The Stowaway

The Stowaway is a Christmas-themed song performed by an unidentified musical group at a dance on board the spaceship replica of Titanic before its plunge into Earth's atmosphere. The song takes a romantic perspective on Christmas, despite the belief by Mr Copper and others that Christmas was a somewhat sinister event. (DW: Voyage of the Damned)

Behind the scenes

Composed by Murray Gold and recorded by Yamit Mamo, "The Stowaway" was the fourth original song commissioned for the revival of Doctor Who, following songs Gold composed for the two previous Christmas specials and Daleks in Manhattan. Mamo appears on camera performing the song in the episode and Gold appears as one of her musicians. The song was released prior to the episode's broadcast on the Series 3 soundtrack album. Gold provides backing vocals on the album recording.

Exactly from whose perspective the lyrics are told is a matter of debate, as media coverage suggested the song might be told from the captain of the Titanic replica's point of view, despite the fact he and the Tenth Doctor do not meet, nor do they share any sort of romantic interaction. A more likely candidate is Astrid Peth, who greets the Doctor as a stowaway and proceeds to become attracted to him (though the outcome of the lyrics differs from the outcome of the episode vis a vis Peth's fate). The lyric "lying with his love, that's where he'll be" is generally assumed to be a reference to Rose Tyler, and a possible foreshadowing of the climax of The Stolen Earth.