Four more songs about alien visitations:
165. Elton John, “I’ve Seen the Saucers” (1974):
166. Graham Parker, “Waiting for the UFOs” (1979):
167. Jefferson Starship, “Alien” (1981):
168. Divinyls, “Science Fiction” (1983):
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 61: Abraham
Continuing the Biblical theme from yesterday, this time we have The Handmaid’s Tale: The Prequel; or, Some More Times Jehovah Was a Dick.
Or, sorry, Abraham (“Testament: The Bible in Animation,” 1996):
The story of God demanding the sacrifice of Abraham’s son Isaac, but then relenting at the last minute and substituting an animal, has a parallel in some (though not all) versions of the Greek myth of Iphigeneia. (Aeschylus tells one version, Euripides another.)
Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen have both written songs commenting on the story of Abraham and Isaac. (This Cohen performance is different from the one I posted for Leonard Cohen month.)
SciFi SongFest, Songs 163-164
Space travel is boring, and Major Tom is dead. Sorry.
163. Modest Mouse, “Space Travel Is Boring” (1996):
164. Clay People, “Calling Spaceship: Damien Grief” (1998):
The last line is from Macbeth, possibly by way of Bradbury:
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 60: Ruth
Yesterday’s shepherdess said she’d follow her chimney sweep anywhere, but it turned out that she didn’t quite mean it. We’ll see whether Ruth (“Testament: The Bible in Animation,” 1996) is more reliable in her similar promise to Naomi:
SciFi SongFest, Songs 158-162
Five songs about alien visitations:
158. Nina Hagen, “Flying Saucers” (1983):
159. Hüsker Dü, “Books About UFOs” (1987):
160. Blink-182, “Aliens Exist” (1999):
161. Klaxons, “Flashover” (2010):
162. Rush, “Clockwork Angels” (2012):
Middelboe Chronicles, Part 59: The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep
From Romeo and Juliet to another tale of star-crossed lovers defying family disapproval: The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep (“Animated Tales of the World,” 2002), adapting Hans Christian Anderson’s story: