What’s the best rock song about travel to the moon or other points in space? As Rock Town Hall marks the 40th anniversary of humankind’s first landing on the moon, I can’t help but think back to the night, as a 6-year-old boy, my family gathered around a little B&W tv at the apartment we were renting in Ocean City, New Jersey. I went to bed late that night, sleeping in the top bunk of the kids’ bedroom. I awoke on the floor the next morning, presumably having rolled out of bed, dropping 5 feet, and probably getting knocked unconscious before I had a chance to awake from my fall. The other thing I’ve been thinking about is David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” That song always painted such a clear picture of space travel when I was a kid, and it still does today.
What’s your favorite Moon Rock song?
First one I can think of is Jethro Tull’s For Michael Collins, Jeffrey, and me referencing the astronaut left behind in orbit, while Aldrin and Armstrong went to the Moon’s surface.
I doubt it’s my favorite.
Wow, that’s a shocking first one that came to the collective mind of Townsfolk! I would have put my money on a more Hall-friendly number. I had no idea that Tull had a song on this subject, even though I was familiar with the song title.
Me and the kids prefer Mr Spaceman by the Byrds
As Shatner said: “I’m a rocket, man!”
TB
And “Spaceman” by Nilsson. What’s my favorite, though? Maybe just “walking on the moon”, because it’s fun.
The first one that comes to mind for me is a Tommy Roe B-side called “Moontalk”. It’s bubblegum, it’s silly but I still admit I love it. Has great cheesey dramatic lines such as..
“Citizens read each word
Armstrong was the first”.
BTW, Space Oddity is a great song to just listen to the left or right side of the stereo mix. Really brings out that Stylophone.
Bowie, “Ashes to Ashes”
Of course we should all give Ballad of Easy Rider a spin because it concludes with the timely classic, “Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins.”
Anybody heard that Langley Schools version of “Space Oddity?”
TB
The first one I thought of was Blue Moon by The Marcels. i suppose it’s not really just about the moon, but I like that song. I’m surprised I didn’t think of Walking on the Moon, because I’m listening to a Police album right now. I finally got a new record player, and I’ve been listening to records pretty nonstop for a week!
Sun Ra’s Rocket #9 (also covered by NRBQ and Yo La Tengo): “Rocket #9 takes off for the planet, Venus, Venus … zoom! zoom! zoom!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuNpmyZ6za0
There’s also the Kinks’ Supersonic Rocket Ship. It’s more about escaping an overcrowded earth than about going anywhere in particular:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e89u4oFodqM
Joe Meek’s Telstar is good at sounding like outer space, even though it’s named after an unmanned satellite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ1MNVztNa8
And don’t forget Billy Lee Riley’s Flying Saucers Rock & Roll, which is a song about space travel with earth as the destination. Here’s Robert Gordon doing it with Link Wray:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aac-Ny5E_U
Moonage Daydream could possibly be my favorite Bowie song.
Also like The Pixies, The Happening as an ET tune.
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space.
it’s a drug/love song, but it’s pretty spacey
Well, since I get dizzy nowadays just going up and down on the baby wooden coasters at the amusement park (ah, advancing age!), I think skipping the space travel and keeping my tooties firmly on Earth is the way to roll. Gotta go with Thin Lizzy’s “Dancin’ in the Moonlight”. The fingersnaps alone are enough to put me in the best mood no matter the circumstance.
BB
Speaking of “Dancing In The Moonlight”, I remember the King Harvest version from when I was a lad. Another song that popped in my head was “2000 Light Years From Home” by the Stones.