By pejepeine
I was expecting plenty of psychedelia and easy listening with this topic, and wasn’t disappointed, but I was surprised to find that the songs that really grabbed me were longer compositions that attempt to evoke the lazy, floating drift of balloons.
The topic that also inspires a certain type of escapist lyric – breaking free from gravity and the ties of everyday life to ascend and float suspended in mid-air, looking serenely down on the world below.
The first part of the A-list is composed of these mostly longer songs, all of which carried me away on a thoroughly enjoyable trip. Later we crash to earth and burn.
We cast off with Victor Young’s Sky Symphony from the Oscar-winning score for the 1956 film Around the World in 80 Days. It’s one of my favourite films, with David Niven on top form and Mexican comedian Cantinflas stealing the show; and the lovely waltz theme has been recorded scores of times under the title Around the World.
More ethereal, waltzing strings launch Plastic Palace People, in which Scott Walker tells the strange tale of Billy, the boy who floats away over the town before coming back down to earth and getting caught in a tree “just hanging there”. It’s a gorgeous, surrealistic song with a vaguely disturbing, nightmarish undercurrent.
Neil Hannon aka The Divine Comedy relives the golden age of ballooning in Count Grassi’s Passage Over Piedmont, a fictional account of a pioneering hot-air balloon trip over Europe, with the Count hurling fine foods such as “liverwurst, Battenburg, Emmental, syllabub, muscadet” overboard in order to gain more glorious height. There’s danger and romance in this magnificent adventure.
More unwanted baggage is jettisoned in The Last Balloon by XTC, which sails calmly along, with harpsichord and a gorgeous flugelhorn solo to finish. It’s a powerful metaphor about letting go of the world we ruined and allowing youth to sail off into an uncertain but more promising future.
There’s probably no better artist than Thomas Dolby to tackle the stately golden age of airship travel, which he addresses on the lush, cinematic Budapest by Blimp, hovering over the landscape of post-war Hungary.
He Tried to Escape by Midlake is from Banman and Slivercork, a concept album about a balloon maker pursued by the Monocle Men. It’s an absolutely lovely piece of lo-fi.
The story of Ramases is bizarre and tragic – a central-heating installer who was visited by the Pharoah Ramases, shaved his head and became a sort of South Yorkshire Sun Ra, launching a musical career with his wife, the goddess Selket, before committing suicide at the age of 42. Balloon is from his first album, Space Hymns, and is the second-catchiest tune of the week, rattling around my head all weekend.
Texas-based Archie Bell & the Drells bring sheer, joyful buoyancy with My Balloon Is Going Up, one of Gamble & Huff’s consistently brilliant compositions.
Today, the phrase “Oh, the humanity!” is usually used as a sarcastic response to inflated grievances, but its origin is anything but ironic. “There’s smoke, and there’s flames, now, and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity, and all the passengers screaming around here!” cries the horrified voice of Herb Morrison reporting live on the explosion of the Hindenburg in 1936.
The Pretty Things describe a similar disaster in Balloon Burning, a chapter of their rock opera S.F. Sorrow in which the protagonist’s girlfriend dies in an airship disaster. It’s pure anguish, driven by a frantic two-note riff, wild drums and a writhing fuzz guitar solo.
More ferocious two-note riffing on Ekko Astral’s head empty blues – “An album opener intended to terrorize you”. They chant about pink balloons, which is also the title of the album.
The most famous balloon song is Up, Up and Away, the sunshine pop/easy listening hit written by Jimmy Webb (who recently helped win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics figure skating final) and originally recorded by the 5th Dimension. It’s been covered hundreds of times, generally in a cheesy manner. The Prodigy, however, invited actor Juliette Lewis to sing and gave it an urgent electropunk makeover for Hot Ride.
Louis Cole’s Blimp is a short, sweet invitation to another balloon ride. It’s simple, yet surprisingly dense and complex, and an absolute earworm.
The A for Airship A-List:
Victor Young – Sky Symphony (Loud Atlas)
Scott Walker – Plastic Palace People (Uncleben)
The Divine Comedy – Count Grassi’s Passage Over Piedmont (Loud Atlas)
XTC – The Last Balloon (Nicko)
Thomas Dolby – Budapest By Blimp (Banazir Galbasi)
Midlake – He Tried To Escape (tincanman2010)
Ramases – Balloon (ShivSidecar)
Archie Bell & the Drells – My Balloon Is Going Up (DiscoMonster)
Herb Morrison – Hindenburg Radio Report
The Pretty Things – Balloon Burning (Shiv Sidecar)
Ekko Astral – Head Empty Blues (vanwolf2)
The Prodigy – Hot Ride (happyclapper)
Louis Cole – Blimp (ajostu)
B for Blimp B-List:
The 5th Dimension – Up, Up and Away (Marconius7)
The Small Faces – Red Balloon (Tarquin Spodd)
Peter Hammill – Imperial Zeppelin (Tarquin Spodd)
Nancy & Lee – Big Red Balloon (vanwolf2)
Jefferson Airplane – Won’t You Try/ Saturday Afternoon (Tarquin Spodd)
Lou Reed – Balloon (Noodsy)
Telemann – Düsseldorf (Uncleben)
Ane Brun – Balloon Ranger (Fred Erickson)
The Raincoats – Balloon (Uncleben)
Cud – Purple Love Balloon (Shoegazer)
Nick D’Angelo Farmers – Mr Zeppelin Man (Shiv Sidecar)
The Dave Clark Five – Red Balloon (Banazir Galbasi)
Robyn Hitchcock – Balloon Man (Naguchi)
G for Graf Zeppelin Guru’s Wildcard List:
Two satisfying slices of easy listening and 60s psych, plus some sweet vocals by one of those groups you’d happily bet had mentioned balloons in at least one song.
Horst Jankowski – Pink Balloon
Peter Pan & The Good Fairies – Balloons
The Free Design – Love You
I say old chap, where next? David Niven and Cantinflas enjoy a tipple in Around The World in 80 Days
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations in response to last week's topic: Up and away: songs about balloons and ballooning. The next topic will launch on Thursday after 1pm UK time.
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