(previously in Program Twelve: Novas 3.9)
(previously in story time: Novas 6 Act 1)
(previously in Program Twelve: Novas 6.6)
It is the year 2000.
Nuclear war was cancelled, the Company has been overthrown, the rogue AI SYSTEM is erased, an alien probe has been awakened, a nova has been averted, a timeline united… and the concert to end concerts played…
Together again forever, Susan and Jack have a transformed planet to explore…
BEGIN PROGRAM TWELVE MODULE SEVEN.
Beginning of an end, start of a brand new something…
Novas 6.7: A New Home In The Sun
01 Linda Ronstadt – After The Gold Rush (1995, USA) SUSAN
Well I dreamed I saw the knights in armour coming Saying something about a queen There were peasants singing and drummers drumming And the archer split the tree There was a fanfare blowing to the sun There was floating on the breeze Look at Mother Nature on the run In the twentieth century Look at Mother Nature on the run In the twentieth century I was lying in a burned-out basement With the full moon in my eyes I was hoping for replacement When the sun burst through the sky There was a band playing in my head And I felt like I could cry I was thinking about what a friend had said I was hoping it was a lie Thinking about what a friend had said I was hoping it was a lie I dreamed I saw the silver spaceships flying In the yellow haze of the sun There were children crying and colors flying All around the chosen ones All in a dream, all in a dream The loading had begun Flying Mother Nature's silver seed To a new home in the sun Flying Mother Nature's silver seed To a new home
A burst of radiant energy, but no longer the kind that burns
I think it was the 1999 “Trio II” variant of this, with Dolly Parton’s vocal, that was the first version of “After The Goldrush” that I ever heard – and not the 1970 Neil Young original. Weird, right? But long story short, I missed a whole bunch of classic rock while growing up, despite having a weird exposure to experimental New Wave stuff. Meanwhile I was watching music TV in the late 90s (the Internet had happened, but it might as well have been the Before Times) and so this was a Top 40 hit in fairly high rotation.
But neither Neil’s original or Dolly’s take quite hit it for me. It’s Linda’s 1995 version with Valerie Carter that seems to hold the magic. And the glass harmonica.
Here’s a video of Linda and Valerie from 1995, with Prince’s backup singers.
02 Jefferson Starship – Freedom At Point Zero (1979, USA) JACK
Oooh oooh oooh, oooh oooh oooh Oooh oooh oooh, oooh oooh oooh People get ready, there's a ship a comin' Get ready like a lover I got a note from the heart of the darkness The melody isn't over Steady as steel I wanna take the wheel Drive you like a rock and roller Freedom at point zero The rock and roll isn't over One long pull to the top of the mountain now One long pull and we're into the sky So many miles I can't count 'em now Oooh let me fly To the sky Oooh oooh oooh, oooh oooh oooh Oooh oooh oooh, oooh oooh oooh People get ready, there's a ship a-comin' Get ready, it's gonna be here soon I feel a great wind sweeping through the valley At the first light of the rising moon Don't look back, hold steady Keep your eyes open, we're almost ready Like a samurai on the edge of the sky Cold steel in the afternoon And it's a hard world to try to get a piece of It's a hard world for you and I We're goin' upstream to hunt for a dream It's right there for you and I Up in the sky It's gonna be all right All right All right It's gonna be all right Great light in the sky tonight Oooh honey it's burnin' bright Come and take me away tonight And it's all right Oooh Little darling All right Under every stone, on every beach Through every forest and all the trees In all the air For all time and all space In every land and every place In the seas and beyond the sky It's gonna be all right And it's a hard world to try to get a piece of It's a hard world for you and I We're goin' upstream to hunt for a dream It's right there for you and I Up in the sky You just got to reach out and take it It's gonna be all right All right All right Come and get it It's got to be be all right Take it It's gonna be all right
Jack and Susan are headed out into the sky
Both Grace Slick and Paul Kantner keep hanging out in my audioscape because I guess they just encapsulate some of that deep scifi weirdness underpinning Silicon Valley and the planetary data network it gave birth to.
A lot of that Stewart Brand Whole Earth dream has died, but not all of it.
03 The Bangles – Circles In The Sky (2011, USA)
In a window small and high A boy watches the sky Turning to monochrome When they ask him do you know Where in the whole world will you go He says, I wanna go home, home, home We're all here to wonder why It's a freefall till we fly Then you and I We'll make circles in the sky Too many birds up on a wire And they sway like a gospel choir Making music so heavenly And the bees make honeycomb The road home is our home Home will always be here with me Cause we're all here to wonder why It's a freefall till we fly Then you and I We'll make circles in the sky Circle in the sky Circles in the sky And if this is true Then I belong to you And you belong to me In a window tall and wide A girl sits side by side With a boy no-one sees but me And she whispers in his ear I'll wait for you right here This is where we're supposed to be Cause we're all here to question why It's a freefall till we fly When you and I We'll make circles in the sky Circle in the sky And never be alone The road home is our home And that is why We'll make circles in the sky Circle in the sky Circle in the sky Oooooh, oooh, ooooh
Susan knows that this time, it’s Jack’s turn to go a little ahead while she waits
So the thing is, the spark for this set was Prince’s “1999” and its alternate life as “Manic Monday”. But as it turned out, neither of those songs were quite tuned right to make the cut. So a couple of their descendants are here instead.
04 John Denver – Flight (The Higher We Fly) (1983, USA) JACK
Oh I have slipped the surly bonds of earth And danced the sky on laughter-silvered wings Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things I've wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence Hovering there I've chased the shouting winds aloft And flung my eager craft through footless halls of air The higher we fly, the farther we go The closer we are to each other The darker the night, the brighter the star In peace go my sisters and brothers Up, up the long delirious burning blue I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace Where never lark nor even eagle flew And while with silent lifting mind I've trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space Put out my hand, and touched the face of God The higher we fly, the farther we go The closer we are to each other The darker the night, the brighter the star In peace go my sisters and brothers
Jack flies up into solar orbit to meet the Probe.
John Denver’s slightly modified take on the classic World War 2 era poem High Flight by Canadian pilot John Gillespie Magee, Jr which has become an Air Force anthem/requiem.
The song appears on John’s 1983 album “It’s About Time”, but I think at least the music must have been actually written for his 1980 TV documentary on the history of flight, “The Higher We Fly“.
05 Sol Seppy – Injoy (2006, England)
I've been round a long time In search of home and heart On cartoons and in aeroplanes In paper chains and stars And I am come to you And I am one with you Then let the guards be terrified I am my soul's belief And now there's nothing left to hide I am wild and I am free And I am come to you And I am one with you I'm injoy as the morning spirals open And the clouds melt away into water And I am come to you I am one with you
The Probe awakes again.
06 Mike Oldfield – Following The Angels (2014, England)
In that moment there was peace No one walked alone on the streets A migration of dancing light Gathering, returning home from the night It came falling down Following the angels down Falling down Following the angels down As the sun went down over the bridge And the music and dance reached its pitch Satellites they joined the world in the games Hope was born again to live in the flame They came falling down Following the angels down Falling down Following the angels down If I never live to see another day I wish that it could always be just that way Like a symphony of dancing light Banishing the world's woes into the night They came falling down Following the angels down Falling down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down Following the angels down
A new moment unfolds across the globe
A song written about the 2012 London Olympics.
07 Kidz NW10 – La-La-La-La Logic (1982, England)
There's a new sensation Out there on the street People going crazy They all into it This colourful confusion Intriguing me and you How can we be beaten By a Rubik's Cube? Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic Plain and simple logic Some have got it sussed out They've overcome defeat They demonstrate on TV For the world to see They put it all together With such accuracy It really is so easy As A-B-C Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic Plain and simple logic The red goes up The blue goes down Be sure you turn it The right way around The red to the left Blue to the right Be sure keep turning Day and night Right side up Left side down Be sure you turn it The right way round Turn it up, turn it up Turn it up, turn it up Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic Plain and simple logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic Plain and simple logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic La-la-la-la logic Can't you see the logic Plain and simple logic
A new generation learns a new way of thinking
I don’t even know what the deal was with this band or this song…. except that I swear I heard it in the 1980s! That was the thing, that was the whole thing about 1982, you could make a song about anything vaguely computer-related, even about Rubik’s Cube, and it would be a hit.
That’s why there was this feeling that time was somehow accelerated on fast-forward and that we were crashing headlong into a strange and yet glowing future only the young could understand. Kind of a Mimsy Were The Borogoves cultural moment. That feeling went in reverse pretty quickly for the next few decades. But there’s something still circling around in that direction, if you look for it.
08 Prince – Compassion
Get it on Right on Zero point approaches and the fields around you drop Thoughts become reality and it feels like time has stopped And all that's on the radio is electromagnetic pop Steady, your teeth are gnashing Compassion Get it on Compassion Right on Love for the greater number freezes over and cools And everyone around you acts like a bloody fool No sanctity to the left of you no righteousness to the right The only thing that's left in fashion Compassion Get it on Compassion Whatever skin you're in We all need to be friends All happy again So much better than nothing Everybody can win With a little faith in men Beginning of an end Start of a brand new something When ego, fear and judgement become the rule of law Watch the polar icecaps heat up, melt down and thaw When the greedy one forgets that he's the reason for it all The only gold that's so worth stashing Compassion Get it on Compassion Right on In the highest seat of office No love will be found Nation will rise against nation And get down Whatever skin you're in We all need to be friends All happy again So much better than nothing Everybody can win With a little faith in men Beginning of an end Start of a brand new something If you've got compassion Let's get back in fashion The new international anthem Whatever skin you're in We all need to be friends All happy again So much better than nothing Everybody can win With a little faith in men Beginning of an end Start of a brand new something
Logic and compassion unite in the new curriculum
I guess “20Ten” was his update to “1999”. I like this take on the apocalypse better.
09 Belinda Carlisle – Circle In The Sand
Sundown all around Walking through the summer's end Waves crash, baby don't look back I won't walk away again Baby anywhere you go We are bound together I begin baby where you end Some things are forever Circle in the sand round and round Never ending love is what we've found And you complete the heart of me Our love is all we need Circle in the sand Circle in the sand Cold wind, tide moves in Shivers in the salty air Day breaks, my heart aches I will wait for you right here Ohh baby where you look for me Can you see forever I begin baby where you end We belong together Circle in the sand, round and round Rising of the moon as the sun goes down And you complete the heart of me Our love is all we need Circle in the sand Circle in the sand Baby can you hear me? Can you hear me calling? Ohhh baby anywhere you go We are bound together I begin baby where you end Some things are forever Circle in the sand, round and round Never ending love is what we've found And you complete the heart of me Our love is all we need Circle in the sand Circle in the sand Circle in the sand Circle in the sand
Susan waits for Jack’s return.
This song was absolutely everywhere on Kiwi radio in 1989.
10 Stevie Wonder – As
As around the sun the earth proceeds revolving And the rosebuds know to bloom in early May Just as hate knows love's the cure You can rest your mind for sure That I'll be loving you always As now can't reveal the mystery of tomorrow But in passing we'll grow older every day Just as all that's born is new Do know what I say is true That I'll be loving you always Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky Always Until the ocean covers every mountain high Always Until the dolphin flies and parrots live at sea Always Until we dream of life and life becomes a dream Did you know that true love asks for nothing Her acceptance is the way we pay Did you know that life has given love a guarantee To last through forever and another day Just as time knew to move on since the beginning And the seasons know exactly when to change Just as kindness knows no shame Know through all your joy and pain That I'll be loving you always As today I know I'm living but tomorrow Could make me the past but that I mustn't fear For I'll know deep in my mind The love of me I've left behind Cause I'll be loving you always Until the day is night and night becomes the day Always Until the trees and seeds just up and fly away Always Until the day that eight times eight times eight is four Always Until the day that is the day that I'm no more Did you know you're loved by somebody Until the day the earth starts turning right to left Always Until the earth just for the sun denies herself I'll be loving you forever Until that Mother Nature says her work is through Always Until the day that you are me and I am you Always Until the rainbow burns the stars out in the sky Until the ocean covers every mountain high Always
At midnight as the tide turns, she looks around and he is there. She smiles and takes his glowing hand. Together they fade.
END OF NOVAS: PROGRAM TWELVE.