| Rola: | Sky Pilot |
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| Traducción: | Piloto espacial | |
| Intérprete: | Eric Burdon & the Animals | |
| Compositor: | Barry Jenkins, Danny McCulloch, Eric Burdon, John Weider, Vic Briggs | |
| Disco: | The Twain Shall Meet | |
| Productor: | Tom Wilson | |
| Orden al bat: | 094 | |
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Sky Pilot is a 1968 song by Eric Burdon & The Animals, released on the album The Twain Shall Meet. When released as a single the song was split across both sides, due to its length. As Sky Pilot (Parts 1 & 2) it reached number 14 on the U.S. pop charts and number 15 on the Canadian RPM chart. The Sky Pilot of the title is a military chaplain, as revealed by the opening verse: He blesses the boys As they stand in line The smell of gun grease And the bayonets they shine He's there to help them All that he can To make them feel wanted He's a good holy man The line-up includes Eric Burdon on lead vocals, Vic Briggs on guitar, John Weider on guitar and electric violin, Danny McCulloch on bass guitar, and Barry Jenkins on drums. The song is a balladic slice of life story about a chaplain who blesses a body of troops just before they set out on an overnight raid or patrol, and then retires to await their return. Sky Pilot is organized into three movements: an introduction, a programmatic interlude, and a conclusion. The introduction begins with the verse quoted above, sung a cappella and solo by Eric Burdon. Thereafter the band joins in with instruments for the chorus. Several verse-chorus iterations follow, leaving the story with the "boys" gone to battle and the Sky Pilot retired to his bed. The verses are musically lean, dominated by the vocal and a pulsing bass guitar, with a strummed acoustic guitar and drum mixed in quietly. The interlude starts as a guitar solo, but the guitar is quickly submerged under a montage of battle sounds. First come the sounds of an airstrike; then the airstrike and Rock band fade into the sounds of shouting, gunfire, and bagpipes. Near the end of the interlude the battle sounds fade, briefly leaving the bagpipes playing alone before the third movement begins. (The bagpipe music is a covert recording of the pipers of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards playing "All The Bluebonnets Are Over The Border", captured by Burdon while performing at a school. He received an angry letter from the UK government (or possibly the Crown) over his use of the recording in the song.) The conclusion begins with the return of the bass and strummed acoustic guitar, accompanied by strings. After a few measures the verses resume, but with a quieter, melancholy atmosphere: one verse is sung along with bass, guitar, and strings, and then without a choral break a final verse (quoted below) is sung to bass, guitar, and woodwinds. Finally a strong bass line announces the return of the chorus, now accompanied with horns and piccolos, repeated several times as it fades. The musical effect is very upbeat, in stark contrast with the "downer" content of the movement's lyrics. The song is universally interpreted as an anti-war protest song. There are no overt anti-war statements, but no glorification of war either. The (presumed) anti-war message is conveyed simply and obliquely, by lines such as: But he'll stay behind And he'll meditate But it won't stop the bleeding Or ease the hate and the final verse: In the morning they return With tears in their eyes The stench of death Drifts up to the skies A young soldier so ill Looks at the Sky Pilot Remembers the words 'Thou Shall Not Kill' There is also a sense of futility, or perhaps moral judgement upon the chaplain, conveyed by the chorus: Sky Pilot How High Can You Fly You'll never reach the sky The war in question is usually assumed to be the Vietnam War, though the bagpipes and apparent sounds of a dive bomber in the interlude, taken with the UK nationality of the artists, may suggest an earlier era; the A-1 Skyraider, sometimes referred to by its radio call sign of Sandy, was a dive bomber, and was heavily used during the Vietnam War. Besides the use of "found sound" in the interlude section, and heavy use of reverb and echos, the song is notable for its use of flanging, the swept "whooshing" sound effect laid over the entire track, most prominently during the chorus sections. |
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| Duración: | 07:23 |
| Año: | 1968 |
| Formato: | 7" |
| A la venta: | 01/01/1968 |
| Lado B: | Sky Pilot (part 2) |
| Disquera: | MGM |
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John Weider - guitarra y violín Vic Briggs - guitarra Danny McCulloch - bajo Barry Jenkins - batería the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards - pasaje de gaitas |
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Sky Pilot
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Piloto espacial
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He blesses the boys As they stand in line The smell of gun grease And the bayonets they shine He's there to help them All that he can To make them feel wanted He's a good holy man Sky Pilot How High Can You Fly You'll never reach the sky He smiles at the young soldiers Tells them its all right He knows of their fear in the forthcoming fight Soon there'll be blood and many will die Mothers and fathers back home they will cry Sky Pilot How High Can You Fly You'll never reach the sky He mumbles a prayer and it ends with a smile The order is given They move down the line But he's still behind and he'll meditate But it won't stop the bleeding or ease the hate As the young men move out into the battle zone He feels good, with God you're never alone He feels so tired and he lays on his bed Hopes the men will find courage in the words that he said Sky Pilot How High Can You Fly You'll never reach the sky You're soldiers of God you must understand The fate of your country is in your young hands May God give you strength Do your job real well If it all was worth it Only time it will tell In the morning they return With tears in their eyes The stench of death Drifts up to the skies A young soldier so ill Looks at the Sky Pilot Remembers the words 'Thou Shall Not Kill' Sky Pilot How High Can You Fly You'll never reach the sky |
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LADO A 1. "Monterey" 2. "Just The Thought" 3. "Closer To The Truth" 4. "No Self Pity" 5. "Orange And Red Beams" |
LADO B 1. "Sky Pilot (parts 1 & 2)" 2. "We Love You Lil" 3. "All Is One" |
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The Twain Shall Meet is an album released in 1968 by Eric Burdon & The Animals. It includes Sky Pilot, an anti-war song of the Vietnam War era, including the sound of a plane crashing and a guitar riff by Vic Briggs, and Monterey, the band's tribute to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Reviewer Bruce Elder of Allmusic describes the song "All Is One" as "unique in the history of pop music as a psychedelic piece, mixing bagpipes, sitar, oboes, horns, flutes, and a fairly idiotic lyric, all within the framework of a piece that picks up its tempo like the dance music from Zorba the Greek while mimicking the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'." It charted #78 on the U.S. Billboard album chart. |
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Eric Burdon & the Animals: Newcastle
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London. Known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman Eric Burdon, as exemplified by their number one signature song "The House of the Rising Sun" as well as by hits such as "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", "It's My Life" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", the band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm and blues-oriented album material. They became known in the U.S. as part of the British Invasion. The Animals underwent numerous personnel changes in the mid-1960s and suffered from poor business management. Under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals, they moved to California and achieved commercial success as a psychedelic rock band, before disbanding at the end of the decade. Altogether, the group had ten Top Twenty hits in both the UK Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The original lineup had a brief comeback in 1977 and 1983. There have been several partial regroupings of the original era members since then under various names. The Animals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. A group with Burdon, Jenkins, and new sidemen John Weider (guitar/violin/bass), Vic Briggs (guitar/piano), and Danny McCulloch (bass) were formed under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals (or sometimes Eric Burdon and the New Animals) in December 1966 and changed direction. The hard driving blues was transformed into Burdon's version of psychedelia as the former heavy drinking Geordie (who later said he could never get used to Newcastle "where the rain comes at you sideways") relocated to California and became a spokesman for the Love Generation. Some of this group's hits included "San Franciscan Nights",[10] "Monterey" (a tribute to the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival), and "Sky Pilot". Their sound was much heavier than the original group. Burdon screamed more and louder on live versions of "Paint It Black" and "Hey Gyp". In 1968 they had a more experimental sound on songs like "We Love You Lil" and the 19-minute record "New York 1963 - America 1968". The songs had a style of being silent at the beginning and then becoming psychedelic and raw straight to the end with screaming, strange lyrics and 'scrubbing' instruments. There were further changes to this lineup: George Bruno (also known as Zoot Money, keyboards) was added in April 1968, and in July 1968 Andy Summers (guitar) - later of The Police - replaced Briggs and McCulloch. By February 1969 these Animals had dissolved and the singles "Ring of Fire" and "River Deep – Mountain High" were internationally released. Burdon joined forces with a Latin group from Long Beach, California, called War. |
