"747" is a song by Swedish alternative rock band

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

.Kent – 747
/ref> It's the final song on their album '' Isola'' and was released as third single in July 1998 with B-sides "Din skugga" and "Elever". It's been recorded both with

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

lyrics. It quickly became a fan favorite, and for eight years, the band always ended their concerts with it.

Name, lyrics and theme

In its album version, the song is 7 minutes and 47 seconds long, almost half of that as an instrumental outro with characteristic guitar riffs and keyboard melodies. The title is not to be found in the song, and is not a reference to the

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

airplane even though the lyrics are flight-inspired: the Swedish original, which is slightly different from the English release, describes the narrator and an unidentified second character leaving or escaping something, towards an unknown destination, on a passenger airliner. It closes with a crash scene, moving into the instrumental outro: ''listening''
''tense & strapped in''
''& when panic erupts''
''you smile faintly''
''and whisper to me you''
''are worth dying for''
''but against rubber, glass & metal''
''a miracle means nothing at all'' The cover image of the ''Isola'' album is an aircraft (in fact, a

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

) which was also used as a backdrop in ensuing concerts. The album name itself is supposed to symbolize

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, referencing " Isola" in Ed McBain's crime novels.

Video

A music video was recorded for the

English version English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. In it, the band is playing on a stage with a picture of an airplane as a backdrop. At the same time, a story is played up about a man who attempts to steal the mysterious contents of a briefcase, but ends up abandoned at an airport.

Versions

* Swedish album version (7:47) * Swedish single version (4:25) * Swedish Nåid 2000 remix (4:31) * English album version (7:47) * English single version (4:17) - Video recorded The single versions have a shorter outro but contain a chorus which the album versions lack.

Track listings

Swedish 4-track single

# "747" (Swedish single version) (4:25) # "Elever" (4:46) # "Din Skugga" (4:06) # "747" (Swedish album version) (7:47) The songs "Elever" and "Din Skugga" were later re-released on the '' B-Sidor 95-00'' album.

Swedish 2-track single

# "747" (Swedish single version) (4:25) # "747" (Swedish album version) (7:47)

UK Release

# "747" (English Radio Version) (4:17) # "Unprofessional" (Live Radio Session — Recorded for 2 Meter Sessions, 22-5-98) (4:45) # "What It Feels Like" (2:41)

UK Promo

# 747 (Radio version)

US Promo CD

# Radio edit (4:14) # Swedish version radio edit (4:25) # Album version (7:47) # Suggested callout hook #1 (0:09) # Suggested callout hook #2 (0:09)

Charts

Swedish version

English version

References

{{authority control Kent (band) songs 1998 songs 1998 singles Songs written by Joakim Berg RCA Victor singles