I couldn’t limit myself to ten entries. So my apologies. I loved this exercise, due in part to the fact that I’ve got friends who own this album and we had a get together once at theirs where we had a listening party for this record. So I was excited to see mention of it on the syllabus. At the end of the podcast it asks what we’d include on a contemporary version. And while I can’t speak to the array of world music that was on here, I’d add in a rap track which would have for sure been an addition of Mr Sagan had that art form been widely known at the time. I feel like Tu-Pac’s Dear Mama hits the right notes. Handle with Care by the Travelling Wilburys because it’s a super group comprised of a half dozen extremely influential musicians. And just because it’s an absolutely beautiful song, Jolene by Dolly Parton would go well I feel.
Track 7 – They chose for track six a Bach piece in part because of its mathematical elements and they noted how unlikely it would be that alien lifeforms would understand music and rhythm the same way we do. As this song began I was taken by its rhythmic quality and how it is completely unlike anything western. If we can have such a dramatic difference between cultures on the same planet then truly on another world we’d be in for something incomprehensible. And so would they.
Track 11 – I love rock and roll so this was always going to be one of my choices. But beyond just the greatness of the song, there’s a certain poetry to it being the song from the big musical number in Back to the Future. Marty McFly goes back in time thirty years and plays at his parent’s high school, and this record is giving anyone who eventually stumbles upon a look at earth thousands, millions, or even a billion years into the past.
Track 16 – An ancient drinking song sounds like a party to me. And how interesting the extreme difference between that and the classic English pub shanties I’m familiar with from growing up in the Commonwealth. This song also got me off on an outrageous spiral trying to figure out what it reminded me of – but I got there! It’s super similar to one melodic riff in Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran. Check out the little “doo, doo, doo” bit in between verses in that smash hit.
Track 18 – I love trumpets, so anything by Louis Armstrong was for sure going to make my cut! And it’s great that the American music on here is from black Americans playing black music. They could have easily used a white Jazz artist. Or have selected Elvis instead of Chuck Berry. Awesome how progressive they were – even in the 70s.
Track 22 – This is probably the most recognizable piece of music in the Western world. I doubt that there’s a person over the age of eight who wouldn’t recognize those first four notes. What a perfect entry.
Track 24 – I was wondering if we’d get some First Nations music on this record. It again speaks to the diversity of song that exists just on our planet – let alone what would be found elsewhere in the universe.
Track 27 – I really liked this Peruvian folk song. I love when songs tell an entire story. When they have a narrative. I don’t speak or understand Spanish at all – and maybe this isn’t even Spanish. But it sure sounds great.
Track 28 – This is another great example of the differences in music just on our own planet. We have a twelve note scale in western music. Tones and semi-tones. But in Asian music, there are microtones – notes between what we’d call A and A-sharp for example. That’s where the very distinct flavour of Asian music comes from – be it Chinese like this track, or Indian, or even Eastern Russian.
Track 29 – And now Indian music! I’m a huge Beatles fan, so I have a bit of a soft spot for music from India (thanks George Harrison). In case it wasn’t already clear, I’m responding to this all live as I listen to the podcast.
Track 30 – Slide guitar gets me every time. It’s like an entirely different instrument than the guitar when played with finger tips. And old southern traditionals – where the blues came from – are just devastatingly beautiful. This album for sure got better for me as it wore on.
Track 31 – And speaking of devastatingly beautiful – Cavatina from Ludwig Von. Its melody is very reminiscent of Nearer My God To Thee which is the song the string quartet played as the Titanic suck to the bottom of the Atlantic. Again, somewhat fitting an image for me as the last song on the record that could be the last thing left of humanity when the sun goes supernova.