites,
Although his large models brought him failure and despair,
He showed the world that man could fly the highway of the air.

In 1903 in Kitty Hawk,a man named Orville Wright,
Flew 40 yards to demonstrate, controlled and power flight,
The brothers Wright were first in flight, and often flew again,
Creating for a waiting world, the first successful plane.

Then others learned to build and fly, experiment and probe,
Some Navy men flew across the sea, the army spanned the globe,
And in 1927, on a misty day in May,
Charles Lindbergh flew from out the blue, to land at Le Bourget.

A 1,000 brave men to wing, and sailed above the clouds,
To risk their lives at country fairs, to entertain the crowds,
Around the world went Willey Post aboard the Winnie Mae,
To test the flying instruments, he knew we’d need some day.

Such men as Charles E Yeager, took the X1 off the ground,
To jet propel it faster than the thrusting speed of sound,
Sikorsky his rotor, Bill Odem and his Beech,
They snared the wide horizon and brought it into reach.

They rose into the upper air to rise, to fly, to fall,
A lonely breed in mind and deed, yet each a part of all,
To knock with pride on heavens door, the lonely heights to bare,
The Masters of the air…

[ProofReader]

So, apart from Charles Lindbergh, can anyone think of any aviators about whom songs were written?
SD
SD, there are quite a few songs about Aussie aviators (i.e. Kingsford Smith, Ulm, Hinkler, Johnson). Have a look at some of the ones listed here (http://www.musicaustralia.org/apps/MA?function=viewTheme&name=Aviation+and+aviators) for words and music scores (in some cases).
:)

[Sir George Cayley]

On Joni Mitchell's album "Live at Venice Gardens, California" is a track titled
Amelia.

It is about the eponymous aviatrix and a most haunting song it is too.

I commend it to the house.

Sir George Cayley

[seafuryfan]

On BBC Radio 2, 10 Jan, 7pm, available to listen to for about a week on the web, Desmond Carrington played an hour of aviation themed music.

Included about 25 mins in was a wonderful '30s tune 'Amy, Wonderful Amy', by the Jack Hylton Ochestra. The song was complete with purring Gypsy Moth in the background, and a verbal interlude describing her flying... 'Oh no, she going to CRASH!! Oh no she is'nt!' I kid you not. Pure gold.

[Saab Dastard]

Great stuff chaps, thanks for all the links! :ok:

Cheers

SD

[Fishtailed]

There is a track entitled 'The Aviators Song' on a the CD 'Halcyon' by Gretchen Peters. (one of my wifes CDs)

[innuendo]

You want it when:
I still have Oscar Brands "Wild Blue Yonder" on vinyl. I did have his "Out of the Wild Blue" but it came a cropper in a house fire. I keep meaning to resurrect my turntable to record analogue to digital but have not got around to it yet. One of these days.