“Flight b741” is the title track from the album of the same name. The lyrics tell the story of a pilot (via their perspective in the cockpit) traveling across the sea to meet their lover. They see the skies they must reach, but their plans are interrupted when the plane’s engine gives out, which sends the pilot downwards towards their death. As they fall, they think about their regrets and say that no matter what happens they’ll be there. If they survive, they will learn to fly once more while living every moment thankful. If they don’t, they’ll watch from above until they can find their way back. The pilot doesn't survive the crash and ends up in heaven, wishing to go home. One could argue this song’s tragic love story is similar to “Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer”, but ultimately Gizzard weaves a different story about love and longing.
Despite the melancholy presented in the lyrics, the song is upbeat and features the pop sensibilities of something like Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” or The Beatles’ “We Can Work It Out.” The song switches from a tight 4/4 groove to a 7/4 chorus with lead vocals alternating between Lucas, Cook, Stu and Joey.
This track stands out for a unique reason: it's the first Lucas-penned song to be recorded by the band. He’s garnered writing credits on other tracks ranging from “Ice V” to “Smoke & Mirrors,” but this is the first time he has introduced one of his own songs for an album. He said on Instagram “This is a particularly special one for me as I somehow plucked up the courage to put a song on the table. Which is a hard thing to do for me to do when I work with songwriters and musicians that I absolutely idolise. But as much as my brothers in rock strive for perfection in their own work, they care and collaborate openly and earnestly in mine too. Which is real nice and cute and special and I’m real lucky thanks boys xo.” He further expanded on this an interview with Las Vegas Weekly saying “it was the perfect environment for me where I had this idea, it’s not fully formed and when I brought it to the table with the guys, everyone just collaborates, which is really cool because it probably still wouldn’t be a finished song.”
While some have theorized the title may refer to Boeing 741, it's instead a play on the bVII-IV-I chord progression commonly found in classic rock songs (including “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac). “Flight b741” also uses the progression and the album alludes to it multiple times such as on “Hog Calling Contest” and “Daily Blues.” While the progression was an intentional part of the track, its prevalence within Flight b741 was sparked by coincidence. Stu said to World Cafe “we realized that every song had this bVII-IV-I, or sometimes it was a IV-bVII-I, or sometimes it was a jumbled up version of that chord progression within it and it just happened… we kept seeing the bVII-IV-I or the b741 sort of over and over again and it started to feel like a flight number, and we’re always on planes, we’re always flying around… and it sort of ended up being injected into the kind of narrative of what the record was about and what it meant. We were kind of thinking about travel and life and journeys and all that sort of thing. It kind of became the totem of the album, you know?”
The song was performed by Ambrose (Mellotron/harmonica/vocals), Cavs (drums/percussion/vocals), Cook (organ/Mellotron/vocals), Joey (bass/vocals), Lucas (piano/vocals), Stu (guitar/vocals) and guest Sam Joseph (pedal steel). The ASCAP ACE Repertory lists that the entire band received songwriting credits. It was released on August 9th, 2024. The song would later be used as the b-side to the limited edition 7” of “Raw Feel” sold at the Gorge record fair on 2024-09-14
While it was first teased on 2024-05-18 during “Most Of What I Like,” the song made its live debut on 2024-08-19 at Suffolk Downs in Boston. An acoustic version debuted a few days later on 2024-08-23. While the song was typically played as it appeared on Flight b741, they did experiment with a brief jam before Stu’s verse on 2024-11-12 and 2024-11-15.