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Sky Pilot (song)

"Sky Pilot"
Sky pilot - 45rpm cover.jpg
1968 45rpm cover
Single by Eric Burdon & The Animals
from the album The Twain Shall Meet
A-side "Sky Pilot (Part One)"
B-side "Sky Pilot (Part Two)"
Released January 1968 (UK)
May 1968 (USA)
Format 7" single
Recorded 1967
Genre Psychedelic rock, acid rock
Length 7:27 (album)
2:55 (single Part 1)
4:30 (single Part 2)
Label MGM 1373 (UK)
MGM K13939 (U.S.)
Writer(s) Burdon, Briggs, Weider, Jenkins, McCulloch
Producer(s) Tom Wilson, arranged and orchestrated by Vic Briggs
Eric Burdon & The Animals singles chronology
"Monterey"
(USA, Nov 1967)
"Sky Pilot"
(1968)
"White Houses"
(1968)

"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 (7:27). 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 full version of "Sky Pilot" is the anthem of 'The Allegiance of Existential Goodfellows,' a kiting institution from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The Sky Pilot of the title is a military chaplain, as revealed by the opening verse:

The Chorus section makes a statement:

"Sky Pilot,/ Sky Pilot,/ How high can you fly,/ You;; never. never, never, reach the sky."

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 , 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.


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