Favorite Science-Fiction Song?

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-10-16 08:56pm

I don't really know of that many songs that qualify...I'm thinking of songs whose theme or lyrics are informed by a science-fiction story or situation.

I dig "Benson Arizona," from John Carpenter's Dark Star; it's country-style as performed for the film, but it's a great song about separation and distance and loss and thwarted love...

A million suns shine down
But I see only one
When I think I'm over you
I find I've just begun
The years move faster than the days
There's no warmth in the light
And how I miss those desert skies
Your cool touch in the night

Benson, Arizona, blew warm wind through your hair
My body flies the galaxies, my heart longs to be there
Benson, Arizona, the same stars in the sky
But they seemed so much kinder when we watched them, you and I

Now the years pull us apart
I'm young and now you're old
But you're still in my heart
And the memory won't grow cold
I dream of times and spaces
I left far behind
Where we spent our last few days
Benson's on my mind

Benson, Arizona, blew warm wind through your hair
My body flies the galaxies, my heart longs to be there
Benson, Arizona, the same stars in the sky
But they seemed so much kinder when we watched them, you and I

John Yagher/John Carpenter

Playable file at http://www.benzedrine.cx/benson.mp3

An old Maryland filk group called Clam Chowder did an amazingly moving cover, which I have somewhere on cassette.

TimothyC · Post by **TimothyC** » 2007-10-16 09:11pm

Battlestar Operatica by Bear McCreary

(Italian - as sung)
Maledetto sia tuo cuore Cylone

C'è una tostapane nella tua testa
E porta tachi a spillo

Numero Sei ti chiama
Il rivelatore Cylone impone
La tua ragazza è un tostapane
Maledetto sia tuo cuore Cylone
Ahimè, disgrazia! Ahimè, tristezza e miseria!

Il tostapane ha un bel vestito
Rosso come la sua spina dorsale ardente
sussura Numero Sei:
"Per tuo commando"

Maledetto sia tuo cuore Cylone

Or the Engish -

Woe upon your Cylon heart

There's a toaster in your head
And it wears high heels

Number Six calls to you
The Cylon Detector beckons
Your girlfriend is a toaster
Woe upon your Cylon heart
Alas, disgrace! Alas, sadness and misery!

The toaster has a pretty dress
Red like it's glowing spine
Number Six whispers:
"By your command"

Woe upon your Cylon heart

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-10-16 09:24pm

That's...

...remarkable.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2007-10-16 10:46pm

2112 by Rush has always been one of my favourites.

Metatwaddle · Post by **Metatwaddle** » 2007-10-16 11:45pm

Jonathan Coulton has some pretty good ones, mostly about genetic modifications and wanked-out robots. I won't post all the lyrics, I'll just get some of my favorite bits.

The Future Soon:
"I’ll probably be some kind of scientist
Building inventions in my space lab in space
I’ll end world hunger, I’ll make dolphins speak
Work through the daytime, spend my nights and weekends
Perfecting my warrior robot race
Building them one laser gun at a time
I will do my best to teach them
About life and what it’s worth
I just hope that I can keep them from destroying the Earth"

Better:
"You started out small
Some gills and some wings and a few extra thumbs
Now you’re thirteen feet tall
Even when you’re asleep your machinery hums
And I’m tired of the evenings I spend
Making small talk with your new robot friends
And their stupid insistence on scanning my iris
When they know damn well who I am"

Skullcrusher Mountain:
"Picture the two of us alone inside my golden submarine
While up above the waves my doomsday squad ignites the atmosphere
And all the fools who live their foolish lives may find it quite... explosive
But it won’t mean half as much to me if I don’t have you here"

Also, there's Voltaire's Star Trek songs. Voltaire likes Star Trek a lot, but that doesn't keep him from making fun of Treknobabble.

The USS Make Shit Up:
"And I say
Bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish
That's the way we do things lad, we're making shit up as we wish
The Klingons and the Romulans pose no threat to us
'Cause if we find we're in a bind
We're totally screwed but never mind
We'll pull something out of our behinds
We just make some shit up"

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-10-17 11:27am

Warren Zevon, Transverse City -

Told my little Pollyanna
There's a place for you and me
We'll go down to Transverse City
Life is cheap and Death is free
Past the condensation silos
Past the all-night trauma stand
We'll be there before tomorrow
Pollyanna take my hand
Show us endless neon vistas
Castles made of laser lights
Take us to the shopping sector
In the vortex of the night
Past the shiny mylar towers
Past the ravaged tenements
To a place we can't remember
For a time we won't forget
Here's the hum of desperation
Heres the test tube mating call
Here's the latest carbon cycle
Here's the clergy of the mall
Here's the song of shear and torsion
Here's the bloodbath magazine
Here's the harvest of contusions
Here's the narcoleptic dream
Told my little Pollyanna
Here's a place where we can stay
We have come to see tomorrow
We have given up today
Down among the dancing quanta
Everything exists at once
Up above in Transverse City
Every weekend lasts for months
Here's the hum of desperation
Heres the test tube mating call
Here's the latest carbon cycle
Here's the clergy of the mall
Here's the witness and the victim
Here's the relatives' remains
Here's the well-known double helix
Here's the poisoned waves of grain
Here's the song of shear and torsion
Here's the bloodbath magazine
Here's the harvest of contusions
Here's the narcoleptic dream
Here's the hum of desperation

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2007-10-17 03:20pm

Always been a huge fan of The Ballad of Serenity

take my love
take my land
take me where I cannot stand
I don't care
I'm still free
you can't take the sky from me

take me out
to the black tell 'em I ain't coming back
burn the land
and boil the sea
you can't take the sky from me

have no place
I can be
since I found Serenity
but you can't take the sky from me

DrMckay · Post by **DrMckay** » 2007-10-17 04:04pm

Inama Nushif, from the Sci-Fi Channel's Children of Dune Miniseries:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvilAUufaVQ

Wander My Friends by Bear McCreary, from Battlestar Galactica:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONJ9CkrvrCo

(in Gaelic)
Siulaigi a chairde, siulaidh liom
Mar cheo an tsleibhe uaine ag
imeacht go deo
D’ainneoin ar dtuirse leanfam an tsli
Thar chnoic is thar ghleannta
go deireadh na scrib’

Seo libh a chairde is canaidh liom
Lionaigi’n oiche le greann is le sport
Seo slainte na gcarad ata imithe uainn
Mar cheo an tsleibhe uaine,
iad imithe go deo

(English translation)
Wander my friends, wander with me
Like the mist on the green mountain, moving eternally
Despite our weariness, we'll follow the road
Over hills and valleys, to the end of the journey

Come on my friends and sing with me
Fill the night with joy and sport
Here's a health to the friends who have gone from us
Like the mist of the green mountain, gone forever

McCreary's a Frakkin' genius.

Starglider · Post by **Starglider** » 2007-10-17 04:09pm

Maybe not the greatest, but I'm still on a Portal coolness kick and I love the end credits song;

Code: Select all

{ Final Test Report }

This was a triumph.
I'm making a note here: Huge Success.
It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.

Aperture Science,
We do what we must, because we can.
For the good of all of us
(except the ones who are dead).

But there's no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
And the science gets done, and you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive.

{ Personnel File Addendum: Dear <<Subject Name Here>>, }

I'm not even angry.
I'm being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart and killed me;

And tore me to pieces;
And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned, it hurt because
I was so happy for you.

Now these points of data make a beautiful line,
And we're out of beta, we're releasing on time.
So I'm GLaD. I got burned.  Think of all the things we learned
For the people who are still alive.

{ Personnel File Addendum Addendum: One Last Thing: }

Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you'll find someone else to help you.

Maybe Black Mesa.
That was a joke.  Ha ha, fat chance.
Anyway, this cake is great;
It's so delicious and moist.

Look at me still talking, when there's science to do.
When I look out there, it makes me glad I'm not you.
I've experiments to run, there is research to be done
On the people who are still alive.

[PS:] And believe me, I am still alive.

[PPS:] I'm doing science and I'm still alive.

[PPPS:] I feel fantastic and I'm still alive.

[FINAL THOUGHT:] While you're dying I'll be still alive.

[FINAL THOUGHT PS:] And when you're dead I will be still alive.

Still alive...   still alive...   still alive!

You really have to hear the crazy AI singing it for the full effect.

Qwerty 42 · Post by **Qwerty 42** » 2007-10-17 04:44pm

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I like David Bowie-Space Oddity and Elton John-Rocket Man.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-10-17 05:24pm

Gotta be the Shatner version...accept no substitutes.

I'm a rock-it, man!

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-10-17 05:29pm

YT300000 wrote:2112 by Rush has always been one of my favourites.

You Rock.

I've always loved The Imperial March myself.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-10-17 05:53pm

Bear McReary's remake of All Along the Watchtower is made up of win.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-10-17 06:00pm

I guess In the Year 2525 by Zagler and Evans qualifies...

In the year 2525
If man is still alive.
If woman can survive, they may find...

In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies.
Everything you think, do and say, is in the pill you took today.

In the year 4545
Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes.
You won't find a thing to chew.
Nobody's gonna look at you.

In the year 5555
Your arms hanging limp at your sides.
Your legs got nothing to do.
Some machine doing that for you.

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife.
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too.
From the bottom of a long glass tube. Whoa-oh

In the year 7510
If God's a-comin, he oughta make it by then.
Maybe he'll look around himself and say.
Guess it's time for the judgment day.

In the year 8510
God is gonna shake his mighty head.
He'll either say.I'm pleased where man has been.
Or tear it down and start again. Whoa-oh

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wonderin if man is gonna be alive.
He's taken everything this old Earth can give.
And he ain't put back nothing. Whoa-oh

Now it's been ten thousand years
Man has cried a billion tears.
For what he never knew,
now man's reign is through.

But through eternal night.
The twinkling of starlight.
So very far away.
Maybe it's only yesterday.

In the year 2525
If man is still alive.
If woman can survive, they may find...

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2007-10-17 06:18pm

How about Weapon of Choice? That has a Dune reference.

Walk without rhythm, and it won't attract the worm.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2007-10-17 07:01pm

how about mars bringer of war?

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-10-17 07:07pm

The Yosemite Bear wrote:how about mars bringer of war?

John Williams just about built a career on it...

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2007-10-17 07:09pm

I know that, hell it's been a sci-fi staple since like forever...

NetKnight · Post by **NetKnight** » 2007-10-17 09:49pm

Always been a huge fan of The Ballad of Serenity

Well, since that's taken, I'll advocate The Ballad Of Jayne.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-10-17 10:05pm

I have to second "Benson, Arizona."

Metatwaddle · Post by **Metatwaddle** » 2007-10-17 11:54pm

Starglider wrote:Maybe not the greatest, but I'm still on a Portal coolness kick and I love the end credits song

I almost put this on here, but wasn't sure if it was sci-fi enough.

I discovered that song a couple of days ago and am listening to it right now. Jonathan Coulton - the same guy I was going on about in my earlier post - wrote the song, and it's very typical of his style. He said on his blog that they might release a version with him singing it. I love his voice, but I'm not sure if anything could be as good as the version with GLaDOS.

Darth Ruinus · Post by **Darth Ruinus** » 2007-10-18 12:02am

Imperial March, though, I dont think that counts as a song....

Mmmh, the only sci-fi song I know of is that Space Marine song in that Mission Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. Dont know where to find it though...

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2007-10-18 12:28am

In the not too distant future...
Next Sunday AD.
There was a guy named Joel,
not to different from you and me,

He worked at Gismonic Institue,
just another face in a red jump suite
He did a good job cleaning up the place,
but his bosses didn't like him so they shot him into spacer!

We'll send him cheezey movies!
The worst we can find! (LaLaLa)
He'll have to sit and watch them all,
While we monitor his mind! (LaLaLa)

So keep in mind Joel can't control
when the movies begin or end (LaLaLa)
Because he used those special parts,
to make his Robot friends! (Robot Rollcall!)

Cambot!
Gypsy!
Tom Servo!
Crooooooooow! (I'm Different)

If you're wondering how he eats and sleeps
And other science facts (LaLaLa)
Just keep in mind it's just a show,
I should really try and relax.

For it's Mystrey Science Theater, 3000! (twaaaanananang)

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-10-18 01:21am

How could I have missed the MST3k song?!

Raesene · Post by **Raesene** » 2007-10-18 03:12am

Battlestar Operatica by Bear McCreary

after reading the lyrics for the first time - seconded (after the Imperial March if it counts)

La tua ragazza è un tostapane

that could become a new classic fight-starting insult...

C'è una tostapane nella tua testa

I think I have a new favored insult