All the songs about space flight I can think of seem pretty depressing.
Elton John - Rocket Man
Planet P - Why Me?
David Bowie - Space Oddity
Peter Schilling - Major Tom (coming home)
Are there any strongly positive songs about space flight?
Isn’t there one about Skyrocket in flight… Afternoon delight?
I lost my heart to a starship trooper - Sarah Brightman & Hot Gossip
Rush - “Countdown”:
"The earth beneath us starts to tremble
With the spreading of a low black cloud
A thunderous roar shakes the air
Like the whole world exploding
Scorching blast of golden fire
As it slowly leaves the ground
Tears away with a mighty force
The air is shattered by the awesome sound"
The original good Jefferson Starship’s Blows Against the Empire “tells a science fiction story, with a wonderfully naive concept, about the hijack of the first starship (build in secrecy by the government) by a group of hippies.” It was even nominated for a Hugo Award as best Dramatic Presentation.
But I think that tells you a lot about why space flight per se is not well thought of. Too associated with the government and bureaucracy. And I have also found - to wildly overgeneralize - that ouside the science fiction field, most artists of all stripes are ignorant and fearful of science to the point of active hostility. I’ve never understood why, but you can find examples that date back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
This really cool Space Rock site only comes up as a Google cache, and doesn’t really have very much content (and includes many instrumentals, which shouldn’t count) but you definitely should take a look.
And the reason I didn’t give the info to get you to the Google cache is?
HYP RECORDS/Odd Pop: Space Rock
www.wildsscene.com/music/oddpop/space_r.html -
Well what about the song “A Day in Space” by Ballboy? it’s about as pro-space as you can get.
Hawkwind “Silver Machine” for sci-fi space/time travel
Does “Star Trekking across the Universe” count?
Or maybe not. “It’s worse than that, it’s physics, Jim!”
I’ll just throw in “Faith of the Heart”, sung by Rod Stewart as the them song from Enterprise. While not specifically about space travel, it’s still pretty damn upbeat, especially with the montage of images of Amelia Earheart, Chuck Yeager and Neil Armstrong.
You’re conflating two seperate lines. The McCoy chorus is “It’s worse than that; he’s dead, Jim!” The Scotty chorus is “You canna change the law of physics!”
The Spock chorus, by the way, is “It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it.”
Dan Hicks does a rousing version of “Hell I’d Go”. It’s all about taking a joy ride on a UFO if given the opportunity.
Schoolhouse Rock’s Interplanet Janet, not only positive, but educational!
Bony M’s Nightflight To Venus.
Anyone know that one?
While not easy to find, Leslie Fish and Diana Gallagher-Wu have recorded many positive songs about space flight
The main theme to The Right Stuff.
Cynthia something or other…she’s a filk singer.
Did the most space-positive song ever called ‘One Way To Go’
“But there’s only one way to go from here
One way to go
It’s logical it’s clear
There’s only one way to go from here
Without a doubt
The only way to go from here is out!”
Heavy Metal dinosaurs Saxon did a song which I remember as being very positive about the first moon landing - The Eagle Has Landed. I just found the lyrics, and they’re touching in their perspective …
Complete Trekie geek and a sense of humor. Now that’s something I could respect in the morning.
“Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me know what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars”