Back, by unpopular demand, for one week only… Westlife.
Flying Without Wings, by Westlife (their 3rd of fourteen #1s)
1 week, from 24th – 31st October 1999
In earlier posts, I had mentioned the existence of two Westlife songs that I quite liked. (I then realised that ‘If I Let You Go’ was a bit of a bop, and had to admit to liking three Westlife records.) ‘Flying Without Wings’ was one of the original two, but question is: does it live up to my expectations…?
Well, sort of. It is a decent enough pop ballad, a three-minute long crescendo that builds to an actually quite stirring finale. And, credit where it’s due, I think a lot of that is down to the boys’ vocals, especially – and I’m going to attempt this without Googling – Shane (the plain, Gary Barlow-ish one) and Mark (the, um, gay one), who take the lead.
What lets the song down, and means it doesn’t quite manage to be the deep, soulful classic it wishes to be, are the clunky lyrics, and the cheap production. Unusually for a boyband song, the words focus partly on non-romantic love: friendships, parents, even the joy of being alone, all of which apparently make you feel like you’re flying without wings… Which is a pretty banal title, really. Meanwhile the production is pure ‘X-Factor winners single’ shlock, when a more stripped back backing might have worked wonders.
It’s records like this that make me wonder: who were Westlife’s fans? Ok, ‘If I Let You Go’ was teen-pop, but this and ‘Swear It Again’ are very middle-aged, and middle-of-the-road. I was thirteen when this came out, and don’t remember any Westlife fans at school (though maybe they were just keeping it quiet). Then again, three number ones in a row don’t lie. Though we should at some point, when we’ve truly run out of things to say about yet another one-week-wonder ballad, explore just how canny the band’s management were in securing them all these number ones.
So, ‘Flying Without Wings’: pretty good, compared to much of Westlife’s output, but not the classic it so clearly wants to be. And I’d say that there are plenty of their songs that are better remembered a quarter of a century on. Interestingly, though, in 2004 a live version of ‘Flying Without Wings’ made history by becoming the first ever #1 on the download chart (a chart that in 2005 would be combined into the regular singles countdown). What I would like to ask, though, is why oh why did they not save this record for their Christmas release a few weeks later, rather than the dross they did eventually serve up…? More on that soon enough.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I was in my early 30’s when Westlife were at their “peak” and this is the only one of their songs that I, or most of my peers, genuinely remember. I didn’t particularly like it but for some reason it’s the first ( usually only) one that comes to mind if you ask someone of my vintage to name a Westlife song. Any idea why?
Yes it was definitely their signature song. Maybe it still is, in the UK? I have to say though, having spent a lot of time in Asia, where Westlife were/are huge, their two most famous songs are the Uptown Girl cover and My Love
Obviously the Uptown Girl cover was never going to compete with Billy Joel over here, with the original being one of the signature tunes of the entire 80’s
They get up off stools
Is this the song on which they debuted ‘Stand Up for the Key Change’ (TM)? To be fair, this entire song is a three-minute key change.
This song is a prime example why no British act crossed over into the US during the Bush administration. It’s not an awful song, but man, this is so freaking meh. And these guys…I dunno, watching their music videos, I don’t get it. I hate to harp on their looks, but they are a boy band so their looks are part of their appeal. But they look so generic. So bland. Like, they’re attractive, but there’s nothing special about them visually. No character, no personality. Surely the UK had more to offer at this time when it came to their boy band pin ups?
Also, the music video is so tacky.
What a huge step down from their previous chart-topper which was a surprisingly good song.
I dunno, I quite like this one. It’s cheesy, yeah, but it’s as close as Westlife ever got to a power ballad. They have much more limp offerings to come.
They look safe, like nice boys you could bring to your grans for tea. And honestly, it’s a sensible strategy if you want to have longevity as a boyband. There’s a reason why Westlife are still fairly succesful today, and that’s because it was never hard to imagine them as middle-aged, which they now are…
Anyway, if you want a boyband with a bit more ‘edge’, relatively speaking, then look no further than our next number one. Definitely my favourite late-90s boyband, anyway.
never rated this one much. It sounded like it was a cover of a bigger US ballad done fairly uninspired, yet it wasn’t. I agree that it’s the most memorable Westlife number one, but that’s not saying a lot, really. They have much better records in the back catalogue, and I think this was the track that gave them cross-over granny appeal – or at least mum-appeal.
It is a decent pop song…really clear and clean…almost too clean.
‘Too clean’ is very much Westlife’s brand!
This is the first time I’ve heard the original song. See, for years, I knew this as Ruben Studdard’s coronation song for the second season of American Idol. I had no idea his song was a cover until years later.