Ten Years After - "50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain" Spotify YouTube
My Brightest Diamond - "To Pluto's Moon" Spotify YouTube
Beyond measurement is anathema to the human mind. It forces us to wrap our heads around what the Carl Sagans of the world say we cannot fully appreciate. In 1969, Apollo 11 dipped our toe into the universal ocean. As far as cosmic scratches at the surface are concerned, it barely even registered.
At best, immeasurability, the extent of how on our own we are, is a scary concept. But it's one we can ignore with Netflix, Kleenex, and Xanax. For those suffering under the fresh rip and tear of loss, the vast openness can be a bacterial infection. Two artists in particular captured the panic that size and space can cause.
One year after the moon landing, Ten Years After put out “50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain.” Musicians burying deep distress in the soil of an upbeat tune are one of our oldest traditions. In this jam, the artist entreats his lover on Jupiter to raise him up from Mars. He yells to his muse all the things he wants to know, and what he wants to be; begging to be heard over the screams she has directed at constellations.
Forty years later, My Brightest Diamond found that her darling vanished well beyond Mars and even Jupiter. In “To Pluto's Moon” she tries to lasso our red neighbor and search behind it. But that darling is already at the edge of our solar system, leaving a ghostly trail at Pluto, the last outpost.
My Brightest Diamond - "To Pluto's Moon" Spotify YouTube
Beyond measurement is anathema to the human mind. It forces us to wrap our heads around what the Carl Sagans of the world say we cannot fully appreciate. In 1969, Apollo 11 dipped our toe into the universal ocean. As far as cosmic scratches at the surface are concerned, it barely even registered.
At best, immeasurability, the extent of how on our own we are, is a scary concept. But it's one we can ignore with Netflix, Kleenex, and Xanax. For those suffering under the fresh rip and tear of loss, the vast openness can be a bacterial infection. Two artists in particular captured the panic that size and space can cause.
One year after the moon landing, Ten Years After put out “50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain.” Musicians burying deep distress in the soil of an upbeat tune are one of our oldest traditions. In this jam, the artist entreats his lover on Jupiter to raise him up from Mars. He yells to his muse all the things he wants to know, and what he wants to be; begging to be heard over the screams she has directed at constellations.
Forty years later, My Brightest Diamond found that her darling vanished well beyond Mars and even Jupiter. In “To Pluto's Moon” she tries to lasso our red neighbor and search behind it. But that darling is already at the edge of our solar system, leaving a ghostly trail at Pluto, the last outpost.
La Femme by Mona Oates
You were so beautiful I thought you'd last forever
But you came and you went when the lights went out
You went like you came
In a lightning bolt
The lightning bolt. As a natural phenomenon, it is the fittest demonstration of Einstein's speed of light. And it shows how fleeting love can be. The thud of her slamming her head against the wall of permanence is the thunder the bolt left as the only evidence of its coming. The bolt, the muse, the lover, has vanished into darkness, the defining feature of outer-space.
Meanwhile, the torture lingers on for our Martian, who hears the distant cries. He must live in the mistaken belief that his beloved is only a rocket away. Only a song away.
Meanwhile, the torture lingers on for our Martian, who hears the distant cries. He must live in the mistaken belief that his beloved is only a rocket away. Only a song away.
