life on a tiny blue planet

Can you picture mouse-like aliens, made of pink wool, calling to one another with swannee whistle voices? If you grew up in the United Kingdom the above will have you swooning with nostalgia; if you didn’t I’ve probably lost you by now. I grew up in the UK and know these aliens as The Clangers. I’m so pleased their soundtrack has landed on eMusic.

The Clangers were a family of aliens, who lived inside their planet in burrows protected by dustbin lids and fed on blue string pudding and soup provided by a creature known as the Soup Dragon. They felt magical and distant, yet curiously accessible. The Clangers, along with Dr Who, are part of a very British, very BBC, tradition of home-spun sci-fi.

Their creator, Oliver Postgate, was a key figure in many British childhoods. He dreamed up fantastical worlds, made models, gave them scripted words to speak and provided his own reassuring voiceover, not only for The Clangers, but for Ivor The Engine, Bagpus and many more. To this day the sound of his voice makes me feel safe and cared for.

Postgate was apparently loathe to add his own voice to The Clangers, believing his tiny knitted aliens made sense on their own. Their whistling language is included throughout this collection, part speech, part music.

Major, Mother, Small and Tiny Clanger were a musical family; they powered their boats with notes grown on trees by their burrows. This, along with their creator’s ear for a suitable score, comes through in the series soundtrack. Taken in isolation, I believe, the score, by musician Vernon Elliot, stands up alongside much modern classical music, could be worked into a folk performance or used as a lullaby. Even if you’ve never seen these little woollen creatures before, give it a listen. There’s life where you least expect it.