Vaults - One Day I'll Fly Away

44 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!

Buy One Day I'll Fly Away here (External link)
Continue Boxer's story here (John Lewis)
Support the Wildlife Trust here (Wildlife)
Read my review of the 2015 John Lewis Christmas Ad here (Man In The Moon)
Read my review of the 2014 John Lewis Christmas Ad here (Monty The Penguin)
Read my review of the 2013 John Lewis Christmas Ad here (Bear & Hare)

Let's face it - 2 facts have emerged in recent years. Firstly, Christmas isn't Christmas until the John Lewis seasonal ad arrives. And secondly, they do so much better when there are animals involved. This year's John Lewis Christmas campaign arrived a few days later than it traditionally does - presumably to avoid clashing with a little thing called the US election. And boy did we need this heartwarming, smile-inducing, hug your pet majesty that Buster The Boxer and his nocturnal pals bring. It has been a gloomy few days, and may well be a gloomy few years ahead - so taking the time to embrace the happiness in life is all the more essential. The ad is a tale of a frisky young boxer who sees his owners jump around on their bed as their dad prepares the Christmas day surprise: a trampoline in the garden. While the neighbours are most likely sticky beaking at their upstairs window, sighing in dismay at what this will mean in reality, TV viewers are treated to a more whimsical interpretation - and it is glorious. Two foxes (named, I like to think, Horace and Cecil) tentatively come into the garden while the humans slumber, only to discover the unmitigated glee of leaping to their hearts content on said trampoline. They are soon joined by Badge the Badger, Hedgy Hedgehog and Jenny Furlow Pez Dispenser, the squirrel. (Note, I'm sure John Lewis has given these animals real names, but this is my blog and I am sticking with my monikers)! There is something rather lovely about the tentative explorings by Horace and Cecil as to what gleeful opportunities the trampoline creates. Bringing all these different animals together is also a rather timely message of inclusiveness and unity - making Buster being stuck behind the glass (wall) watching yet unable to participate all the more devastating. Fear not, for his moment will come - Christmas morn arrives, the kids rush to the trampoline only to be overtaken by Buster who gets his jumpy freak flag on and hurrah! Everything is OK in the world again. This, of course, is all soundtracked by a song embedded in the collective British psyche - One Day I'll Fly Away (made famous by Randy Crawford). Vaults are entrusted with the task of making this both suitable accompaniment for the ad and a pop song in its own right. They succeed beautifully. It is fueled by a vocal imbued with a sincere optimism and hope, with just a hint of melancholy that the day isn't right now. The elegant score matches the timeless singing and it all comes to a string laden crescendo that hits all the right spots, leaving you with a majestic sense that anything is possible. This is the both the best ad and best song since Lily Allen introduced Bear and Hare with Somewhere Only We Know and I am absolutely, eternally, rushing down to the store to buy a plush Buster, smitten. Now to find out more about the Vaults...


**Ghosts of Christmas past**

• 11th November 2015 ~ Rudolph & The Cranberries, Lonely This Christmas
• 11th November 2014 ~ Johnnyswim, Christmas Day
• 11th November 2013 ~ Kim Wilde, Wilde Winter Songbook