"Walking in the Air" is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film ''

The Snowman ''The Snowman'' is a 1982 British animated television film based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 picture book ''The Snowman.'' It was directed by Dianne Jackson for Channel 4. It was first shown on 26 December 1982, and was an immediate success. It wa ...

'' based on Raymond Briggs's 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. 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 The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

. "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 Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrel ...

with his

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern. In the film, the song was performed by

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

choirboy Peter Auty; this performance was reissued in 1985 (on

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff ...

) and 1987. In 1985, an altered version was recorded for use in a TV advertising campaign for

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loc ...

. While it was believed that Auty's voice had then broken, Auty claimed in an interview with BBC Breakfast News on 2 December 2022 that his voice had not broken and he was never contacted for the recording. Blake recommended the then-14-year-old Welsh chorister Aled Jones, whose recording reached number five in 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 ...

on 28 December 1985, and who became a popular celebrity on the strength of his performance. The association of the song with Jones, combined with Auty not being credited on ''The Snowman'', led to a common misbelief that Jones performed the song in the film. "Walking in the Air" has subsequently been performed 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 ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

television special '' The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song''.

Nightwish version

In 1998, Finnish

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

covered the song for their second studio album, ''

Oceanborn ''Oceanborn'' is the second studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released in Finland by Spinefarm Records on 7 December 1998 and in the spring of 1999 worldwide. It was released by Drakkar Entertainment in the rest of ...

'', in a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

style. A shorter version of it was released on 30 January 1999 as the second single from the album, featuring two b-sides. It spent eighteen weeks on the Finnish charts, peaking at number one for a week. The band named the compilation '' Walking in the Air: The Greatest Ballads'' after this song. The song was performed regularly during

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half o ...

's time with the band as the lead singer; after her departure, she went on to record her own version for her 2006 winter album

Henkäys Ikuisuudesta ''Henkäys Ikuisuudesta'' (officially translated as: ''Breath From Heaven'') is the first solo album by Finnish singer Tarja Turunen, and focuses on the Christmas holiday season. On November 26, 2010, Nuclear Blast released a re-mastered version of ...

. Nightwish's founding member and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen had stated that it is his all-time favourite piece of music.

Track listing

# "Walking in the Air" (

radio edit In music, a radio edit or radio mix is a modification, typically truncated or censored, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form. Radio edits may als ...

) – 3:41 # "Nightquest" ( Tuomas Holopainen) – 4:15 # "Tutankhamen" (

, Holopainen) – 5:30

Other notable recorded versions

* In 1983, the British rock band Rainbow covered the song for their 7th studio album, ''

Bent out of Shape ''Bent Out of Shape'' is the seventh studio album released by the British hard rock band Rainbow. It was originally released in August 1983 as an LP and cassette. The cassette featured several longer edits compared to the vinyl version. It was ...

''. The song is called "Snowman". * Aled Jones (as a teen boy soprano) reached number 5 in the

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''. In 2022, Jones recorded a duet version with tenor

Russell Watson Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club. He came to attention in 1999 when he sang "God ...

, which was included on the ''Christmas with Aled and Russell'' album of the same year. * Chloë Agnew (from

Celtic Woman Celtic Woman is an all-female Irish musical ensemble conceived and created by David Kavanagh, Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show ''Riverdance.'' In 2004, Downes recruited five Irish female music ...

) in 2004 released her debut solo album titled ''Walking in the Air'' which hit number 13 on Billboard's Classical Albums Chart, and peaked at number 4 on Billboard's World Music chart. The song is the first track. * Digital Dream Baby's "Walking in the Air", an electronic dance remix, peaked at number 49 in December 1991 in the UK's album chart. * McFly released their cover of the song on 2 December 2021. The single enjoyed a brief run on the UK Downloads chart, topping at number 25.

Uses in other media

* A parody version of it was used in a Scottish television commercial in 2006, for an Irn-Bru advert. It was reused in the advert's sequel in 2018. * It was used in a 2013

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

commercial showing on YouTube, performed by Vajèn van den Bosch.

References

External links

Recordings of The Snowman & Walking In The Air
{{Authority control British Christmas songs 1999 singles Nightwish songs Number-one singles in Finland 1982 songs CBS Records singles Spinefarm Records singles