1975 single by Chris de Burgh
"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.
Single release
After its first release in 1975, the song saw minimal success in the UK. It eventually reached the top position of the Irish single charts, staying 15 total weeks[2] and climbed to number 22 in the Canadian airplay charts.[3]
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] referring to the song's regular airplay on UK radio during the festive season.
The space angle is reflected in the use of a string synthesizer on the track.[5]
Reissue and later chart success
In 1986, following de Burgh's huge hit "The Lady in Red", "Spaceman" was reworked and reissued,[6] as a double A-side with the song "The Ballroom of Romance". The new version charted for the first time in the UK, reaching number 40 and staying on the British charts for five weeks.[7] It also reached #15 on the Irish charts.
