# Are there any songs that reference time travel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314 "2006-06-03T21:09:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/41 "2006-06-04T09:43:27Z")
Fates Warning’s _Traveller In Time_ Iron Maiden’s _Caught Somewhere In Time_, and a couple of others (presumably) ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/42 "2006-06-04T14:19:35Z")
The Gathering’s _Strange Machines_ Snippet: > [@](#): > > It has always been in the back of my mind > Dreaming about going to the corners of time > I always wanted to fly in strange machines > > I wanna do centuries in a lifetime > And feel it with my hands > Touch the world war II and Cleopatra > Flying… ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/43 "2006-06-04T14:39:53Z")
Some more: John Denver’s Take Me To Tomorrow Whitney Houston’s One Moment in Time The West Side Story’s Somewhere Green Day’s Time of Your Life Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time Enya’s I Want Tomorrow, and [Ebudæ](http://enyafans-forum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=672) sort of fits. Jane Siberry’s It Can’t Rain All the Time also sort of fits. The Cure’s [To Wish Impossible Things](http://www.musicfanclubs.org/cure/lyrics/impossible.html) sort of fits. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/44 "2006-06-04T14:54:34Z")
**"Innocent Child"** by \*\*Big Audio Dynamite \*\* (B.A.D.): \*I know a way Of sipping the truth Go back to the days Before your youth I wish I could’ve seen you When you could run wild I would’ve liked to know you As an innocent child Innocent child\* **"Sad to Belong"** by **England Dan and John Ford Coley** : _Wish I had a time machine, I could make myself come back until the day I was born and I will live my life again and rearrange it so that I’ll be yours from now on_ ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/45 "2006-06-04T15:01:38Z")
Also \*\*“Dream Weaver” \*\* by **Gary Wright** (sort of) (time travel through better chemistry, if you will): _I’ve just closed my eyes again Climbed aboard the dream weaver train Driver take away my worries of today **And leave tomorrow behind** _ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/46 "2006-06-04T20:40:22Z")
> [@](#): > > There was some Heinlein novel that also used time dilation as a major plot point (don’t recall the title), You’re probably thinking of _Time for the Stars_, but Heinlein mangled the physics to the point where I couldn’t really suspend my disbelief any further. I can’t believe I’d never heard of that song, though… Queen singing about time dilation, what’s not to love? I’m going to have to get myself a copy, now. **mr\_jp.** , I imagine that there’s a big difference between knowing intellectually about time dilation, and seeing it in action returning to a land your grandchildren knew. Even if you’re prepared for it, that has to be an emotional shock. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/47 "2006-06-05T12:30:23Z")
There was Me & Bobby & Bobby’s Brother Please take me back to those days Where I got all my memories, those were the happiest days" Very early ABBA ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/48 "2006-06-05T12:47:44Z")
[QUOTE=mr. jp] As for '39 it is a great song. But there is one thing I don’t get. The singer is obviously surprised and depressed to find that the earth has aged so fast. But how can he not know that? Are the people smart enough to make amazingly fast spaceships, but not smart enough to understand the theory of relativity? [/QUOTE] It’s one thing to understand intellectually, but another to feel it emotionally. The song gets you in the heart. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/49 "2006-06-05T13:19:24Z")
The entire album, “Time,” by ELO. It’s a concept album about a man from 1981 being accidentally transported through time by some idiot scientists from 2095, who then don’t know how to send him back. The whole thing is brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fromage\_A\_Trois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fromage_A_Trois)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/50 "2006-06-05T13:22:49Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] [QUOTE=mr. jp] As for '39 it is a great song. But there is one thing I don’t get. The singer is obviously surprised and depressed to find that the earth has aged so fast. But how can he not know that? Are the people smart enough to make amazingly fast spaceships, but not smart enough to understand the theory of relativity? [/QUOTE] It’s one thing to understand intellectually, but another to feel it emotionally. The song gets you in the heart. [/QUOTE] I’m surprised that so many people know this song - I thought I’d pop into the thread to mention it but oh boy, was I beaten to it. Guess that’s coz it’s on _A Night at the Opera_. I think **RealityChuck** ’s right - although it’s not clear in the lyrics, I always felt that the “volunteers” knew what was going to happen, but didn’t appreciate it fully till their return. Even just reading the lyrics is making me all tingly - listening to it really blows you away. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/51 "2006-06-05T13:25:30Z")
This is a common theme of **Ayreon** ’s; the entire albums Universal Migrator and The Dream Sequencer have time travel as a part of the concept. Its also mentioned in Into the Electric Castle. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/52 "2006-06-05T14:02:28Z")
[QUOTE=jackelope] :smack: I get Croce and Chapin mixed up; my parents were big fans of both, and I didn’t really make a distinction between the two until I was in my teens. Still, I’m embarrassed. [/QUOTE] You should be. Croce was a 70’s singer/songwriter who was killed in a plane crash, while Chapin was a 70’s singer/songwriter who was killed in a car crash. I don’t see how you could confuse the two. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/53 "2006-06-05T14:20:00Z")
“She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)” \*You have always heard her speaking, she’s always been in your ear. Her voice sounds a tone within you, listen to the words you hear. Her time has no past or future, she lives everything she sees. Her time doesn’t spin outside her, it’s in every breath she breathes. She lives in a time of her own…\* –13th Floor Elevators (on “Easter Everywhere”) ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314/54 "2006-06-06T15:43:14Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] There was Me & Bobby & Bobby’s Brother Please take me back to those days Where I got all my memories, those were the happiest days" Very early ABBA [/QUOTE] There;s also more famous “Me & Bobby” song: But I’d trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday Holding Bobby’s body next to mine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-songs-that-reference-time-travel/359314.md?page=2)