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I couldn\u2019t limit myself to ten entries. So my apologies. I loved this exercise, due in part to the fact that I\u2019ve 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\u2019d include on a contemporary version. And while I can\u2019t speak to the array of world music that was on here, I\u2019d 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\u2019s\u00a0Dear Mama<\/i>\u00a0hits the right notes.\u00a0Handle with Care<\/i>\u00a0by the Travelling Wilburys because it\u2019s a super group comprised of a half dozen extremely influential musicians. And just because it\u2019s an absolutely beautiful song,\u00a0Jolene<\/i>\u00a0by Dolly Parton would go well I feel.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 7 \u2013 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\u2019d be in for something incomprehensible. And so would they.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 11 \u2013 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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 16 \u2013 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\u2019m 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 \u2013 but I got there! It\u2019s super similar to one melodic riff in Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran. Check out the little \u201cdoo, doo, doo\u201d bit in between verses in that smash hit.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 18 \u2013 I love trumpets, so anything by Louis Armstrong was for sure going to make my cut! And it\u2019s 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 \u2013 even in the 70s.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 22 \u2013 This is probably the most recognizable piece of music in the Western world. I doubt that there\u2019s a person over the age of eight who wouldn\u2019t recognize those first four notes. What a perfect entry.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 24 \u2013 I was wondering if we\u2019d get some First Nations music on this record. It again speaks to the diversity of song that exists just on our planet \u2013 let alone what would be found elsewhere in the universe.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 27 \u2013 I really liked this Peruvian folk song. I love when songs tell an entire story. When they have a narrative. I don\u2019t speak or understand Spanish at all \u2013 and maybe this isn\u2019t even Spanish. But it sure sounds great.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 28 \u2013 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 \u2013 notes between what we\u2019d call A and A-sharp for example. That\u2019s where the very distinct flavour of Asian music comes from \u2013 be it Chinese like this track, or Indian, or even Eastern Russian.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 29 \u2013 And now Indian music! I\u2019m a huge Beatles fan, so I have a bit of a soft spot for music from India (thanks George Harrison). In case it wasn\u2019t already clear, I\u2019m responding to this all live as I listen to the podcast.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 30 \u2013 Slide guitar gets me every time. It\u2019s like an entirely different instrument than the guitar when played with finger tips. And old southern traditionals \u2013 where the blues came from \u2013 are just devastatingly beautiful. This album for sure got better for me as it wore on.<\/span><\/p>\n Track 31 \u2013 And speaking of devastatingly beautiful \u2013 Cavatina from Ludwig Von. Its melody is very reminiscent of\u00a0Nearer My God To Thee<\/em>\u00a0which 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.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I couldn\u2019t limit myself to ten entries. So my apologies. I loved this exercise, due in part to the fact…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51157,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions\/43"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/tylerwilliam540\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}