Songs about planes and flying

First of all, at 56 you’re far from an old fart. You’re still a middle-aged fart! :wink:

As for how the Stones do it, as you alluded to earlier in the thread, Jagger is a smart, self-reflective person. He’s never been a crazy drunken druggie partier, he’s more of a shrewd businessman with an eye toward the future. He started jogging and taking care of himself early on so he could run around the stage for an hour or two, every night on tour.

Richards is another story altogether. He’s famous for his drug use, but he said in his autobiography that he never used drugs for fun or recreation, but just to help get done what he needed to do. Like gears- if he was down, he took a drug that would shift him up. If he was revving and needed to slow down, he’d do a down-shift drug. He recounted a setting where they had rented a mansion (in France? Been a long time since I read it) and he was busy mixing an album (Exile on Main Street?). He was awake for like 9 days straight, with people partying, and crashing, and waking up, and passing out again, all while he was busy putting together the tracks. Finally, on the ninth day, he just passed out flat on his face. He must just have an amazing constitution. I’ve heard it said that with all his drug use to stay awake, his ‘consciousness hours’ are like that of someone 150% of his actual age, so effectively that of a 120 year old.

Yeah, they recorded “Exile On Main Street” in a mansion in South France and called it that because they were in exile from UK taxes. I read a whole book about these recordings and the circumstances, they were wild and crazy. And that’s why I’m amazed they are still going strong, I wouldn’t have survived a week there. Lots of anecdotes could be told, but I don’t want to hijack the thread further.

I’ve actually seen them six times. We saw them both nights at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. We had tickets for Friday night, but came back the next night and bought scalped (kind of) tickets for the Saturday show, which I believe was added later.

Ah, hijack away, it’s CS, so the mods aren’t as stringent, it’s my thread, and I certainly don’t mind. I’ve always enjoyed the tangents and side tracks these more casual forum topic threads can take. And I’m enjoying the heck out of this thread. If you haven’t read Keith Richards’ autobiography ‘Life’ I’m sure you would really enjoy it! Now I want to reread it.

And here, right back on track:

The Rolling Stones - Who’s Driving Your Plane

Aw, now you’re just bragging :wink:

What other bands have you seen? I really want to hear your stories now, either here— hijack away, in a pm exchange, or if one of us starts a ‘concerts we’ve been to’ thread (you’d definitely beat me there).

Be sure I read it shortly after it came out :wink:. It was a hoot.

Ok, one anecdote of the “Exile” recordings I like the most: they started out in their usual modus operandi, getting up late, wasting the day away with leisure and some drugs before beginning serious recording in the evening. They expanded the leisure/drug taking times more and more so that at one point, they were surprised to notice that they worked in usual business hours from 9 to 5.

Well, we have a 7am flight and I’ve been told we should be there 3 hours early for an international flight, so I think I’m going to wind it down. Thanks to all of you for a nice distraction for me today, and a very entertaining thread. Catch y’all when I get back!

Ha! That is ironic.

Workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin’

Have a great vacation!

Thanks!

The concert thread sounds fun. I have seen some great ones.

Have a wonderful time!

Oh, come on, people are there no art lovers here?

      I bet Regina’s on the plane
      A Newsweek on her knees
      While far below the curlews call
      From strangely stunted trees
I mean, a band took their name from the title.

Also,
      I’m gonna build a Jumbo Ark
      Stretch seven-forty-seven

Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today
We just touched ground on an international runway
Jet propelled back home, from overseas to the U.S.A.

“Back In The U.S.A.” - Chuck Berry

Sadly this has been running in my head for the last couple week.
Of course in Johnie Cash’s voice

Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)

‘Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita
Adiós mi amigo, Jesus y María
You won’t have a name when you ride the big airplane
And all they will call you will be “Deportee”

The sky-plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon
A fireball of thunder, it shook all the hills
Who are all these dear friends scattered like dry leaves?
The radio said they were just deportees’

Has anyone mentioned the two tracks on Radiohead’s best album, OK Computer?
“Lucky” includes the lyric “pull me out of the air crash,” while “The Tourist” arguably is about flying (as well as a metaphor for living or thinking too fast):

They ask me where the hell
I’m going?
At a thousand feet per second

Hmm…I guess “The Tourist” isn’t about flying in a plane, after all. I always thought it was, until I saw the lyrics written out just now. Well, that’s what makes great art.

Australian band, the Hoodoo Gurus, ‘I was a Kamikaze Pilot’.

Pet Shop Boys - Love Etc.

You need more than a big blank check to be a lover, or
A Gulfstream jet to fly you door to door
Somewhere chic on another shore
You need more, you need more, you need more [etc.]

Thanks sw!

Good one!

British Heavy Rock Band Tygers of Pang Tang and Hellbound which basically describes an aerial dogfight.

TCMF-2L

In a very tenuous link to flying, British Pop Group The Squeeze had an early hit with Cool For Cats and the lyrics include

“The Sweeney’s doing ninety 'cause they’ve got the word to go
They get a gang of villains in a shed up at Heathrow”

The Sweeney referencing a department of the London police - The Flying Squad although they were not an aerial unit of any kind - and Heathrow being a London airport. ‘Doing 90’ suggesting they were driving fast - 90 MPH - in a built up area.

TCMF-2L

Another reference to Heathrow Airport is in British New Wave Band The Members’ song Sound of the Suburbs

“Every lousy Monday morning, Heathrow jets go crashing over our home
Ten o’clock Broadmoor siren, driving me mad, won’t leave me alone”

Trivia:

The song was an early production job for Steve Lillywhite who would continue to a very successful career with almost every British New Wave artist plus some high profile stuff with U2, Rolling Stones and The Killers. His brother was drummer in The Members.

On a personal note I used to live near enough to hear the Broadmoor siren on a Monday morning. Broadmoor is a secure hospital in Berkshire housing some of the UK’s most notorious criminals (used to house one of the Kray twins which might register in the USA.) Every Monday they would test the siren (signifying an escape) for a few minutes. Then after a gap you would (hopefully) hear them sound the all clear.

TCMF-2L