Walking in the Air - wikipedia Walking in the Air This article is about the Howard Blake song. For the Nightwish album, see Walking in the Air : The Greatest Ballads. For the Chloë Agnew album, see Walking in the Air ( Chloë Agnew album ). Not to be confused with Walking on Air. `` Walking in the Air '' is a song written by Howard Blake for the 1982 animated film of Raymond Briggs ' 1978 children 's book The Snowman. The song forms the centrepiece of The Snowman, which has become a seasonal favorite on British and Finnish television. The story relates the fleeting adventures of a young boy and a snowman who has come to life. In the second part of the story, the boy and the snowman fly to the North Pole. `` Walking in the Air '' is the theme for the journey. They attend a party of snowmen, at which the boy seems to be the only human until they meet Father Christmas with his reindeer, and the boy is given a scarf with a snowman pattern. In the film, the song was performed by St Paul 's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty, and reissued in 1985 ( on Stiff Records ) and 1987. In 1985, an altered version was recorded for use in a TV advertising campaign for Toys `` R '' Us. As Auty 's voice had then broken, Blake recommended the Welsh chorister Aled Jones, whose recording reached number five in the UK pop charts, and who became a popular celebrity on the strength of his performance. The association of the song with Jones, combined with the fact that Auty was not credited on The Snowman, would lead to a common misbelief that Jones performed the song in the film. `` Walking in the Air '' has subsequently been covered by over forty artists, in a variety of styles. Contents 1 Recorded versions 2 Uses in other media 3 References 4 External links Recorded versions Annie Haslam recorded under the title `` The Snowman '' on her 2005 Christmas album It Snows in Heaven Too. Aled Jones ( as a boy soprano ) in a duet with himself ( as an adult baritone ) as part of his 2007 Album You Raise Me Up - The Best of Aled Jones All About Eve as the second track on their EP Iceland ( 2002 ) Andrew Johnston performs a duet of the song with Faryl Smith on his 2008 album One Voice Angelis 2006 Aurora the Norwegian singer, sings a version of this song overlaying a video of the film `` The Snowman '' Bill Thompson did 6 versions of `` Walking in the Air, '' including a duet version with Peter Auty. Breakcore musician Shitmat uses samples from `` Walking in the Air '' on his song `` Dis Dancehall Ting Is Better Than That T.V. Ting Tony. '' Chloë Agnew from Celtic Woman, on her title album, in the song `` Last Rose of Summer / Walking in the Air '' Christine Guldbrandsen used part of the lyrics from `` Walking in The Air '' on her song `` Surfing in the Air '' found in the album with the same name. Cincinnati Pops Orchestra on their 1990 album `` Christmas with the Pops '' with Stephen Van Dyck, boy soprano Cliff Richard on his 2003 album `` Cliff at Christmas '' Connie Talbot 2007 : Over the Rainbow Ronan Tynan 2007 ; Medley : Walking in the Air / Do You Hear What I Hear `` I 'll Be Home For Christmas '' ( Ronan Tynan Album ) Declan Galbraith 2001 Digital Dream Baby 1991 Walking In The Air ( The Remixes ) From The Snowman Elaine Paige on her 1986 album `` Christmas '' Foxy Shazam recorded a cover version which was released in 2009. George Lam Waiting for a Night ( Traditional Chinese : 在 等 一個 晚上 ) 1989 George Winston ( The Snowman, Walking in the Air ) 1992 ; ( Forest with two other selections from The Snowman : `` Building the Snowman '' and `` The Snowman 's Music Box Dance '' ) 1994 Grand Belial 's Key play an organ version of Walking in the Air on `` At the Blessed Grotto '' in their 1997 album, Mocking the Philanthropist. Hayley Westenra on her second album `` Hayley Westenra '' ( 2001 ) Jackie Evancho on her album Heavenly Christmas ( Columbia / Sony ) 2011 Jillian Aversa on her album Through Sand and Snow ( Overclocked Records ) 2008 Joseph McManners ( In Dreams ( Joseph McManners album ) ) 2005 Joshua Redman 2007 : Back East first instrumental version of the song Kenneth Smith 1992 Grimethorpe Colliery Band ( British Brass Band ) on their 1997 album `` A White Christmas with Grimethorpe '' Kenny Loggins on his 1998 album `` December '' Kevin Kinsella on his 2014 album `` Riding Higher Still '' King 's Singers ( Kid 's Stuff, EMI ) 1988 Kurt Nilsen, the 2003 World Idol winner, performed a version together with Kringkastingsorkesteret ( the Norwegian broadcasting company orchestra ) on his 2010 album `` Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. '' The Maccabees for a Live Lounge session Michael Chertock ( Christmas At the Movies ) 1998 Mimicking Birds ( Band from Portland ) Recorded a cover version in 2011, released on YouTube ( 2 ) Nightwish on their 1998 album Oceanborn Oceansize played it live twice during their Effloresce tours, recorded a studio version in December 2007, and released it on their Myspace as a 1st Xmas Single. Plácido Domingo and Riccardo Cocciante in A Gala Christmas in Vienna Rainbow `` Snowman '' ( Bent Out of Shape ) 1983 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Tring Music School ( Hybrid ) 1995 Ryan Sheridan - Walking in the Air ( Christmas 2011 ) Siobhan Owen recorded this in its original English and in Japanese ( Sora Wo Aruku ) on her album `` Storybook Journey '' ( 2012 ). St. Philips Boy 's Choir on their 1997 album Angel Voices 3, Soloist Liam O'Kane Danish musician Ste van Holm released an ambient version sung by Edith Tvede in December 2010. Sumi Jo on the 2009 album the sumi jo collection - disk 1 Tangerine Dream, used as the end music in the 1983 film The Keep Tarja Turunen ( Henkäys Ikuisuudesta ) 2006 / 2010 The Shadows ( Simply Shadows ) 1987 The Swingle Singers ( Walking in the Air ) 2006 Westlife with Mary Black sang this song live. Woods of Infinity interpreted the song on their 2011 album Förlåt The two guitarists of Iron Maiden, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray, played an altered version during their tour to support Somewhere in Time, first half containing a solo duel between the two guitarists, the second half of which Murray played the vocal melody while Smith played supporting rhythm. This combination is known as `` Walking On Glass. '' Independent dubstep musician Hereldeduke recorded a remix entitled `` The Snowman, '' which had over 1, 8 million views on YouTube by December 2017. This song was featured in Ernie and his Rubber Ducky with the song divided into two halves and Bear in his New Car with the whole song. Euternity October 2008 : first electronic cover version. Created by Ukrainian music project, it mixes in the sound elements of electronic, pop - rock with opera vocals. The Eastern Sea recorded a cover on the band 's third album, `` First Christmas, '' ( 2012 ) produced by Louie Lino. Sam Robson recorded his own arrangement, singing all of the parts, on his album `` An A Capella Christmas ''. ( 2015 ) Kristoffer Lo & NTNU Jazz Ensemble recorded a cover rearranged by Kristoffer Lo ( 2013 ). Autoheart released a cover on their Soundcloud page for Christmas in 2016. Tom Chaplin recorded a cover for his 2017 album Twelve Tales of Christmas Uses in other media In 1985 the song was featured in a Christmas advert for Toys `` R '' Us where it shows a teddy bear flying a boy to the store. A 1980s popular An Post advert for Christmas stamps ever since every year at Christmas still seen on television today. During their Somewhere on Tour concert tour heavy metal band Iron Maiden sampled the song in the song ' Walking on Glass '. Abbas Kiarostami used the song in the closing credits of the movie Ten. A parody version of it was used in a British television commercial in 2006, for an Irn - Bru advert. It was used in a 2013 World Wide Fund for Nature commercial showing on YouTube, performed by Vajèn van den Bosch ( nl ). References Jump up ^ `` Tämä ohjelma on katsojien joulusuosikki '' ( in Finnish ). Retrieved 2018 - 02 - 25. Jump up ^ `` Snowman singer finds voice at last ''. BBC News. 2002 - 12 - 09. Retrieved 2016 - 12 - 21. Jump up ^ `` Singles '', Sounds, 14 December 1985, p. 22 Jump up ^ http://ronantynan.net/ill-be-home-for-christmas/ Jump up ^ George Lam 's version on YouTube Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Archived December 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` Dubstep Snowman ''. YouTube. 2008 - 12 - 09. Retrieved 2012 - 01 - 12. Jump up ^ `` Walking in the air Howard Blake, Snowman by EUTERNITY ''. YouTube. Jump up ^ Irn - Bru advertisement parody Jump up ^ WWF Commercial - Win de Wereld External links ( 3 ) Recordings of The Snowman & Walking In The Air Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walking_in_the_Air&oldid=827553295 '' Categories : Christmas songs 1999 singles Nightwish songs Number - one singles in Finland 1982 songs Hidden categories : CS1 Finnish - language sources ( fi ) Webarchive template wayback links All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016 Interlanguage link template link number Talk Contents About Wikipedia Български Čeština Deutsch Français Italiano Magyar 日本 語 Русский Suomi Svenska Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 25 February 2018, at 10 : 56. 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Question: who wrote the song walking in the air
Answer: Howard Blake