Walking in the Air

"Walking in the Air"
Single by Steve Hollis & Peter Auty
B-side	"Dance of the Snowmen"
Released	1982 (1982)
Genre	Christmas music orchestral pop choral music
Length	3:30
Label	CBS
Songwriter(s)	Howard Blake
Producer(s)	Howard Blake

“Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film The Snowman based on Raymond Briggs' 1978 children's book of the same name. The song forms the centrepiece of The Snowman, which has become a seasonal favourite on British and Finnish television.^[1] 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 the North Pole. "Walking in the Air" is the theme for the journey. They attend a party of snowmen, at which the boy seems to be the only human until they meet Father Christmas with his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern. In the film, the song was performed by St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty,^[2] and reissued in 1985 (on Stiff Records) and 1987.^[3]

In 1985, an altered version was recorded for use in a TV advertising campaign for Toys "R" Us. As Auty's voice had then broken, Blake recommended the then 15 year old Welsh chorister Aled Jones, whose recording reached number five in the UK singles chart, and who became a popular celebrity on the strength of his performance. The association of the song with Jones, combined with the fact that Auty was not credited on The Snowman, would lead to a common misbelief that Jones performed the song in the film. "Walking in the Air" has subsequently been covered by over forty artists, in a variety of styles. In a UK poll in 2012, the Aled Jones version was voted 13th on the ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song.^[4]

Nightwish version[]

"Walking in the Air"
Single by Nightwish
from the album Oceanborn
B-side	"Nightquest" "Tutankhamen"
Released	31 January 1999 (1999-01-31)
Recorded	1998
Studio	Caverock, Kitee, Finland
Genre	Symphonic metal
Length	3:41 (radio edit) 5:28 (album version)
Label	Spinefarm
Songwriter(s)	Howard Blake
Producer(s)	Tero Kinnunen
Nightwish singles chronology
"Sacrament of Wilderness" (1998) "Walking in the Air" (1999) "Sleeping Sun" (1999)

In 1998, Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish covered the song for their second studio album, Oceanborn. It was released on 31 January 1999 as the second single from the album.

Track listing[]

1. "Walking in the Air" (radio edit) – 3:41
2. "Nightquest" (Tuomas Holopainen) – 4:15
3. "Tutankhamen" (Nightwish, Holopainen) – 5:30

Recorded versions[]

• Annie Haslam recorded under the title "The Snowman" on her 2005 Christmas album It Snows in Heaven Too.
• Aled Jones (as a boy soprano) reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in 1985 with his cover. He released it again, in a duet with himself (as an adult baritone), on his 2007 Album You Raise Me Up: The Best of Aled Jones
• All About Eve as the second track on their EP (2002)
• Andrew Johnston performs a duet of the song with Faryl Smith on his 2008 album One Voice
• Angelis 2006
• Aurora the Norwegian singer, sings a version of this song overlaying a video of the film "The Snowman"
• as the third track on their Christmas album (2015)
• did 6 versions of "Walking in the Air," including a duet version with Peter Auty.
• Breakcore musician Shitmat uses samples from "Walking in the Air" on his song "Dis Dancehall Ting Is Better Than That T.V. Ting Tony."
• Chloë Agnew from Celtic Woman, on her title album, in the song "Last Rose of Summer/Walking in the Air"
• 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.
• Cincinnati Pops Orchestra on their 1990 album "Christmas with the Pops" with Stephen Van Dyck, boy soprano
• Cliff Richard on his 2003 album "Cliff at Christmas"
• Connie Talbot 2007: Over the Rainbow and 2009: Connie Talbot's Holiday Magic
• Ronan Tynan 2007; Medley:Walking in the Air/Do You Hear What I Hear "I'll Be Home For Christmas" (Ronan Tynan Album) ^[5]
• Declan Galbraith 2001
• 1991 Walking In The Air (The Remixes) From The Snowman
• Elaine Paige on her 1986 album "Christmas"
• Foxy Shazam recorded a cover version which was released in 2009.
• George Lam Waiting for a Night (Traditional Chinese: 在等一個晚上) 1989^[6]
• 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^[7]
• Grand Belial's Key play an organ version of Walking in the Air on "At the Blessed Grotto" in their 1997 album, .
• Gregorian recorded a cover for their 2017 album ""
• Hayley Westenra on her second album "Hayley Westenra" (2001)
• Iron Maiden: the two guitarists 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. This combination is known as "Walking On Glass". Adrian Smith used to play a guitar solo which included excerpts from the same melody during the two shows by the side project The Entire Population of Hackney in December 1985, before "Silver and Gold".^[8]
• Jackie Evancho on her album Heavenly Christmas (Columbia/Sony) 2011
• Jillian Aversa on her album (Overclocked Records) 2008
• Joseph McManners (In Dreams (Joseph McManners album)) 2005
• Joshua Messick on his album Hammered Dulcimer Christmas, Vol. II, 2018
• Joshua Redman 2007: Back East
• 1992
• Grimethorpe Colliery Band (British Brass Band) on their 1997 album "A White Christmas with Grimethorpe"
• Kenny Loggins on his 1998 album "December"
• Kevin Kinsella on his 2014 album "Riding Higher Still"
• King's Singers (Kid's Stuff, EMI) 1988
• Kurt Nilsen, the 2003 World Idol winner, performed a version together with Kringkastingsorkesteret (the Norwegian broadcasting company orchestra) on his 2010 album "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
• Liz Callaway covered the song together with Jann Klose on her 2020 album "Comfort and Joy (An Acoustic Christmas)"
• The Maccabees for a Live Lounge session
• Mephisto Walz on their 2013 album New Apostles
• Michael Chertock (Christmas At the Movies) 1998
• Mimicking Birds (Band from Portland) Recorded a cover version in 2011, released on YouTube Mimicking birds - Walking in the air - YouTube
• MonaLisa Twins on their 2019 album
• Nightwish on their 1998 album Oceanborn
• 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.
• Plácido Domingo and Riccardo Cocciante in A Gala Christmas in Vienna
• Rainbow "Snowman" (Bent Out of Shape) 1983
• Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Tring Music School (Hybrid) 1995
• Ryan Sheridan - Walking in the Air ( Christmas 2011)
• Siobhan Owen recorded this in its original English and in Japanese (Sora Wo Aruku) on her album "Storybook Journey" (2012).
• St. Philips Boy's Choir on their 1997 album Angel Voices 3, Soloist Liam O'Kane
• Danish musician Ste van Holm released an ambient version sung by Edith Tvede in December 2010.
• Sumi Jo on the 2009 album the sumi jo collection - disk 1
• Tangerine Dream, used as the end music in the 1983 film The Keep
• Tarja Turunen (Henkäys Ikuisuudesta) 2006/2010
• The Shadows (Simply Shadows) 1987
• The Swingle Singers (Walking in the Air) 2006
• Tingstad and Rumbel arranged it for their 2004 Christmas album Comfort and Joy. First instrumental version of the song.
• Westlife with Mary Black sang this song live.
• interpreted the song on their 2011 album Förlåt
• Independent dubstep musician Hereldeduke recorded a remix entitled "The Snowman," which had over 1,8 million views on YouTube by December 2017.^[9]
• This song was featured in with the song divided into two halves and with the whole song.
• October 2008: first electronic cover version. Created by Ukrainian music project, it mixes in the sound elements of electronic, pop-rock with opera vocals.^[10]
• The Eastern Sea recorded a cover on the band's third album, "First Christmas," (2012) produced by Louie Lino.
• Sam Robson recorded his own arrangement, singing all of the parts, on his album "An A Capella Christmas". (2015)
• Kristoffer Lo & recorded a cover rearranged by Kristoffer Lo (2013).
• Autoheart released a cover on their Soundcloud page for Christmas in 2016.
• Tom Chaplin recorded a cover for his 2017 album Twelve Tales of Christmas
• Cécile Corbel recorded a cover that was released on her seventh album "Enfant du Vent" (2019)
• Dr. Peacock and remixed the original version in Frenchcore, released in 2015
• Norwegian singer AURORA released a version of the song in 2020 as a non-album single.
• British band McFly played a cover of the song in 2020 in their Christmas With McFly special on December 21, released the next day on the band's YouTube channel.

Uses in other media[]

• A parody version of it was used in a British television commercial in 2006, for an Irn-Bru advert.^[11] It was reused in the adverts sequel in 2018.
• It was used in a 2013 World Wide Fund for Nature commercial showing on YouTube, performed by  [nl].^[12]
• The main tune of the song was used by the Taiwanese music group S.H.E in their song "Goodbye my love".^[13]

References[]

External links[]

• Snowman singer finds voice at last
• Recordings of The Snowman & Walking In The Air