Astronomy (song) 5081204 225356703 2008-07-13T07:16:03Z Best O Fortuna 7362611 /* Other Versions */ album titles <table class="infobox" style="width: 20em;"> <tr> <th style="background: PaleVioletRed; text-align: center;" colspan="3">'''''Song From [[Secret Treaties]]'''''</th> </tr> <tr style="text-align: center;"> <td colspan="3"> {{#ifeq:{{NAMESPACE}}|[[Image:BlueOysterCultSecretTreaties.jpg|200px|Secret Treaties cover.]]|}}</td> </tr> <tr> <th style="background: PaleVioletRed; text-align: center;" colspan="3">[[Album]] by [[Blue Öyster Cult]]</th> </tr> <tr><td>'''Released'''</td><td colspan="2">April, [[1974]]</td></tr> <tr><td>'''[[Music genre|Genre]]'''</td><td colspan="2">[[Hard rock]]</td></tr> <tr><td>'''Length'''</td><td colspan="2">38:35</td></tr> <tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">'''[[Record label|Label]]'''</td><td colspan="2">[[CBS Records]]</td></tr> <tr><td>'''[[Record producer|Producer(s)]]'''</td><td colspan="2"> Murray Krugman & [[Sandy Pearlman]]</td></tr> <tr><th style="background: PaleVioletRed; text-align: center;" colspan="3">Tracks</th></tr> <tr><td colspan="2"><ol> <li>'''Career of Evil''' - 3:59 - (''A. Bouchard, [[Patti Smith]]'')</li> <li>'''Subhuman''' - 4:39 - (''E. Bloom, S. Pearlman'')</li> <li>'''Dominance and Submission''' - 5:23 - (''A. Bouchard, E. Bloom, S. Pearlman'')</li> <li>'''ME 262''' - 4:48 - (''E. Bloom, D. Roeser, S. Pearlman'')</li> <li>'''Cagey Cretins''' - 3:16 - (''A. Bouchard, R. Meltzer'')</li> <li>'''Harvester of Eyes''' - 4:42 - (''D. Roeser, E. Bloom, R. Meltzer'')</li> <li>'''Flaming Telepaths''' - 5:20 - (''A. Bouchard, E. Bloom, S. Pearlman, D. Roeser'')</li> <li>'''[[Astronomy (song)|Astronomy]]''' - 6:38 - (''J. Bouchard, A. Bouchard, S. Pearlman'')</li> </td></tr> </table>{{Unreferenced|date=November 2007}} "'''Astronomy'''" is a [[rock (music)|rock]] [[song]] by [[Blue Öyster Cult]] that has appeared on several of the band's albums. It was first published on their [[1974]] [[album]] ''[[Secret Treaties]]''. Their second live album, ''[[Some Enchanted Evening (album)|Some Enchanted Evening]]'', included a version with an extended guitar solo and a third version (sung by [[Buck Dharma]]) was included on the ''[[Imaginos]]'' album. Most recently the song was included on the ''[[A Long Day's Night]]'' album. == Lyrics == The song's lyrics are selected verses from a poem by Sandy Pearlman, the band's producer and mastermind behind their image, called "The Soft Doctrines of Immaginos". In the poem, which was later released under the BÖC moniker as "Imaginos", aliens known as Les Invisibles guide an altered human named Imaginos, also called Desdinova, through history, playing key roles that eventually lead to the outbreak of [[World War I]]. In "Astronomy", the character of Imaginos comes to realize his heritage and his role as the altered human. References are made to celestial objects throughout the song-- "The light that never warms" being the [[moon]], "The Queenly flux" the constellation [[Cassiopeia (constellation)|Cassiopeia]], "My dog, fixed and consequent" being [[Sirius]], the dog star. The "Four Winds Bar" may reference the [[Tropic of Cancer]]. All in all, it has Imaginos explaining his position as part of Les Invisibles. == Music Video== A music video of the 1988 version was released by Sandy Pearlman in Britain. The video had no footage of the band playing, and instead focused on the story told by the song. == Other Versions== *This song was redone for the album ''[[Imaginos]]''. Longtime BÖC fan and author [[Stephen King]] recorded narration for the remake. The speech reads as follows: <blockquote> "Imaginos (performed by Blue Oyster Cult) - A bedtime story for the children of the damned. From a dream world, paralleling our earth in time and space, the invisible ones have sent an agent who will dream the dream of history. With limitless power he becomes the greatest actor of the 19th century. Taking on many ingenious disguises, he places himself at pivotal junctures in history, continually altering its course and testing our ability to respond to the challenge of evil. His name is 'Imaginos'". </blockquote> *[[Metallica]] did a [[cover (music)|cover]] of the song for their [[1998]] ''[[Garage Inc.]]'' album. *[[Arch Enemy (band)|Arch Enemy]] used the chorus for their song "Pilgrim" from the [[Burning Bridges (Arch Enemy album)|''Burning Bridges'']] album. *[[Albert Bouchard]] used the song for his band [[Brain Surgeons]] on the [[1997]] album ''Malpractise'' with Deborah Frost on lead vocals. ==External links== *[http://blueoystercult.com/Studio/lyrics/3-A.html Official Lyrics] *[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTKKf-K3kH4 Music Video on YouTube] *[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V7KPZtcOVQ Live Performance from 1976 on YouTube] [[Category:1974 songs]] [[Category:1998 songs]] [[Category:Blue Öyster Cult songs]]