I'm Flying Lyrics – Peter Pan

Song Overview

Every revival of Peter Pan soars or sinks on one lightning-bolt cue—“I’m Flying”. First belted by Mary Martin in 1954, later hurled at the rafters by gymnast-turned-star Cathy Rigby, the number remains the musical’s defibrillator. Today TikTok teens still search for the Lyrics, choreographers map wire tracks in school gyms, and YouTube’s most-watched clip (233 k views) keeps proving that the promise of unaided flight never goes stale.

Personal Review

The brass hits like sunrise on a bedroom curtain; the suspended strings shimmer, then drop away as Peter takes off. When Rigby shouts “Look at me way up high,” you feel stage cables tighten, yet the vocal line floats as if there’s no machinery at all. One breath later she’s weaving through harmonic thermals, and you—fifty years older, knees aching—remember how it felt to jump off the back-porch rail convinced gravity was optional. Snapshot? A three-minute cannonball of pure airborne mischief.

Song Meaning and Annotations

The scene lands midway through Act I. Peter sprinkles Neverland logic over Wendy and her brothers: “Think lovely wonderful thoughts and up you go.” Charlap’s melody rides a bright G-major pentatonic, the intervallic leaps (root to sixth) mirroring physical lift. Comden and Green’s spare dialogue lets the Lyrics breathe; every spoken “Flying!” from the children is a rhythmic ricochet against Peter’s sung line.

Dramatic charge. The number accomplishes two tasks: it literalises childhood imagination and telegraphs Act II’s darker sky—Hook’s domain—by showing just how high these kids can fall. The call-and-response (“He’s not even trying!”) also foreshadows Act II’s martial echo in “Ugg-a-Wugg,” turning delight into potential battle cry.

Staging DNA. Jerome Robbins demanded Peter break the proscenium, arc into the flies, and disappear beyond footlights—an illusion sustained in every major revival. Mary Martin’s 1960 telecast gathered the largest U.S. TV audience for a musical special to that date, cementing the wire-rig as Broadway’s ultimate gravity hack.

Musical scaffolding. Tempo hovers around 126 bpm; orchestration folds harp glissandi over muted trumpets for sparkle without syrup. The bridge lands on a surprise E-flat major pivot—Peter defying tonal home just as he defies floorboards. Listen to the 2014 NBC cast: Allison Williams stretches that pivot into a full-measure fermata, bathing the living-room audience in Dolby fairy dust.

“Second star to the right, Wendy, Michael, John …”

This navigational mantra reduces cosmic geography to a nursery rhyme—Barrie’s entire thesis in one compass rose.

Verse Highlights

Opening Glide

A two-bar ascending chromatic run in the strings cues Peter’s liftoff; lights track diagonally to fake altitude.

Mid-section (“I can soar, I can weave”)

Pizzicato cellos mimic air pockets; vocal line swings on dotted eighth–sixteenth pairs, a subtle wingspan pulse.

Tag (“Hurry up and follow me”)

The orchestration drops to drums and triangle, leaving space for the fly crew’s audible pulleys—live theatre showing its ropes.

Song Credits

• Featured Vocalists: Cathy Rigby, Barry Cavanaugh, Drake English, Elisa Sagardia
• Producers: John Yap (2000 cast), RCA Victor (1954 cast)
• Composers: Moose Charlap – music; Carolyn Leigh – original lyrics; Betty Comden & Adolph Green – additional lyrics
• Release Date (Rigby recording): November 14 2000
• Genre: Broadway Show-Tune / Flight Waltz-March
• Instruments: harp, glockenspiel, pizzicato strings, muted trumpet, cymbal swells
• Label: Jay Records
• Mood: Effervescent, buoyant
• Length: 3:05 (OBCR); 4:20 (NBC Live)
• Track #: 4 on Peter Pan (Original Cast Soundtrack)
• Language: English
• Poetic meter: Mixed anapests and iambs
• Copyright: © 1954 Edwin H. Morris & Co.; ? 2000 Jay Records

Songs Exploring the Thrill of Flight

“Defying Gravity” – Wicked (2003): Where “I’m Flying” floats on innocence, Elphaba’s anthem rockets on righteous fury. Both share climactic upward modulations, yet Idina Menzel’s belts scorch the air Peter skims.

“Come Fly with Me” – Frank Sinatra (1958): Sinatra’s swing sets the grown-up lounge counterpart. Brass still sparkles, but cynicism replaces pixie dust—flight as suave escape, not childlike wonder.

“Learning to Fly” – Tom Petty (1991): An Americana glide built on suspended guitar chords. Petty’s refrain admits “coming down is the hardest thing,” a hard reality Peter refuses to face, keeping his key signature forever major.

Questions and Answers

Has “I’m Flying” ever charted as a single?

No individual single chart exists, but the 1954 cast LP briefly hit #1 on the Cash Box album chart (April 9 1955).

Which televised version drew the biggest audience?

NBC’s 1960 black-and-white broadcast starring Mary Martin captured an estimated 65 million viewers, the era’s top rating for a live musical.

Are there notable cover versions outside Broadway?

Yes—Dan Zanes (children’s folk, 2009), Christine Andreas (cabaret, 2002), and the Royal Philharmonic’s symphonic medley (2018).

Did Cathy Rigby perform the song at the Tony Awards?

She flew across Radio City at the 1999 telecast, earning a mid-show ovation and reigniting interest in the 35th-anniversary tour.

Is the 2014 NBC lyric different?

Slightly—new dialogue pads the intro, and the reprise tags an extra eight-bar vamp to accommodate wider camera pans.

Awards and Chart Positions

The 1954 production earned Tony Awards for Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard, with “I’m Flying” singled out in reviews as the show’s levitational marvel. Cathy Rigby’s 1991 revival garnered her a Tony nomination, and the 2000 A&E filming took home an Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program, propelled by this very number’s wire-swing climax.

How to Sing?

Range: B?3 – E5 (Peter lead).
Breath work: Plan quick inhalations on rests after each spoken “Flying!” or risk gulping air mid-arc.
Tempo sweet-spot: 124-128 bpm; slower drags the wire cues, faster muddies diction.
Tone: Forward placement, slight smile embouchure to keep “I’m” bright; drop the jaw on “flying” for open vowels matching airborne lift.
Physicality: Engage lower core before each rising gesture—think of pressing an elevator button in your diaphragm.

Fan and Media Reactions

“When the wires vanish into blackness and Rigby hits the B4, theatre becomes sorcery.” – Playbill

“Mary Martin’s 1960 swoop over TV cameras etched itself into baby-boomer DNA.” – New York Post

“Allison Williams lands the note but not the mystique—yet the camera crane sells the fantasy.” – TIME

“Even our high-school fly rig got cheers—proof the song’s lift is bullet-proof.” – YouTube commenter on 2024 student production

“I’m a grown man, but that G-major arpeggio still makes me reach for the ceiling fan.” – Blog review, Ken Levine