Songs about air travel and airplane culture?

Cafe Society
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So being stuck again in business travel purgatory at some undefinable point between Gate 43, X-hour layover for connection Y, clearing gravel pebble #473 from stuck luggage wheel #2, I feel I need some tunes to bond with my fellow purgatorees.

I’m looking for songs that get the feel for the human experience of airports and airplanes. What I’ve got:

Aeroplane - Jethro Tull
Stratford-on-Guy - Liz Phair
1000 Miles Away - Hoodoo Gurus

P.S. to old Fred Sanford-looking guy at the Bagel Express counter…your laughing and chatting somehow made a 3am overpriced oily chewy pizza bagel give me the will to carry on and smile at the existential absurdity of it all. This playlist is for you, dude bagel-bump.

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Brian Eno’s Music for Airports

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  • “Back in the U.S.S.R.”
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"Took my chances on a big jet plane, never let them tell you that they’re all the same. "
Led Zeppelin - Going to California

“Coming in from London from over the pole
Flying in a big airliner
Chickens flying everywhere around the plane
Could we ever feel much finer?”
Arlo Guthrie - Coming Into Los Angeles

“Oh, Oh big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away
Oh, Oh big ol’ jet airliner
Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay”
Steve Miller Band - Jet Airliner

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Peter, Paul & Mary – Leaving On A Jet Plane

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Leavin’ On A Jet Plane. John Denver or Peter, Paul and Mary.

ETA: note to self:type faster.

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“Leaving on a Jet Plane” always struck a chord with me

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“Come Josephine in My Flying Machine”

I love the Spike Jones version with the traditional first verse and a swingin’ second verse about a B19 bomber.

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Silver Wings; Merle Haggard & the Strangers

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“Seymor Stein” by Belle & Sebastian is kind of about flying.

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It’s oldies time!

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go.

Ain’t got time for a fast train.

But if you want a song that really expresses feelings about air travel, here’s a little gem from Paul Revere and The Raiders.Totally forgotten now, but it peaked at #17.

ETA: Note to self. Type MUCH faster!

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8 Miles High, The Byrds
Just A Song Before I Go, Crosby. Stills and Nash
Early Morning Rain, Gordon Lightfoot
DOA, Bloodrock (A cheery little number)

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Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines/they go up-tiddly-up-up, they go down-diddly-down-down.

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“Airplane” - The Roaches.

Great song by a not very well known trio of Sisters.

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Great stuff, can’t believe I didn’t recall PP&M or Steve Miller :smack:

Update:

Learning to Fly - Pink Floyd

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Sky Pilot, The Animals.

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You beat me to it.

But there’s another Canadian who sang songs about flying.

Oscar Brand, *The Wild Blue Yonder: Songs For A Fighting Air Force *. (Still alive, BTW, at 94.)

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Please pardon the hijack.

Might be more well known than you think (1:16 - 10:17).

This thread shall now resume its original heading.

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This Flight Tonight, Joni Mitchell (Or Nazareth, if you prefer.)

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Tom Paxton has “I Lost My Heart on a 747” and “Thank You Republic Airlines”