Fire in the Cockpit

Album: The Race for Space (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is a track from The Race for Space, a concept album that relives the story of the American and Soviet space race from 1957-1972. This song details the 1967 Apollo 1 disaster, when a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test killed all three crew members and destroyed the Command Module.

    Public Service Broadcasting's J. Willgoose Esq explained to The Sun why they treated the track with sensitivity. "The fire on Apollo 1 was such an important and terrible chapter in the program that it felt wrong to leave it out of our version of the story," he said. "We wanted to treat it with respect and not come up with some trite or overly emotional song, so we just kept it very, very simple and tried to pay a quiet, but terrifying tribute to those three men."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Mike Love of The Beach Boys

Mike Love of The Beach BoysSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist of The Beach Boys talks about coming up with the words for "Good Vibrations," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Kokomo" and other classic songs.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

The Police

The PoliceFact or Fiction

Do their first three albums have French titles? Is "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" really meaningless? See if you can tell in this Fact or Fiction.

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.