SONG:
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: This has no scientific source; it’s a penitential cover for being late for the April song. It’s originally by The Only Ones.
ABSTRACT:
This is a punk standard, as much as there is such a thing. I shouldn’t admit this, being of the generation that I am, but I came to this song backwards – through (of all things) a classical tribute to punk rock. Somehow, I missed this song the first time around, and there it was, the London Philharmonic playing it between “Pretty Vacant” and “Where’s Captain Kirk?”, both of which I knew pretty well.
I might have heard it being covered by the Replacements, but only sought it out after that classical arrangement got it stuck in my head.
Great little song.
Strange how science-fiction-friendly so many original punks were. Rockets and alien worlds seemed so prog and metal, you know. Yes and Blue Oyster Cult. But there was this, too… space travel and dystopia.
Anyway, the string version fancied it up and maximized the drama. I stripped it down and stripped it down again. Trying to cross that vast, empty distance, you know?
This turned out really well. Two vocal/guitar takes (panned hard right and left), minimal editing, and a tempo-sync delay ping-ponging the right channel between both ears.
Space.
Here: