airship

Maiden Flight of German Airship (1908)

| Forgotten Fields

I love this footage. It records an event almost identical to what I imagine in my music for “Airship”.

British Pathé describes the footage thus:

Airship is pulled to middle of field. The passenger basket / gondola beneath the ship fills up and the airship takes off. Among those in the gondola may be airship pioneer Dr Hugo Eckener. Dirigible in flight and coming into land when the crew and passengers disembark and are greeted by waiting crowds. Members of the crew chat to waiting dignitaries before they go to waiting cars.

© British Pathé

Concept “Airship” Artwork

| Forgotten Fields

airship_rough_1
airship_rough_2

These are two rough composite “sketches” I quickly put together. They illustrate the images in my mind when I am writing music for the “Airship” concept album. It’s a perfect summer’s day in the early 1900s. Somewhere, on a forgotten field in France, a crowd has gathered. They are there to watch the first flight of a new airship. There is excitement in the air as the behemoth gently rises. Children point and gaze, open-mouthed in wonder: Look, it’s flying! The pilot and crew are nervous, a tense expression on the faces of the pilot and engineers… Oh, man. I hope, eventually, to create detailed pencil drawings, watercolours or, perhaps, digital illustrations to accompany the music.

Come Take A Trip In My Airship (1904)

| Forgotten Fields

Come take a trip in my airship,
Come take a sail ‘mong the stars,
Come have a ride around Venus,
Come have a spin around Mars.
No one to watch while we’re kissing,
No one to see while we spoon.
Come take a trip in my airship,
And we’ll visit the man in the moon.

Chorus of “Come Take A Trip In My Airship” (circa 1904) sung by J. W. Myers