"Starfighter Pilot" was the fourth

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

released by

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland. They consist of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (musician), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, ...

, and the second track on their debut album ''

Songs for Polarbears ''Songs for Polarbears'' is the debut album by the Scottish-Northern Irish indie rock group Snow Patrol, released on 31 August 1998 in the UK and 12 October in the US. The album charted at #143 in the UK and did not sell well upon its initial r ...

''. The lyrics were written by Snow Patrol frontman

Gary Lightbody Gareth John Lightbody (born 15 June 1976) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He has also founded the musical supergroups The ...

and the music was composed by Lightbody and the other two members of Snow Patrol at the time,

Mark McClelland Mark Peter McClelland (born 30 March 1976) is a Northern Irish musician known best as the former bass guitarist of the band Snow Patrol. McClelland is a recipient of the Ivor Novello Award for his work on the album ''Final Straw''. He is now the ...

and

Jonny Quinn Jonathan Graham Quinn (born 26 February 1972) is a Northern Irish musician, best known as the drummer for alternative rock band Snow Patrol, and was previously a member of bands like The Mighty Fall, The New Brontes and Disraeli Gears. As drumm ...

. The song reached number 161 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Background

"Starfighter Pilot" was originally released under Snow Patrol's former name Polarbear in 1997. The song was described by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' as "a wonky indie number that is refreshingly rough around the edges". Irish Central called it a "dirty glam masterpiece". Drummer Jonny Quinn remembers it to be the first Snow Patrol song he listened to on the radio, back in 1998 in a cafe in Ireland. He found the experience "chilling". During the Reworked Tour of November–December 2009, the band started playing the song again. Lightbody said that the song had lost all meaning to them, and playing it felt as if the band was at a "loss for anything important to say". However, he has stated that he has started to like the song again.

Track listing

*CD I: #"Starfighter Pilot (Radio Mix)" - 3:40 #"Raze the City" - 4:21 #"Riot, Please" - 2:52 *CD II: #"Starfighter Pilot (The Bad Belle Mix)" - 4:29 #"Starfighter Pilot (Cut La Roc Mix)" - 3:59 #"Starfighter Pilot (Steve Hitchcock Mix)" - 3:09 *Promo (12" Vinyl): :A: "Starfighter Pilot (Cut La Roc Mix)" - 3:59 :A: "Starfighter Pilot (The Bad Belle Mix)" - 4:29 :B: "Starfighter Pilot (Twin Tub Re-Score)" :B: "Starfighter Pilot (Steve Hitchcock Mix)" - 3:09 :B: "Starfighter Pilot (Radio Mix)" - 3:40

Release and reception

The single was released on 28 June 1999 in two versions. The first version was backed with 2 new songs as b-sides. These songs would later be re-released as bonus tracks on the 2006 re-release of Songs for Polarbears. The second version contained 3 remixes of the song: "The Bad Belle Mix", "Cut La Roc Mix", and "Steve Hitchcock Mix". The "Bad Belle Mix" was remixed by the band's longtime friend

Richard Colburn Richard Colburn (born 25 July 1970) is the drummer of the Scottish indie band Belle & Sebastian. Before he joined Belle & Sebastian, he used to sell pies on match days outside Celtic Park and studied Music Business at Stow College. Appears as: ...

, who previously had played drums on their first release, the EP ''Starfighter Pilot''. DJ Cut La Roc and Steve Hitchcock remixed the other two tracks. Lightbody would go on to collaborate with Cut la Roc on a song "Fallen" in 2001, which would later be released as a single. The single peaked at 161 on the UK singles chart, remaining a firm favourite of older fans and was included on the band's 2009 compilation ''

Up to Now ''Up to Now'' is the first compilation album by alternative rock band Snow Patrol. The album features tracks spanning Snow Patrol's fifteen-year music career, including tracks from The Reindeer Section, a side-project/ supergroup involving musi ...

''.

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Starfighter Pilot (Song) Snow Patrol songs 1999 singles Songs written by Gary Lightbody Jeepster Records singles 1998 songs Songs written by Mark McClelland