10,000 Miles Song Opinion - Fly Away Home (1996) Discussion

[–] Shokalion 18 years ago

Straight from the movie the journey is from roughly Peterborough, Ontario, Canada to New Hope Virginia, USA.

According to a route planner, that journey is about 840 miles give or take 20 or so if my mapreading isn't too great (the maps only show up briefly on the movie).

Ten thousand miles is quite a heck of a long way, considering the furthest you can go from any one point (on Earth) is about twelve and a half thousand miles. After that you start coming back on yourself.

Hope that helped anyway.

The most predictable thing about the bush is that the bush is unpredictable

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[–] andy-1394 18 years ago

well, using a flight planner, peterborough, ontario to chesapeake regl, virginia is 453 nautical miles or about 525 statute miles.

but that's directly.

incidently, that course would lead through the controlled airspace of the big airports in the baltimore/washington area. in fact, it goes straight over andrews afb.

in theory, hugging the ground one could slip between the controlled airspaces of baltimore-washington intl and andrews afb or between dulles intl and ronald reagan natl.
to avoid trouble i'd rather go around the whole area by flying well west of dulles and then turning to the coast.

that would take 480 nm (560 st.mi.)

the flight through downtown baltimore would have meant an intrusion into the controlled airspace of baltimore washington intl, and furthermore crossing the chesapeake bay near her mouth, another thing to avoid in ultralight aircraft.

all in all, the movie takes a few liberties along the way.
for example, niagara afb is 10 nm from lake ontario's shoreline, at the stated groundspeed of 16 knots 40 minutes flight time.

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[–] andy-1394 18 years ago

i checked out the part where they go over the maps, it ain't new hope VA that is marked as destination, but new hope NC

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[–] DrunkOffOfSoda14 18 years ago

I was just going to say that it was New Hope NC, but someone already said that. That's my fav part of the movie because I live in NC and that scene really shows North Carolina's beauty.

But anyway, the song "10,000 miles" was actually wrote following the poem, "A Red Red Rose" By Robert Burns written sometime in the 1700s or 1800s. heres the poem- (i'll skip the first verse because it doesn't go with the song)

As fair art though, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I :
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

A fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile

If you wanna look up the lyrics to the song our listen to it, its obvious its practically the same, except in a different order and more moderny words haha.

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[–] sunsweet_void 17 years ago

I noticed that the text was also very similar to a song I did for choir recently... "The Turtle Dove" by R. Vaughn Williams.

Fare you well my dear, I must be gone
And leave you for a while
If I roam away I'll come back again
Though I roam ten thousand miles my dear
Though I roam ten thousand miles

So fair thou art my bonny lass
So deep in love am I
But I never will prove false to the bonny lass I love
Till the stars fall from the sky my dear
Till the stars fall from the sky

The sea will never run dry my dear
Nor the rocks never melt with the sun
But I never will prove false to the bonny lass I love
Till all these things be done my dear
Till all these things be done

O yonder doth sit that little turtle dove
He doth sit on yonder high tree
A-making a moan for the loss of his love
As I will do for thee my dear
As I will do for thee

It's actually quite lovely when the full choir sings it.

Holy Mother of Jesus and All Her Wacky Nephews!

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[–] DrunkOffOfSoda14 17 years ago

thats pretty cool... that poem sure made its rounds

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[–] lyndajane73 17 years ago

I love that song actually. I think maybe the "10,000" miles wasn't meant to be a literal distance travelled, probably only metaphorical since it was such a long journey. Think of the impact that would have been lost if it had been:

Fare thee well
My own true love
Farewell for a while
I’m going away
But I’ll be back
Though I go 840 miles

840 miles
My own true love
840 miles or more
The rocks may melt
And the seas may burn
If I should not return

Oh don’t you see
That lonesome dove
Sitting on an ivy tree
She’s weeping for
Her own true love
As I shall weep for mine

Oh come ye back
My own true love
And stay a while with me
If I had a friend
All on this earth
You’ve been a friend to me

Anyway, it's a very appropriate song considering that the geese did return in the spring. Maybe I'm cheesy (okay, so probably I'm cheesy) but I didn't tear up until that last scene when the song started to play and the ultralight with the geese following flew over the final destination, and the long journey was complete.

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[–] DrunkOffOfSoda14 17 years ago

oh man, it always gets me when they're flying over the wetlands and that song is playing, and her dad's looking for her, that whole scene is just a tearjerker

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[–] skinky_1999 14 years ago

I'd tear up during that scene too when the song starts playing.

Death to Videodrome! Long live the new flesh!

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[–] rockcairn69 17 years ago

In the special features part of the latest dvd, the guy in charge of the music said they found the melody from an old Irish folk tune and when researching it came up with several set of lyrics.
I first became interested in these songs when watching an old Waltons rerun called the Love Story. John-boy is playing the dulcimer to a gal he has a crush on and I taped it so I could figure out the lyrics. It also has several lines that are almost identical with a song called Turtle Dove on a dvd named Irish Pub Songs. The lyrics to a lot of these songs probably changed the further down the Appalachians it went, way before anybody wrote such things down.

John-boy's song has no title, and an old mountain woman seems to be singing it. Here's the lyrics as I could figure them out---and no 10,000 miles, but an eerie simularity, to this song on Fly Away Home and the Turtle Dove song.

I plant me a red and rosy bush,
I plant me a green willow tree,

To prove to all who come this way
that she has forsaken me.

When I was young and I was gay,
I loved her long and well,

But the sorrow all that lovin' has brought me
no human tongue can tell.

O see yon lonesome little turtle dove,
he's singin' on that yonder vine.

Lamenting for his one true love
as I do mourn for mine.

Oh hush you lest you break my heart
for no one will I cry,

10,000 lovers have already parted
so why not you and I,
so why not you and I.

They might have wrote this just for that one episode by taking different songs and making one that fit the story. Anyway, the music wasn't the same as the haunting song in this movie, that's for sure!! But it was simular to the aforementioned Turtle Dove song, go figure.

What's the signifigance of the number 10,000??
Maybe it was the million of its day and just meant a big number way out of most peoples reach. A very uneducated guess, I know.

If anyone could educate me further on all this, I'd love to hear from you!!

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[–] AZINDN 14 years ago

I sang the same version of this song in high school chorus but until now, I did not know it was by Vaughn Williams. It is one of my favorites and I remember every word these many decades later. The film is also, and remains, one of my all time favorites, too.

-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --

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[–] alwaysbroke9412 18 years ago

Sorry for making a scene but I need to know where can I find 10,000 miles on a cd. (Need for Wedding)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] peterz95 18 years ago

http://www.songbirdcry.com/Miles.htm

"Party Doll" album

Hope its not too late.

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[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BirseysGirl1986 18 years ago

I think this song is absolutely gorgeous. Brings a tear to my eye every time! And when i watch the movie when she's flying by herself and the song is playing, i start crying!

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[–] sparkes_ea 18 years ago

Sadly it wasn't NC, all of the film except a little airport scene was filmed in Canada because they werent able to take the birds over the border. I presume there were parts filmed with seperate geese in America though, because it says in the commentary that some of the footage was taken by Bill Lishman himself when he took the geese to Virginia. I apologise for any inconsistancies due to my lack of knowledge on American geography, I am not American.

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[–] krasblak01 18 years ago

10,000 miles would be approximately the distance from california to new york and then back to california.

The song is meant to represent an impossible journey, moreso, as it pertains to the movie, it means that no matter how far i go, miles or through time, i will always be with you (mother to amy, amy to the geese).

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[–] angelofvic 17 years ago

Actually, that would be only 5,000 miles.

10,000 miles is almost exactly halfway around the globe.

. . . . . . . .

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[–] ananas_117 18 years ago

Actually, 10,000 is close to the distance from New Zealand to Canada, so it probably is the distance Amy traveled when she left New Zealand to go to Canada.

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[–] dancingishi 16 years ago

i was thinking a long those lines! the first time you hear the tune of the song starting is at the beginning credits of the crash. and amy had to travel such a long way to be with her father.

the distance is irrelevant, i think that in the end it's a song about finding people and also learning to bear a loss, as she did with her mother. the song is beautiful and definitely suits the ambience of the movie.

maybe it just means to say that we'll go wherever it may be to find that we can still love. amy loves both her father and her geese, and that love had to be growing within the film.

that's all i can say.

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[–] tallpaul102 18 years ago

Well whatever it means, it definitley made the film what it was

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[–] 49ers4ever 17 years ago

Agreed... the song really is a huge part of what makes to film so good... it's truly a beautiful song. It's one of the reasons why this is one of my favorite movies. I don't believe the song was meant to be taken literally in terms of how far the girl traveled... it seems that it is more of a metaphor for how far away her mother is now that she has passed away.

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