SciFi SongFest, Songs 79-80

Two songs of attempts at alien contact:

79. David Bowie, “Baby Universal” (1991):

In “Baby Universal,” the titular baby – who may be an echo of the Star Child who arrives in the skies of Earth at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey – attempts to address the human race, apparently via telepathy: “Hallo humans, can you feel me thinking? / I assume you’re seeing everything I’m thinking”:

80. Klaatu, “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” (1976):

On the other hand, Klaatu – a band taking its name from the extraterrestrial visitor in The Day the Earth Stood Still – attempts telepathic contact in the other direction:

For better or worse, the Carpenters’ cover version is better known:

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3 Responses to SciFi SongFest, Songs 79-80

  1. Irfan Khawaja August 8, 2019 at 2:20 pm #

    Have been following your Sci-Fi SongFest with interest. I think I may have known 10% of the songs you put up. I don’t know how much of a metal fan you are, but do you know Judas Priest’s “Electric Eye”?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEfOGyvyfFY

    The lyrics:

    https://genius.com/Judas-priest-electric-eye-lyrics

    Rather prescient for having been written in 1982. Relevant, I suspect, that it was written by a closeted gay man who must have felt as though he was under the gaze of an electric eye.

    I’m writing, by the way, from under the gaze of the electric eyes of Shin Bet, in the West Bank.

    • Roderick August 9, 2019 at 1:20 am #

      Thanks! I’ll add it to the list. Currently scheduling it for October 12, since it fits thematically with the Alan Parsons Project’s “Eye in the Sky” and Modest Mouse’s “Third Planet,” likewise scheduled for that date (I have songs picked from now through Hallowe’en.)

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