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Interesting fact about the Snowman animation (Walking in The Air)
In 1982 the Children’s animation movie “The Snowman” was released based on famous British author Raymond Briggs children’s book with the same name. It’s really a heartwarming story about a little boy and the friendship with a snowman he made and how things and people we love aren’t with us forever. The animation was nominated for an Oscar. For the scene in the movie where the snowman takes the little boy in his hands and flies to the North Pole to visit Santa, they used “Walking In The Air” written by classical composer Howard Blake. This beautiful song appeared in a number of classical albums I own over the years. Because the movie is synonomous to Christmas, the song is as well, but it can stand as both a Christmas song and song for all seasons, which is awesome because you should enjoy MLTs brilliant masterpiece rock interpretation all year round.
Anyway, a year after the debut 1982 release of the movie, they did an alternate version with David Bowie introducing the movie, and starting in 1983, the networks played this version. The original had Raymond Briggs do the introduction scene, but they wanted someone with a little more charisma, and man David Bowie can make you believe the Snowman is real. I think David may have a true childhood reference to a snowman friend, and perhaps is why he did it.
From NME article:
We’ve not stopped rediscovering all the wonderful things David Bowie did since he left us in January: all year, tributes have continued to attest to his wit, innovation and multifarious accomplishments. One that seems to have slipped past us until now, though, is the time he was involved in the most festive animation of all time. This, of course, is Channel 4’s 1982 adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman, memorably soundtracked by Howard Blake, and on which the 13-year-old chorister Peter Auty – now an operatic tenor – sang Blake’s famous composition ‘Walking In The Air’.
Bowie’s part – cut from the US version – was simple but crucial: introducing viewers to the surreal story in which a snowman comes to life. “This attic’s full of memories for me,” he begins. “We spent all our summers by the seaside and in winter at home, by the fire,” he goes on, wandering about the attic and retrieving a scarf.
“Frost on the window,” he recalls, “and snow. Snowballs and making snowmen. One winter I made a really big snowman and he got this scarf for me. You see, he was a real snowman. That winter brought the heaviest snow I’d ever seen. The snow fell steadily all through the night. And when I woke up, the room was full of light and silence, and I knew then it was to be a magical day.” Always a storyteller – who else could have done such a magical job?
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8 Replies
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Jung: prior to MLT’s version, I had no awareness or knowledge, nor even knew or heard of this song or movie… but I still prefer MLT’s version as my fave and best intrerpretation????
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So this shows how much talent the Mona Lisa Twins have. To take a beautiful song and make it their own. It amazes me how talented these ladies are. I Know I may say this to much I guess but these ladies are in a very small group that can do covers and do them well. My example of this is Elvis, how many songs he has covered and did a great job at it. One I recall is You Lost That Loving Feeling from his 1970 film That’s the way it is. He raised the bar on that song. But I am so glad the Mona Lisa Twins finally did this song and boy did they do a great production job. How beautiful the sights are in this video and seeing the horses is breath taking for me. I am sure pa pa and Michelle have a hand in the production of their video’s and as I always say, it is worth the wait. Thank you Mona and Lisa and MLT team for a wonderful Christmas gift!
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Jacki, after MLT version of this, there is only one version worth listening to, everything else pales in comparison. That is the same for many other MLT covers.
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Bill, I totally agree, everything is breathtaking. I love those horses in the video, and Mona and Lisa are beyond awesome!
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Hey, I feel like I just crossed a milestone
I like lots of zeroes, like when the odometer on my 89 Mustang rolled over 300,000.00 KM. I was going for 400,000 next, but a brand new lazer red Mustang GT put a spell over me before I could do the 400,000.
It’s even more awesome to see MLT youtube videos do the X,000,000 quite often now.
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Congratulations on your milestone, Jung. And thanks for sharing the info about the movie. Bowie is such a great story teller. His accent is very captivating. He played the Elephant Man on Broadway in the early eighties. I remember seeing it on TV. It’s very good. Unlike the movie, he did not wear prosthetics to disfigure himself. The audience just accepts that his character is disfigured. He did alter his voice and walked with a cane. It’s a very moving performance.
Anyway, back to MLT. Like Jacki, I was not familiar with this song before now. I love it, and I really see what you mean about listening to it in the car. As soon as it begins, I feel the need to accelerate. But I really love the guitars on this. The sweeping rhythm guitar and Lisa’s lead work is just great. I think Lisa’s leads and solos on this have a nice bluesy rock sound to them. Every time I try do pin it down to one influence, like “that sounded like Clapton, no wait that sounds like George, wait that bend sounded like Gilmour… It’s that Lisa sound. These chicks rock.
And while we’re here, what about Dreams? Do not operate heavy machinery or drive at night while listening to this song. Those celestial harmonies are so relaxing, I just want to put the seat back and close my eyes.
JP
As I type, Silent Night is playing. Wondrous.
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Thanks JP! I didn’t realize David Bowie was such a great actor. I really enjoyed this short clip of him doing Elephant Man. I don’t know if it was intentional but I thought it was brilliant they did not have David have his face all made up to look grotesque, because watching this, what it made me feel is that inside, the character portrayed by David Bowie, is a perfectly beautiful person, and the physical appearance is really superficial, if only other people could look past the veil.
When I first heard Walking In The Air last Christmas time, I was just blown away by how MLT could transform an already beautiful song into something even more beautiful and magnificent and something completely MonaLisa Twins, no mistaking it.
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