A Spaceman Came Travelling

The track was first released on de Burgh's 10-track album,"Spanish Train and Other Stories", in 1975 on the A&M Records label. It was subsequently released as a single in 1976 without much chart success. Following the worldwide chart success of "The Lady in Red" (1986), a re-worked version of "A Spaceman Came Travelling" was released as a single for Christmas 1986. It has since become a firm favorite song at Christmas. Talking about the origins of the song with BBC News in 2010, de Burgh said, "It was a very hot August day and I'd been reading the book, "Chariots of the Gods?" by Erich von Daniken. It made me 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?".

[Verse 1: Chris De Burgh] A spaceman came travelling on his ship from afar 'Twas light years of time since his mission did start And over a village he halted his craft And it hung in the sky like a star, just like a star He followed a light and came down to a shed Where a mother and child were lying there on a bed A bright light of silver shone round his head And he had the face of an angel, and they were afraid Then the stranger spoke, he said "Do not fear I come from a planet a long way from here And I bring a message for mankind to hear," And suddenly the sweetest music filled the air [Chorus: Chris De Burgh] And it went La la la la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la la la Peace and goodwill to all men, and love for the child La la la la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la la la [Verse 2: Chris De Burgh] This lovely music went trembling through the ground And many were wakened on hearing that sound And travellers on the road, the village they found By the light of that ship in the sky, which shone all round And just before dawn at the paling of the sky The stranger returned and said "Now I must fly When two thousand years of your time has gone by This song will begin once again, to a baby's cry" [Chorus 2: Chris De Burgh] And it was La la la la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la la la Peace and goodwill to all men, and love for the child Oh the whole world is waiting La la la la la la la la la la la Waiting to hear the song again La la la la la la la la There are thousands standing on the edge of the world (La la la la la la la la) And a star is moving somewhere