Walking In The Air

Year: 1985

Written By: Howard Blake

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The song 'Walking in the Air' was released in 1985 with young Welsh chorister Aled Jones, providing the vocals for the track. This Christmas song was written by Howard Blake. The creation of this song was to actually be provided for the Christmas cult classic film; 'The Snowman'.

When the song was originally written and used in the 1982 animation film; 'The Snowman', the songs vocals were sung not by Aled Jones, but instead they were sung by Peter Auty, who was a choirboy at St. Paul's Cathedral at the time. The 1982 Christmas film was an adaptation of Raymond Briggs' 1978 book, also named 'The Snowman'. 'Walking in the Air' is considered the heart of the film. The film follows a young boy and a snowman of his own creation that suddenly comes to life. The film then develops with the snowman taking the child to the North Pole for a snowmen party (this is the point in which 'Walking in the Air' is played, it accompanies the journey) and they later go on to meet Santa Claus.

When released as a single in 1985, with Aled Jones as vocalist, the song managed to peak at a very respectable number five in the UK Charts. The song 'Walking in the Air' is what allowed Aled Jones to rise to fame. From being a young unknown chorister, he became child sensation and is still very respected to date, now as a fully matured man. This fame gave him the opportunity to host a variety of programmes, most notably hosting 'Songs of Praise'.

'Walking in the Air' has been covered on many occasions, in a variety of different genres. The most notable successful cover of this song is by Finnish metal band Nightwish. Nightwish managed to get their cover to reach number one in the Finnish Charts and also achieved in getting their cover of this Christmas classic to be certified Gold for having over 5,000 sales of their version.

As well as featuring in 'The Snowman', 'Walking In The Air' has also featured in the Baby Rabbit films ('Baby Rabbit: The Movie' and 'Baby Rabbit Goes to Dancing Class'). The song has also been used for Irn-Bru's commercials, but instead of using the original, they created their own parody version of the song.