There are songs out there which have lyrics with a science fiction theme. Some are novelty songs, like "Purple People Eater" (Sheb Wooley), and some are explicit, like "Come Sail Away" (Styx), Starman (Bowie) and everything on Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds", and some are more subtle, like "39" (Queen). Some are borderline, like Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Peter Schilling's "Major Tom" and Elton John's "Rocket Man".
I'm trying to put together a playlist of songs like that. Can anyone think of some more?
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Highway men, first time I heard that song I almost didnt believe it was Willy Nelson Johnny Cash and other country stars with that wierd ass ending.
As far as campy Dr. Demento- Star Trekkin, Marvin I Love You, Electro Boy (warning, its from The Mighty Boosh) and thats all I can remember right now.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
You need to look into prog rock. Yes, Genesis, etc.
Yes actually did a song based on Starship Troopers, for example. I'm not as familiar with their canon as I should be, but they have fairly consistent Scifi/fantasy overtones. Emerson Lake and Powell did "Mars, Bringer of War" from Holtz's "The Planets"... not sure if that counts for you.
Rush has a bunch: Bytor and the Snow Dog, Rivendell, The Necromancer, The Fountain of Lamneth, 2112, The Twilight Zone, Xanadu, Cygnus X-1 and Hemispheres, Red Barchetta, Countdown, The Body Electric, and The Manhattan Project all tell SciFi/fantasy stories, and there are overtones of it in much more of their stuff.
I recall reading somewhere that all Coheed and Cambria's work is supposed to be one giant scifi story.
Iron Maiden and Dream Theater have a lot of scifi/fantasy influence as well.
Queensryche's concept album Empire is a scifi story.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Wooden Ships by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. At least, on the Woodstock recording I have they say, "it's a bit of a science fiction song" so I would take that as evidence.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
I'd say Styx's "Mr. Roboto" is more sci-fi than "Come Sail Away". The latter only has one line in it that qualifies, but the former has a whole story behind it.
Posted by adenam (Member # 11902) on :
The Saga Begins by Weird Al.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
YO---DA YO YO YO DAAAA Y O D A YODAAAAA
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Oh, I forgot about 905 by The Who. And Rush did a whole SF thing, too.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jim-Me: Emerson Lake and Powell did "Mars, Bringer of War" from Holtz's "The Planets"... not sure if that counts for you.
(Palmer, not Powell)
Posted by krynn (Member # 524) on :
not the same genre, but a hip hop artist created an entire album set in the year 3030, with sci-fi,anime, and video games cited as his influence.
Album is Deltron 3030
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
The Phoenix. "For my wings are made of tungsten / and my flesh is glass and steel..."
Posted by Dogbreath (Member # 11879) on :
"Broken Toy"- Keane (yeah, it's not really scifi, but it has such a strange mood to it and makes me think of the movie Artificial Intelligence)
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Gary Jules Mad World isnt really a science fiction song, but it deserves a spot on a syfy (theyre switching Im swytching) playlist. Between Donnie Darko and the Gears of War ads its always struck a mysterous chord with me.
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
Almost all of Slipknot's album "MKFR" is about the RPG Werewolf: the Apocalpyse... not sure if that qualifies.
There's also "Fett's Vette" by MC Chris and "Yellow Lasers" by MC Frontalot.
Also, "Yoda", "Jurassic Park" etc. by Weird Al Yankovic.
And "Chewbacca" from the Clerks soundtrack.
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
"100 Years"? Why?
Also, what about that Led Zeppelin song that mentions the Lord of the Rings?
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by AchillesHeel: Gary Jules Mad World isnt really a science fiction song, but it deserves a spot on a syfy (theyre switching Im swytching) playlist. Between Donnie Darko and the Gears of War ads its always struck a mysterous chord with me.
Not to mention the fact that they're using it in previews for Flashforward. Still, I'm trying to find stuff where it's in the lyrics. Particularly if it's subtle, like "39".
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
Oh, "In the Year 2525".
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
"Fly Away" by Lenny Kravitz
Posted by ambyr (Member # 7616) on :
Radiohead? "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and "Paranoid Android" are kind of obvious choices.
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
"Ironman" by Black Sabbath has nothing to do with the Marvel comic character, but is a narrative about a time traveler who is metamorphised into an immobile robot during his journey, suffers the presence of future humans, then regains life and attacks them with his new internal weapons.
Ah, romance.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
quote: "Fly Like an Eagle" (yeah, I know that's kind of stretching it)- Steve Miller Band or Seal
It might be stretching it from a lyrics standpoint, but the SMB version is one of the most sci-fi sounding things I've ever heard. Forget Seal.
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife:
quote:Originally posted by Jim-Me: Emerson Lake and Powell did "Mars, Bringer of War" from Holtz's "The Planets"... not sure if that counts for you.
(Palmer, not Powell)
Nope. It's Powell on that song.
Posted by daventor (Member # 11981) on :
Tara, I suggested "100 Years" because there's a line where the singer mentinons he and his lover "making [their] way back from Mars." It's only one line, but I figured I'd put it out there for consideration.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" by Leonard Nimoy?
oh. you said Music.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jim-Me:
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife:
quote:Originally posted by Jim-Me: Emerson Lake and Powell did "Mars, Bringer of War" from Holtz's "The Planets"... not sure if that counts for you.
Doh! My apologies. You are clearly much more educated about prog rock than I am.
--Mel
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three by Leslie Fish
Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde by John Entwistle, "B" side of The Who's single "Call Me Lightning."
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
There's a whole genre of folk songs that have an SF orientation. It's called filksinging. Apparently there are lots of songs with funny interesting lyrics. Check it out. Wikipedia article about filk.
[ August 03, 2009, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: Tatiana ]
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
There's "Planet called Zydeco" and "Truck Drivin' Vampire" by Michael Longcor, too, speaking of folk songs. He's got a bunch of fantasy songs on one of his albums writtena bout Mercedes Lackey novels.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife:
quote:Originally posted by Jim-Me:
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife:
quote:Originally posted by Jim-Me: Emerson Lake and Powell did "Mars, Bringer of War" from Holtz's "The Planets"... not sure if that counts for you.
Doh! My apologies. You are clearly much more educated about prog rock than I am.
--Mel
Though the Karn Evil 9 trilogy by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer is quite definitely science fiction.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
Cold Play?
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife: Doh! My apologies. You are clearly much more educated about prog rock than I am.
--Mel
we coo.
Or at least as cool as fuddy duddies discussing music that was uber-geeky 20-30 years ago when it came out can be Posted by daventor (Member # 11981) on :
Oh, dur! I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but Joss Whedon would be a good source of scifi-ish songs:
(1) Firefly Theme (2) Anything from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla" -- because history shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of Man....
"Frankenstein" by the Edgar Winter group. No lyrics, but still an overall Frankenstein feel....
"Starship Trooper" by Yes
That Three Dog Night song "In the Country" ("before the breathing air is gone/ before the sun/ is just a bright star in the nighttime...."
And a group called Hawkwind supposedly did whole albums based on Michael Moorcock's writing, although I've never listened to them....
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
And "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden(?)
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
and "Grey Seal" by Elton John, Bernie Taupin
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
"Journey to the Center of Your Mind" by Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes
Posted by Epictetus (Member # 6235) on :
"Martian Girl" by the Aquabats, as well as about 50% of their other songs have a SciFi vibe to them.
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
Isn't there a Neil Young song in which he meets "a Man from Mars, who picked up my guitar, and played a traveling song...."
And doesn't Blondie's Debbie Harry meet a "Man from Mars," in "Rapture," and is that the first rap song ever, as some claim?
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
And when I was young I always thought "Roundabout" by Yes was a science fiction song because ".... marlins come out of the sky .... and they stand there!"
And the keyboard player for Yes, Rick Wakeman, did an entire concept album "Journey to the Center of the Earth," which I accidentally bought and listened to once.
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
If we may allow some fantasy to slide in there, Cream scores a neat trifecta with "Deserted Cities of the Heart," "Those were the Days" (set in Atlantis), and "Tales of Brave Ulysses."
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
"I'm a Boy" by The Who.
In a future where parents can select their offspring from a genetic menu, a man orders four daughters, but mistakenly gets 3 girls and a boy (who is pressured to become a transvestite).
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
"Telstar" by the Tornados (again, an instrumental, but a very moving and optimistic piece, taken in context of the cold war and space race, a tribute to one of America's first sattelites)
"Hypnotized" by Fleetwood Mac (a really weird flying saucer abduction/ interrupted journey thing)
"The Blob" by The Five Blobs
[ August 04, 2009, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: Flying Fish ]
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by daventor: Oh, dur! I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but Joss Whedon would be a good source of scifi-ish songs:
(1) Firefly Theme (2) Anything from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
I was at a Board Game Design/Sci-Fi meetup last night, and they said there's going to be a showing of Serenity here with Dr. Horrible shown on the big screen as well. But it's on a Saturday before Shabbat ends. Gah!
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
If we're goign to do media-inspired stuff:
Steve Hackett (of GTR/old Genesis) did a concept album for Narnia. When the movies came out there was a pretty good set of Christian music on a compilation inspired by the movie
Some Anime theme music is quite good... notably Witch Hunter Robin, Trigun, and Gunslinger Girl.
You might want to consider the Disco version of the Star Wars theme music...
Other thoughts: "Rapture" is not a rap, but it would qualify as spoken word.
If we're counting songs that only have title references, we might add "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse.
Filk is often hilarious. "Star Trekkin'" and "Existential Blues" are old faves.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
You are clearly much more educated about prog rock than I am. ![[Hat]](graemlins/hat.gif)
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