Ladies and gentleman,
Today is a day for mourning and remembering
They had a hunger to explore the universe
And discover its truths and
They had that special grace
That special spirit that says give me a challenge
And I'll meet it with joy

The crew of the space shuttle challenger
Honored us in the manner
Of which they lived their lives
We will never forget them
As they prepared for their journey
And waved goodbye
And they slipped the surly of earth
To touch the face of God.


Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings

January 28, 1986 Lyrics as written by Adam R. Young

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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January 28, 1986 song meanings
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  • +3
    General Comment

    Adam Randal Young, the mastermind behind Owl City, has this to say about the curious "January 28, 1986" track on his most recent album All Things Bright and Beautiful--

    "There's a track on the new record called January 28, 1986 and it features a clip from Reagan when the space shuttle Challenger blew up that same year and it's kind of a sobering... piece, and it stuck me. I was actually born that same year, '86, my parents always used to talk about it and so it was always on my mind growing up and I felt like it would be a good thing, to pay dues to that, and I've just out of respect feature a little interlude on the record, that Reagan quote, and the idea behind it is that it's kind of a precursor to the following track on the record called Galaxies, just to kind of set up the premise of the following song and it's just a short little interlude and it was a fun thing to do. I'm glad it came together."

    This quote was found on the YouTube video "Owl City: Track by Track - January 28, 1986" featuring Owl City himself speaking of the song. One thing I would like to note about this page here on SongMeanings is that it is called "January 28, 1896" instead of the correct title "January 28, 1986" as specified by Adam Young. It would have certainly been remarkable if we were able to build space shuttles in the late 19th century, now wouldn't it have been? ;) Last but not least, I would like to say I am a huge Adam Young fan, from the dreamscape that is Owl City to the mysterious Port Blue, I am a fan of the majority of his musical creations. (Apart, maybe, from such oddities in the form of Chester McWiggins and the Kowboy Kidz, or The Grizzly. I'm assuming that was just some sort of phase in musical genius development, lol.) I only wish I could personally thank him for his marvelous works of art.

    OhCometComeDownon September 01, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    did anyone else notice how the end of this links with the beginning of Galaxies? I think this is the meaning of Galaxies.

    oceanheart13on June 16, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This is a prelude into "Galaxies", it's a clip from the 1986 Challenger speech given by Ronald Reagan, then the song "Galaxies" is a song about how a person in the Challenger Disaster would feel, "going from this life into eternity," as described by Adam. You can tell they're sort of the same song, ish, by the similar melody of the "da da da" in Galaxies and the "ahahahahahhhhh" in this song, and the buildup at the end of this song into "Galaxies" and the similar effect underneath this song at the end of "Galaxies." Lovely parts of the speech.

    ViolaFanon June 20, 2011   Link

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