Thursday, May 19, 2011

Sky Pilot Phrase

Skyyyyyyyy Pilot!  I had no idea what this ditty by Eric Burdon and the Animals was about.  I just knew it was unhappy and a little trippy like most of their songs. Since 1891 hobos had referred to clergymen as 'sky pilots' in the sense that they guided their flocks to heaven.  By World War II a sky pilot was a military chaplain but the piloting now involved an airplane. An imaginary one.  To get them to heaven! 

Source:  I Hear America Talking p. 447
Graphic Source:  Florida State Parks

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Eric Burdon and the Animals--saw them in concert in 1968. Now I know what sky pilot was all about, thanks