Astronomy (song)
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| Song From Secret Treaties | ||
|---|---|---|
| Album by Blue Öyster Cult | ||
| Released | April, 1974 | |
| Genre | Hard rock | |
| Length | 38:35 | |
| Label | CBS Records | |
| Producer(s) | Murray Krugman & Sandy Pearlman | |
| Tracks | ||
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
"Astronomy" is a rock song by Blue Öyster Cult that has appeared on several of the band's albums. It was first published on their 1974 album Secret Treaties. Their second live album, Some Enchanted Evening, included a version with an extended guitar solo and a third version (sung by Buck Dharma) was included on the Imaginos album. Most recently the song was included on the A Long Day's Night album.
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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 heritage 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 BÖC 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'".
- 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 Brain Surgeons on the 1997 album Malpractise with Deborah Frost on lead vocals.
