Sky Pilot
1968 · MGM K-13939 · Hollywood, California
- Artist
- The Animals
- Title
- Sky Pilot
- Release
- Sky Pilot (Part 1) / Sky Pilot (Part 2)
- Year
- 1968
- Label
- MGM # K-13939
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- Hollywood, California, UK: England
- Genre
- Rock · Rock
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
The song "Sky Pilot" (MGM Records # K-13939), by the British psychedelic rock band the Animals, featured on the 1968 album The Twain Shall Meet. The group formed in 1962 in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, UK. The song is typically thought to be about the Vietnam War, although the band mainly referenced the Second World War. Billboard reviewed one of the group's live shows, on 30 March 1068. They wrote that the "group employed a variety of light show effects...In 'Sky Pilot', for example, photos of World War Two scenes, including shots of Adolf Hitler, were used. Then, during a climatic battle sequence, waves of incense-laden smoke was wafted from the stage to the audience. The song, dealing with clerical blessing of battle troops, was aimed at World War Two, but the topicality of the message was clear". (1) It told the story of an army chaplain blessing a group of troops setting out for war. Some interpreted this as an anti-war, protest song because of lines like "the stench of death drifts up to the skies... remembers the words 'thou shalt not kill'" - which is really a religious reference in relation to the chaplain at the centre of the story. The song also perhaps…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
English rock band formed in the early 1960s in Newcastle upon Tyne, England ('We Gotta Get Out of This Place'). [Source: Wikipedia]
Themes
In collections
European Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs · US Combat Perspective Songs