Two songs about invading alien viruses, plus one about invading aliens destined to be defeated by terrestrial viruses (or bacteria, whatever – yeah, I know they’re not the same thing):
257. Laurie Anderson, “Language Is a Virus (From Outer Space)” (1986):
Inspired by a line from William Burroughs:
258. Rick Springfield, “Alien Virus” (2004):
“Monkeys are talking to a black monolith” is an obvious reference to Barry Lyndon:
259. Jeff Wayne and Richard Burton, “Eve of the War” (“War of the Worlds,” 1978):
We shall remain poor and naked for ever and shall always be hungry and thirsty; no matter how hard we try, we’ll never have anything better to eat. Our bread supply is very meagre: little in the morning and less at night, for by the work of our hands we’ll never have more to live on than fourpence in the pound; and with this we cannot buy sufficient food and clothing. For though our labour is worth twenty shillings a week, we have barely enough to live on. And you can be sure that there’s not one of us whose work doesn’t bring in twenty shillings or more, and that’s enough too make a duke wealthy! Yet here we are in poverty, while he for whom we labour grows rich from our work. We stay awake much of the night and all day to earn his profit ….
239. Leslie Fish, “Grandma Went Out With A Bang” (date unknown):
240. Frank Zappa, “Token of My Extreme” (1979):
I can’t imagine what this song is parodying:
241. They Might Be Giants, “The Ballad of Davy Crockett (In Outer Space)” (2009):
242. Dave Doré, “New Crew in Town” (2004):
A comparison of the original and reimagined versions of Battlestar Galactica:
243. David Seville, “My Friend the Witch Doctor” (1958):
Arguably fantasy rather than science fiction – but maybe the Witch Doctor is a technomage, and these are the “fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever.”
244. ZZ Top, “TV Dinners” (1983):
Here it’s the video that’s science fiction, not the lyrics:
Well, I don’t think any of that’s quite going to work out. But here are three songs about the life submarinous:
236. The Beatles, “Yellow Submarine” (1966):
This song was presumably the inspiration for Hagbard Celine’s golden submarine in the Illuminatus books.
When I was in college, a parody song (not by me!) was in circulation, about students studying in the Cabot Science Library: Calc in A, and Chem in D / in the Cabot Library / We all live in the Cabot Library / Cabot Library, Cabot Library ….
237. The Beatles, “Octopus’s Garden” (1969):
I first heard this song as a kid as part of the soundtrack for an underwater nature film at San Diego’s Reuben H. Fleet Science Theatre:
I’m ethically opposed to revenge, but aesthetically I often find it pleasing:
Plus an animated video:
And another:
And another:
And another:
And another:
And another:
And a partial other:
And a live-action cover version:
(The lead in this last oddly reminds me of Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride. The age gap between the two men looks a bit more than fifteen years, but ….)
(Clarificatory Edit: By “the two men” I don’t mean Cary Elwes and this guy; I mean this guy and his intracetaceous companion.)
