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Holiday Special > Merchandise > 45 Single

7" 45 Single

Jefferson Starship: Light the Sky on Fire Promo version

Jefferson Starship - "Light the Sky on Fire"

This was the song performed by Jefferson Starship in the Holiday Special. During this scene, an Imperial Guard watches the band playing on a portable holo unit.

The 1978 7" single, released around the same time as the Holiday Special, proudly proclaims on the cover "AS SEEN AND HEARD ON THE CBS-TV 'STAR WARS' HOLIDAY SPECIAL". On a double A-side promotional version, it also says "ESTIMATED VIEWING AUDIENCE 50 MILLION PEOPLE - PLAY IT NOW!". However, the association was soon dropped after the Special aired. In 1979 the single was reissued in a generic sleeve with no references to Star Wars.

The B-side was a song from 1974 called "Hyperdrive", which might seem to be an even more relevant Star Wars reference, but in reality the song had nothing to do with leaping to light speed Milennium Falcon-style. Perhaps the song was chosen just for its title in this case.

The single version of "Light the Sky on Fire" is not the same version performed on the Holiday Special, but a rather shortened edit. There was also a plain white sleeved promotional 12" featuring the 7" single version plus a longer extended version on the other side, and though the longer version is even closer to the one used in the Special, it's still not exactly the same. As far as we know, the Holiday Special version has never been released anywhere.