Songs In Space

Yo-yo-yo, all you budding SF DJs out there: the European Space Agency is looking for songs that astronauts can listen to whilst floating in zero-g. Word.

"ESA is launching a competition to find a set of 10 tunes that is out of this world. All you have to do is write down a song selection that you think would be most suitable for the astronauts on the ISS to listen to. Before you decide, try to put yourself in the shoes of the men and women who live on the Station and put together a playlist that would cheer them up, inspire them, etc…."

Note: What it neglects to mention in the small print is that all clichés are banned. No David Bowie (sorry Lou Anders). No Space Rock—i.e. no Hawkwind (sorry Michael Moorcock).

Any suggestions?

— Mark N
Posted by Mark Newton at 4/26/2007

3 comments:

James Maxey said...

1.Twin Human Highway Flares--The Mountain Goats
(A song about the importance of remembering magical moments)
2.The Boy in the Bubble--Paul Simon
(A song about the sense of wonder that technology can instill in us)
3.Upside Down From Here--Atom and His Package
(the chorus is "I know what it feels like to be upside down from here," which seems like a sentiment appropriate to zero gravity)
4.Revolution Earth--B-52's
(A song about watching the stars from Earth makes a nice counterpoint to watching the Earth from the stars)
5.Airline to Heaven--Billy Bragg and Wilco
(contains the lyric "It's the only earthly way you can fly to heaven on time")
6.Satan is My Motor--Cake
("Airline to Heaven" has a lot of Christian imagery in it, so we need this song to sort of balance things out)
7.Recovering the Satellites--the Counting Crows
(The title sort of explains this choice)
8.I've Been Everywhere--Johnny Cash
(Ditto)
9.Rocket's Tail--Kate Bush
(Perhaps bordering on cliche, but still a good song)
10.Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh Of Mankind, And I Shake The Dirt From My Sandals As I Run--Sufjan Stevens
(It's an intrumental, so it's appropriate for an international audience, and it has what may be the best song title ever)

2:16 pm
Mark Newton said...

Dude, you're a Sufjan fan? You've just risen even higher in my estimation. I think most of his stuff suits space. Not that I've tried it there.

And wow, you've really thought about that playlist...

11:10 pm
James Maxey said...

Illinoise is the only Sufjan Steven's album I've listened to, but I love it due to way it mixes so many layers of meaning in the lyrics and so many layers of sound in the music. It's an album where I always discover something new every time I listen to it. If we were listing ten albums to listen to in space, it would definitely make the cut.

11:52 pm

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