Space Odyssey
Come Sail Away – Styx
Time to open those sails and head for the other side of the world. Lots of booze and reading, my trusted companions on a 13 hour flight.
Lyrics:
I’m sailing away,
Set an open course for the virgin sea,
‘Cause I’ve got to be free,
Free to face the life that’s ahead of me,
On board, I’m the captain, so climb aboard,
We’ll search for tomorrow on every shore,
And I’ll try, Oh Lord I’ll try, to carry on
I look to the sea,
Reflections in the waves spark my memory,
Some happy, some sad,
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had,
We lived happily forever, so the story goes,
But somehow we missed out on the pot of gold
But we’ll try best that we can to carry on
A gathering of angels appeared above my head,
They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said,
They said come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me lads,
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me,
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me baby,
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
I thought that they were angels, but to my surprise,
We climbed aboard their starship, we headed for the skies
Singing come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me lads
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me…
Astronaut’s YX-5793 Loneliness
It’s time to dig deep into the underground music scene and pull out a song that most of you have never heard, even though it created a cult following back in the days. I myself, was a groupie for this band, Holograf, and saw them live in more than one occasion. I even own the vinyl this song is extracted from.
You can listen to the entire album here: Holograf I
The song tells the story of an astronaut that roams the skies in his spaceship and seems to have lost the meaning of his mission. Reminds me in a way of the movie Silent Running.
Lyrics (Romanian):
Prives lumina stelelor din jur
Sint vesnic tinar, vesnic singur si mi-e greu
O stea apare, alta stea dispare, asta-i tot
Sute de ani trecut-au de cind am plecat
Si ridurile chipul nu mi l-au brazdat
Sint astronautul YX-579
Miinile mele uitat-au sa dea mingiierea iubirii
Spune-mi de ce ochii-mi sint palizi?
Spune-mi iubito de nu mai stiu parul tau cum arata?
Spune-mi de ce?
De ce sub pleoape-mi creste iarba cind ochii mi-i inchid
Si valurile marii in brate ma cuprind
Florile de cimp in parul tau sint prinse, ma trezesc
In suflet cai albastrii se-ndeparteaza lin
Iubito prea departe e cerul meu senin
Sint astronautul YX-579
Miinile mele uitat-au sa dea mingiierea iubirii
Spune-mi de ce ochii-mi sint palizi?
Spune-mi iubito de nu mai stiu parul tau cum arata?
Spune-mi de ce?
Priviti-ma sint doar un punct ciudat pe cer
Mi-e dor de oameni si tot pentru oameni pier
Sint astronautul YX-579
Lyrics (English):
I watch the light of stars around me
I am forever young, forever lonely and it’s hard
A star is born, another star is dying, that is all
There’s been hundreds of years since I left
And wrinkles have not touched my face
I am the astronaut YX-579
My hands have forgotten the touch of love
Tell me why my eyes are so pale
Tell me, my love, why I’ve forgotten the color of your hair
Tell me why
Why is it that grass is growing under my eyelids when I close my eyes
And the sea gives me a sweet embrace
Wild flowers hang in your hair, I wake up
Blue horses softly pass through my soul
My love, my sunny sky is too far away
I am the astronaut YX-579
My hands have forgotten the touch of love
Tell me why my eyes are so pale
Tell me, my love, why I’ve forgotten the color of your hair
Tell me why
Look at me, I am but a strange dot in the sky
I long for people, and for people I’ll die
I am the astronaut YX-579
Mihai Pocorschi
Princes of the Universe – Queen
Space Odyssey goes to times immemorial, when the immortals roamed the world. They’re all gone since – apparently even immortals die somehow, probably of boredom. Reference to the series Highlander, for which the song was written by Freddie.
The video clip was filmed down by the Queensboro Bridge, on the rooftop of the Silvercup Studios. Queen playing the Queens.
Lyrics:
Here we are. Born to be kings.
We’re the princes of the universe.
Here we belong.Fighting to survive.
In a world with the darkest powers.
And here we are.
We’re the princes of the universe.
Here we belong.Fighting for survival.
We’ve come to be the rulers of your world.
I am immortal.
I have inside me blood of kings.
I have no rival.
No man can be my equal.
Take me to the future of your world.
Born to be kings.
Princes of the universe.
Fighting and free.
Got your world in my hand.
I’m here for your love and I’ll make my stand.
We were born to be princes of the universe.
No man could understand.
My power is in my own hand.
Ooh.Ooh.Ooh.People talk about you.
People say you’ve had your day.
I’m a man that will go far.
Fly the moon and reach for the stars.
With my sword and head held high.
Got to pass the test first time – yeah.
I know the people talks about me I hear it every day.
But I can prove you wrong cos I’m right first time.
Yeah.Yeah.Alright.Watch this man fly.
Bring on the girls.
Here we are.Born to be kings.
We’re the princes of the universe.
Here we belong.Born to be kings.
Princes of the universe.
Fighting and free.
Got the world in my hands.
I’m here for your love.
And I’ll make my stand.
We were born to be princes of the universe.
Freddie Mercury
Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie
Another song for our week’s theme, Space Odyssey.
Ziggy Stardust is the title song of David Bowie’s 1972 album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”. The album is considered one of the best rock albums of all time. Ziggy, the main character of the story, is the human incarnation of an alien, and is attempting to present humanity with a message of hope, in the last five years of its existence. He is, though, like any other rock and roll star, sexually promiscuous, deep into drugs, and with a message of peace and love at the ready.
And yes, David Bowie, has mismatched eyes, but for a different reason than you would think: “David Bowie’s Mismatched Eyes Story”. Nonetheless, hes got a “god given ass”, to put it in his own words.
Lyrics:
Oh
Oooh yeah
Ah
Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with weird and gilly
And the spiders from mars. he played it left hand
But made it too far
Became the special man, then we were ziggy’s band
Ziggy really sang, screwed up eyes and screwed down hairdo
Like some cat from japan, he could lick ’em by smiling
He could leave ’em to hang
They came on so loaded man, well hung and snow white tan.
So where were the spiders while the fly tried to break our balls
Just the beer light to guide us,
So we bitched about his fans and should we crush his sweet hands?
Oh
Ooh oh
Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo
The kids were just crass, he was the nazz
With god given ass
He took it all too far but boy could he play guitar
Making love with his ego ziggy sucked up into his mind
Like a leper messiah
When the kids had killed the man i had to break up the band.
Oh yeah
Ooooooo
Ziggy played guitaarrrrrr
David Bowie
Watcher Of The Skies – Genesis
Watcher of the Skies is the first track on Genesis’ 1972 album Foxtrot. The title is borrowed from John Keats’ 1817 poem “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer”:
Then felt like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken.
The song is about an alien that comes to Earth to find it deserted. It begs the question – is it deserted because the creatures here destroyed themselves or because they have left it behind to go somewhere else. The song borrows the theme from Arthur C. Clarke’s book “Childhood’s End”.
Lyrics:
Watcher of the skies watcher of all
His is a world alone no world is his own,
He whom life can no longer surprise,
Raising his eyes beholds a planet unknown.
Creatures shaped this planets soil,
Now their reign has come to an end,
Has life again destroyed life,
Do they play elsewhere, do they know
More than their childhood games?
Maybe the lizards shed its tail,
This is the end of mans long union with earth.
Judge not this race by empty remains
Do you judge God by his creatures when they are dead?
For now, the lizards shed its tail
This is the end of mans long union with earth.
From life alone to life as one,
Think not now your journeys done
For though your ship be sturdy, no
Mercy has the sea,
Will you survive on the ocean of being?
Come ancient children hear what I say
This is my parting council for you on your way.
Sadly now your thoughts turn to the stars
Where we have gone you know you never can go.
Watcher of the skies watcher of all
This is your fate alone, this fate is your own.
Peter Gabriel, Anthony Banks, Phil Collins, Steven Hackett, Michael Rutherford
One Song Each Day 