Planes in songs

[Shiny Side Up]

Ok, time for an off the wall topic. For some reason I was thinking about how often to airplanes appear in song, mentioned specifically by instance, or model. I could only think up of a short list, and it would appear that Boeing is somewhat over represented - the name almost synonymous with the term airliner. Though that said, the boeing bombers also get a fair shake at it. Here's the short list that I could come up with.

Boeing:
Boeing 707 - Jet Airliner - Steve Miller Band
Boeing 707 - Early Morning Rain - Neil Young
Boeing 737 - Travelling Band - CCR
Boeing 747 - Women in Uniform - Iron Maiden
Boeing 747 - Amelia - Joni Mitchell
Boeing 747 - 747 - Eddie Rabbitt
B-52 - Peace Dog - The Cult
B-52 - Stairway to Cleveland - Jefferson Starship

Enola Gay is specifically mentioned in two songs: "Manhattan Project" - Rush and "Tail Gunner" - Iron Maiden.

Douglas:
DC-10 - Stairway to Cleveland - Jefferson Starship

Supermarine:
Spitfire - Aces High - Iron Maiden

Messerschmitt:
ME-109 (of course referring erroneously to the Bf-109) - Aces High - Iron Maiden
ME-262 - ME-262 - Blue Oyster Cult

Republic
P-47 - Johnny Come Lately - Steve Earle

[ahramin]

What ... no Airbus?

[YYZSaabGuy]

Boeing 707 - Early Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:S ... t_aircraft for those of us with more search proficiency than imagination (i.e. me).

[ehbuddy]

Running on Empty by Jackson Browne

AC 767 Gimli AT 330 Azores

[Changes in Latitudes]

Jetstream - New Order. A shitcan song, a shitcan airplane.

Did Shiny just credit "In the early morning rain" to Neil Young? I covered that song once on the kazoo, you should've given it to me.
Everyone knows Peter, Paul, and Mary made that song famous.

[Illya Kuryakin]

Getting a wee bit desperate for material ain't we?
Illya

[Changes in Latitudes]

Getting a wee bit desperate for material ain't we?
Illya

Well if this is a WE thing, you could always participate too.


Carly Simon - You're so Vein (Learjet)

Jimmy Buffett - Jamaica Mistaka (Jimmy's Albatross got shot up in Jamaica)

Like a G6 - Some dance thing, ask your kids.

[DHC-1 Jockey]

Burton Cummings - My Own Way to Rock (747)

[Shiny Side Up]

Getting a wee bit desperate for material ain't we?
Illya

Well yeah! You must have missed my I'm Telling You For the Last Time About Ultralights tour, where I retired my old material. You know since I hurt a lot of feelings with that stuff, so I'm trying to have a lighter tone to my work.

[iflyforpie]

Airline Amy: Weird Al. (747).

Did Shiny just credit "In the early morning rain" to Neil Young? I covered that song once on the kazoo, you should've given it to me.
Everyone knows Peter, Paul, and Mary made that song famous.

Peter Paul and Mary may have made that song famous.... but Gordon Lightfoot's original will always be the best version of the song as far as I'm concerned.

[iflyforpie]

Unsurprisingly... there aren't too many mentions of specific aircraft in songs.

One thing I've always wondered is what kind of plane they were flying in Learning to Fly by Pink Floyd? It's obviously a piston twin of some sort from the radio and intercom chatter... it would be interesting to know.

[Chaxterium]

The 737 and G6 are mentioned in Dierks Bentley's "Drunk on a Plane".
Wilco has a song named "Dash 7". It's not exactly flattering to Dash 7s but it's still not a bad song.

Cheers,
Chax

[Changes in Latitudes]

Airline Amy: Weird Al. (747).

Did Shiny just credit "In the early morning rain" to Neil Young? I covered that song once on the kazoo, you should've given it to me.
Everyone knows Peter, Paul, and Mary made that song famous.

Peter Paul and Mary may have made that song famous.... but Gordon Lightfoot's original will always be the best version of the song as far as I'm concerned.

That goes without saying, it's called the Lightfoot Constant. I was just foolin' with the PPM reference.

[Illya Kuryakin]

G4
Jimmy Buffett again "Overkill"
They fly around in G4's and suck on big cigars.
Illya

[Illya Kuryakin]

Airline Amy: Weird Al. (747).

Did Shiny just credit "In the early morning rain" to Neil Young? I covered that song once on the kazoo, you should've given it to me.
Everyone knows Peter, Paul, and Mary made that song famous.

Peter Paul and Mary may have made that song famous.... but Gordon Lightfoot's original will always be the best version of the song as far as I'm concerned.

disregard.
Illya

[iflyforpie]

Pink Floyd: Money.

I'm in a high-fidelity first-class travelling set,
And I think I need a Learjet.

[Shiny Side Up]

Unsurprisingly... there aren't too many mentions of specific aircraft in songs.

Hence, the interest in the topic, songs that actually are not as tangentally related to flying, or in some cases directly related to flying often don't mention specific planes, but rather planes are often a setting or a prop for a song. For instance, songs like This Flight Tonight, Wop May, and Snoopy vs The Red Baron mention no planes in the lyrics. Curious.

One thing I've always wondered is what kind of plane they were flying in Learning to Fly by Pink Floyd? It's obviously a piston twin of some sort from the radio and intercom chatter... it would be interesting to know.

I've more often wondered what plane Joni was on where the flaps go up when the wheels go down.

[ehbuddy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5akEgsZSfhg

[iflyforpie]

I thought it was 'out go the flaps, down go the wheels.'

Of course.... anything about aviation in a popular medium is bound to have mistakes.

[cdnpilot77]

Well there is also a band called the B-52's