A little pep talk courtesy of a television advertisement for an anti-inflammatory patch.
FORGOTTEN FIELDS
Inspiration
High Flight
Poet and aviator
Since the theme of Airship is aviation, I thought I’d share High Flight, the sonnet that made poet and aviator John Gillespie Magee, Jr. famous. I first came across it in “January 28, 1986”, a short track by Owl City from All Things Bright and Beautiful (2011). The track samples Ronald Reagan’s Challenger disaster speech, in which he borrows from the first and last line of the sonnet. When I looked the sample up, I discovered High Flight. I loved it, instantly. Magee’s words are like aeroplane wings, cutting through the aether—brilliant, proud, joyous and free:
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds—and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
Magee wrote the sonnet just months before his death in a mid-air collision. It was 1941—he was nineteen years old.
FORGOTTEN FIELDS
A million faces gazing upwards in wonder
Early inspiration for Airship
Many years ago, I was introduced to VNV Nation. The album was Futureperfect (2002). From the first minute, I was hooked. The track that captured my imagination most was “Airships”, the final track on the album. It planted the seeds for what ultimately became my own Airship, nearly a decade and a half later. Their lyrics describe someone watching an airship as it flies above a city, reflected in the skyscrapers, “splendid and graceful”. The onlooker joins a host of others, amazed and rejoicing at the sight:
I was not alone, I think it was the first time
Watching you rise splendid and graceful.
I cheered as you sailed, a greatness unknown,
I laughed as I waved, imagined you saw me.
In the streets of the city, the windows of buildings,
A million faces gazing upwards in wonder,
A million faces together and cheering and smiling!
You were the warmth of their hearts, you were the sum of their dreams.
In the coldness of morning you brought warmth to their lives,
Giving this feeling of wonder I could not imagine,
You unlocking these thoughts no book and no picture could ever convey.
This feeling and morning had opened a door.
I stepped into a new world, I watched you fly,
Saw you as a friend, the spirit of dreams,
Imagined a new world, lands far away,
And imagined those faces as you hung in their sky.— From “Airships” by VNV Nation, Futureperfect (2002)
I breathe a sigh of longing whenever I listen to that song; it is otherworldly and inspiring. It describes what I felt when I wrote the music for Airship. I wanted to capture and convey that feeling of wonder. I hope I have succeeded.
FORGOTTEN FIELDS
Forgotten Fields 