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HelicopteriTunes | Amazon | Google | Spotify Previous | Next

Lyrics begun by Max in 1988, completed in 2009, and newly arranged for the albums Story of My Life and Take Me Up.

"I started writing this song when my band and relationship were both unraveling, and it was buried and forgotten in the turmoil. The following year, an earthquake destroyed my home and studio, and in one of my last nights there, I dreamed that I was taken up into the eye of a storm over the ocean.

"A couple of years later I got to ride in the front seat of a Fish and Game helicopter on a wildlife survey of my sacred mountains in the desert: soaring like a hawk over ridges, hovering over flocks of bighorn sheep. When I finally dug Helicopter out of my files in 2008, I felt that the song had come true."

Lyrics

when I give in to bad behavior
take me up
when I give in to bad behavior
take me up
when I give in to bad behavior
felony or misdemeanor
take me up
take me up
 
take me up in a helicopter
take me up
take me up in a helicopter
take me up
take me up in a helicopter
way out over the big sea water
take me up
take me up
 
when I'm in some dark hollow
where the sun don't never shine
running from my demons
and the shadows in my mind
bring your mighty engine down
between the rocks and trees
throw your arms around me
strap me in that righteous seat
 

Copyright © Max Carmichael 1988, 2010, 2015.

"The lyrics, the melody, the rhythm...just absolutely sends my spirits soaring"

Philippe Cohen

All contents Copyright © 2010-2019 Max Carmichael