MovieChat Forums > The Snowman (1984) Discussion > Walking in the Air Song

Walking in the Air Song

posted 20 years ago by tweetybrrd2
14 replies | jump to latest

I was watching a program called Celtic Woman on my local Philadelphia PBS TV station, a concert of Irish folk singers, and I was so excited when the first song was "Walking in the Air." It brought back so many memories. I mean, I hadn't heard that song since 1985 when I first saw The Snowman and I hadn't even thought of the cartoon since then. As I listened to the song, it hit me, this is from that great little cartoon I saw when I was 5 on the Disney Channel. A soprano named Chloe, who is only 15 years old and already famous in her native Ireland, sings the song so beautifully. I bought the CD of the Celtic Woman program and it is just wonderful.

[–] wsmith1966 20 years ago

I bought the Celtic woman CD also, but never knew that "walking in the air" song was the theme for "the snowman". I only found that out because i gotten into a band call Nightwish and the female singer has the song on her 1998 release CD titled Oceanborn. The CD booklet stated the song was from the snowman. I then assume that Nightwish originally recorded the song and with a little research lead me here to find out that this isn't so.
Anyway great song, will have to watch the program see where the song fits into the story.

[–] LiLSk8iNgShOrTi 20 years ago

do you know the name of the song from the snowman thats faster? does anyone have a link to the soundtrack where you can listen to it?

[–] blizzardofkevin3 19 years ago

Iron Maiden played a tune on the Somwhere on the Road tour (1986-87) which was loosely based on "Walking in the Air". It ROCKS!!! I want to hear the original version to see what it sounds like, in comparison to Maiden's version.

[–] Winters_Spirit 19 years ago

I recently bought Celtic Woman as well (saw the PBS show as well) and I was finally able to listen to Walking in the Air. It's such a beautiful melody and, as I was listening to it, I knew I knew it from somewhere but couldn't figure it out. I'd seen The Snowman a lot during my schooling years (the last time being in Grade 11) and, for some reason, scenes from that movie were the only ones I was able to fit with the songs. Surely enough, when I Googled "Walking in the Air" movie, 'The Snowman' came up. Such a beautiful song.

[–] folkmysoul 19 years ago

Unfortunately, I haven't seen it....I could have when I was little, but if I did, I don't remember it...I do really want to see it, though. When I was in eighth grade, we sung it in choir, and I fell in love with the song. It evokes so many emotions. It's sad just listening to the song....I downloaded the Celtic Woman version off Napster, and I love it!

"I just found out there's no such thing as the real world, just a lie you've got to rise above."

[–] deathway 19 years ago

I cry everytime, no matter what. I've watched the film religiously every year at Christmas, and every year I cry my stripey cotton socks at that blimmin' song! It just has me in floods, even if it starts playing in the supermarket I have to get out before I look a fool.

It's absolutely gorgeous as a tune. but coupled the living drawings of the film, it's nothing short of genius.

[–] maiira 19 years ago

Almost the exact same thing happened to me. I was in my boyfriend's room a few weeks ago listening to some music on his roommate's computer, and Walking in the Air (the Celtic Woman version) came up. I loved the song, because it's gorgeous, but also because I recognized it. I could not put my finger on exactly where I'd heard it before, and I spent the next few days furiously wracking my brain, because it was bugging the crap out of me. Then I went and found the song on iTunes, and somehow it clicked. I remember seeing something on TV celebrating the top 100 TV Christmas specials while on a trip to England with my family. Since I'd never watched much British TV (being American ^_^) I'd never heard of any of the shows they were talking about...except for one: The Snowman. I recognized it as the same film (and book) I had watched (and read) in kindergarten and first grade, and that song was the one playing in the background. Having remembered that, I immediately googled the lyrics to make sure I wasn't just imagining things, and, sure enough, saw that it was the song from "The Snowman." I googled "The Snowman," and this very page came up. Words cannot express how happy this made me. I was able to find and put a name to a small, obscure facet of my childhood through the mere clicking of a mouse. Which, of course, is the reason I love the internet, no matter how messed up it may be.

I immediately bought the song, by the way.

"Oh, sugar...you just gone and done the dumbest thing in your whole life..."

[–] cfrederick10 19 years ago

I saw that too. the funny thing is i never heard of the movie until now. i had a george winston album with the piano instrumental on it and several years ago, i penned lyrics to the tune of it without knowing that an actual song with lyrics already existed (mine had nothing to do with snowmen, haha). then yesterday i watched celtic woman and heard it for the first time. weird. i'm so out of it.

[–] andy2286 19 years ago

Does anyone else find that the song makes them want to kill themselves?

[–] max8791 19 years ago

wtf

[–] eirnlove 19 years ago

i think, to be able to understand, you have to see the movie.

[–] max8791 19 years ago

No, I love the song and have seen (and cried) at the movie...I was saying wtf to the guy that said it makes him want to kill himself.

[–] BethH24 18 years ago

a lad called aled jones sang it aswell in 1985.i thought he sang it on the film but i dont think he did.his version sounds alot like the original version.have you heard it ? and why did he sing it if he didnt sing it for the film ?

[–] duke-verity 18 years ago

Peter Auty sings it in the film. By the time the composer Howard Blake came to re-record the song for a Christmas Single, Auty's voice had broken. Hence the young and then unknown Welsh Soprano Aled Jones being chosen for the re-recording.

Auty's voice is on the film soundtrack, whilst Jones's can be heard only on the later Single. He can also be heard singing an condensed version of it on an eighties commercial.

Most people wrongly believe that Jones's is the voice that you hear in the film version. However, he never had anything to do with the original recording. Jones and composer Howard Blake confirm in the 2002 documentary 'Building the Snowman' that Peter Auty deserves sole credit for singing 'Walking in the Air' on the film's soundtrack.