A Spaceman Came Travelling

"A Spaceman Came Travelling" is a song by Chris de Burgh. It first appeared on his second studio album, Spanish Train and Other Stories, which was released in 1975. It has been released numerous times as a single, becoming a popular Christmas song, and has appeared on many festive compilation albums.

"A Spaceman Came Travelling"
Single by Chris de Burgh
from the album Spanish Train and Other Stories
Released1976 (1976)
GenreRock, Christmas, art rock
Length5:10
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Chris de Burgh
Producer(s)Robin Geoffrey Cable
Chris de Burgh singles chronology
"Turning Around"
(1975)		 "A Spaceman Came Travelling"
(1976)		 "Just Another Poor Boy"
(1975)

Single release

The song was not an initial success in the UK and failed to chart. After its first release in 1976 it reached the top position of the Irish single charts staying 15 weeks in the Irish charts[1] and climbed to number 22 in the Canadian airplay charts.[2] However, in 1986, following de Burgh's huge success with "The Lady in Red", its reissue reached number 15 in Ireland charting for only 1 week. The song was also issued as a double A-side with the song "The Ballroom of Romance" and charted for the first time in the UK in 1986, reaching number 40 and staying on the chart for five weeks.[3] It was also released as a single in the Netherlands in 1985.

Composition

De Burgh, who had just signed his first recording contract with A&M Records, was broke and "staying at a friend's flat" when he read Chariots of the Gods? by Erich von Däniken. The book made him think "what if the star of Bethlehem was a space craft and what if there is a benevolent being or entity in the universe keeping an eye on the world and our foolish things that we do to each other?" A fan of Irish poet William Butler Yeats, whose work "The Second Coming" avers that every 2,000 years or so there would be a major cataclysmic event happening, de Burgh saw the birth of Christ as "such an event and then 2,000 years later there would be a similar" one. He imagined "the nativity scene, the thing hovering over and I could see the shepherds in the fields and this weird, ethereal music was drifting into the air and they were 'what the heck is that'?" But he "had no ideas about trying to write a hit record." The song failed to chart when it was first released as a single, but de Burgh says it's been "much better to have a regular recurring song than a hit for three weeks." [4]

The space angle is reflected in the use of a string synthesizer on the track.[5]

New versions

Following the success of "The Lady in Red", a reworked version of the song was released as a single for Christmas 1986, backed with a remixed version of "The Ballroom of Romance".[6] This version features a re-recorded vocal track (highlighting de Burgh's improved voice, thus matching the style of his 1980s work) overlaid with a remix of the original backing, and has a slightly different rendition of the final chorus. This version was subsequently included on the compilation albums Spark to a Flame, Notes from Planet Earth and Now And Then, on all of which it is listed with a publishing date of 1989.

A further new version was released as a download-only single in 2010 under the title "A Spaceman Came Travelling 2010". This version features a newly-recorded vocal and is somewhat more downbeat than the original, consisting largely of keyboards and acoustic guitar.

Cover versions
  • Austrian band Eela Craig covered the song on Hats of Glass in 1976.
  • Taiwanese singer Chyi Chin released "直到世界末日" (Until the end of the world) on his 1994 album 邊界.
  • Another Taiwanese singer, Samuel Tai, covered the song in English on his album Looking for a word to replace.[7]
  • English rock band Smokie released a cover of the song on Light a Candle – The Christmas Album in 1996.
  • Icelandic singer Páll Óskar and harpist Monika Abendroth covered the song on their 2003 Christmas album Ljósin Heima (Lights at home).[8]
  • Polish dance singer Mandaryna released her version of the song on her 2005 album Mandarynkowy sen and as a Christmas radio single.
  • Gregorian released a cover of the song on their Christmas Chants album in 2006.
  • Celtic Woman released the song as a bonus track on the German release of their 2010 album Songs from the Heart. It also featured on their 2011 DVD, Believe, performed by Lisa Lambe, as well as the soundtrack released in 2012.
  • An abridged version of the song was performed near the end of the Mrs Brown's Boys 2012 Christmas special.
  • Akira the Don recorded a version of the song for his 2016 Christmas EP, Litmas.[9]
  • Irish producer John Gibbons released a version of the track, featuring Nina Nesbitt, on 29 November 2018.
  • Hong Kong singer Sam Hui covered the song on Sam Hui Came Travelling in 1977.

See also

References
  1. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  2. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  3. David Roberts. British Hit Singles & Albums. Guinness World Records Limited
  4. "The stories of the Christmas hits" by Liam Allen, BBC News, December 25, 2010.
  5. A Spaceman Came Travelling synths Vintage Synth Explorer accessed 15 December 2020
  6. Chris De Burgh – A Spaceman Came Travelling (New Version) www.discogs.com, accessed 15 December 2020
  7. www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
  8. "Ljósin heima – Páll Óskar og Monika Abendroth" [The lights at home - Páll Óskar and Monika Abendroth]. Tónlist (in Icelandic). Archived from the original on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
  9. "Litmas". Akira The Don. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
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