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There are plenty of great pieces of music inspired by astronomy; I would say that David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” is one of them.  Especially for its uncertain feelings about outer space:  written at the height of our excitement over space exploration, in the time leading up to Sun Ra’s album and film titled “Space Is The Place,” it was a gentle reminder that space was actually quite a dangerous place. 

Now, even Dr. Dre is threatening to add an instrumental hip-hop album to the list of pieces based on the planets.  I can’t wait to hear that.  But I’d also like to hear a song that I heard back in the late 70s, late at night on the old WNEW-FM, back when the late Alison Steele (“The Nightbird,” as she called herself) would occasionally take really obscure records off the back wall and play them on the air.  It was this very spacey piece, no rhythm but lots of electronic swirls, and a soft, somber-toned voice singing about “this starship of stone.”  It seemed to go on forever, and all I remember is that it was about being on board this vessel on its journey through space and realizing that the vessel was in fact our Earth. 

I remain surprised that even today, when you can google a snatch of lyrics and find out everything about the song, I cannot turn up any trace of a song like this. 

UPDATE:  Well, that didn't take long.  As soon as I posted this, Soundcheck engineer Irene Trudel identified the song as "Space Hymn" by Lothar and the Hand People.  I had long suspected it was them, and actually bought one of their albums looking for it.  So why didn't I find it?  Because I could never make it past the ridiculous spoken-word intro - 4 minutes of it! - that starts the song.  If I'd ever soldiered through, the mystery would've been solved long ago. 

What’s your favorite astronomically-themed music?  Leave a comment.