Astronomy (song)
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"Astronomy" is a rock song by Blue Öyster Cult on their 1974 album Secret Treaties.
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[edit] Lyrics
The song's lyrics are selected verses from a poem by Sandy Pearlman, the band's producer and mastermind behind their image, called "The Soft Doctrines of Immaginos". In the poem, which was later released under the BÖC moniker as "Imaginos", aliens known as Les Invisibles guide an altered human named Imaginos, also called Desdinova, through history, playing key roles that eventually lead to the outbreak of World War I. In "Astronomy", the character of Imaginos comes to realize his heiritage and his role as the altered human. References are made to celestial objects throughout the song-- "The light that never warms" being the moon, "The Queenly flux" the constellation Cassiopeia, "My dog, fixed and consequent" being Sirius, the dog star. The "Four Winds Bar" may reference the Tropic of Cancer. All in all, it has Imaginos explaining his position as part of Les Invisibles.
[edit] Music Video
A music video of the 1988 version was released by Sandy Pearlman in Britain. The video had no footage of the band playing, and instead focused on the story told by the song.
[edit] Other Versions
- This song was redone for the album Imaginos. Longtime BOC fan and author Stephen King recorded narration for the remake. The speech reads as follows:
"Imaginos (performed by Blue Oyster Cult) - A bedtime story for the children of the damned. From a dream world, paralleling our earth in time and space, the invisible ones have sent an agent who will dream the dream of history. With limitless power he becomes the greatest actor of the 19th century. Taking on many ingenious disguises, he places himself at pivotal junctures in history, continually altering its course and testing our ability to respond to the challenge of evil. His name is 'Imaginos'".
- Live versions, with hugely extended guitar solos, were released on Blue Öyster Cult's albums Some Enchanted Evening and A Long Day's Night.
- Metallica did a cover of the song for their 1998 Garage Inc. album.
- Arch Enemy used the chorus for their song "Pilgrim" from the Burning Bridges album.
- Albert Bouchard used the song for his band The Brain Surgeons on the 1997 album Malpractise with Deborah Frost on lead vocals.
