Know It Now

Music by Oli Hayhurst
Lyrics and vocals by Barney Brown

My occupation watching satellites
And dropping things from heights
Creates conclusions that some things are wrong
And laws like to hide
Kinematics are in
And so are pendulums
They swing they swing, they swing, they swing they swing
And then I write down how much they swing.
And now they say they've found a way
Of looking at things far away
Closer to your eyes
Telescope
Know it now
The gulf I've seen between your dream and mine
The world, this solid world moves free
I didn't set out to fool anyone
With geocentric talk
I have preferred to use reason and sense
To lazy loose thoughts
I'm the father of science
Astronomy as well
My beliefs, the heresy that you see
Has left me locked up and so it ends
Copernicus,
He spoke for us, you shout and cuss, because
The world, this solid world moves free
Copernicus
He screams for us and still you cuss, because
The world, this solid world moves free
Copernicus
He teaches us, you preached to us, because
The world, this solid world moves free
Know it now
Instinct will show what is below us now
The world is moving round the world

Take Me Home To Orgonon

Music by Joseph Ashley Smith
Lyrics and vocals by Rob Fisher

mother, you had to tango with my teacher
i couldn't keep your secret any longer
father, beat you till you drank down the poison
i pushed the domino now he's lost, alone and broken
so down into the lonely lake he waded
and waited while the water soaked his bones
til death took hold

isolation, take me home

sister, don't you hide the love away inside you
the armour will constrict and suffocate you
brother, why do you deny the energy around you cloister me in mind and body when i can heal you
and i can stop them falling

isolation, take me home
isolation, take me home
to orgonon

Researchers of the P.I.E.R.C

Music by Barney Brown
Lyrics and vocals by Jospeh Ashley-Smith

Dig the flow
Around the islands of our home
Where we learn
About this archipelago

We hear the birds
And out in the field each day
We dig the words
"May the life of the land be preserved"

E mau ke ea o ka 'aina

We've come so far
And we work so hard
For all

We must survey
To keep the aliens at bay
Beneath the sun
Restore these islands to the days
When they were young
When endemic species had no woes
Of extinction
Just carefree island fun

E mau ke ea o ka 'aina

We've come so far
And we work so hard for all

(But sometimes we just wanna get on our boards and go!)

Sailing Back To Spain

Music by Julian Peters
Lyrics and vocals by Greg Dean)

Verse1
Darling,
I write this from afar,
Divided,
By oceans sleeping under stars
Longing,
This fever to subdue,
Hoping,
The words I could not say to you,
Are words youíre reading now

Chorus
You set my heart alight,
Like a galleon up in flames,
When I hear you call my name,
So Iím
Sailing back to Spain.
You know I come alive,
Achieving scientific fame,
Until I think of you again,
Then Iím sailing,
Sailing back to Spain.

Verse
A calling,
Thatís called for me too long,
Dissolving,
In echoes of my countryís songs
You alone should know,
Rationale can take a man so far

Chorus
One day my dear,
Some day, some year,
Lined up beneath those stars,
Play armadas of guitars
While our hearts keep beating like the castanets.

Captain, set the course for
home.

There Is Science In This Child

Music by Tim Donderevo
Lyrics by Nick Osbourne
Vocals by Nick Osbourne with Elliot and Sammy Brown

So I took a punt and asked you, bloodless, out to lunch
The smiler served a fission, poured a half-life in your cup, while I
Sat decaying at the table with my wine

You call me neutral
And guarded by your loving pit bull, you made
A tigerís leap into this heart of mine

Protons! Neutrons!
Fourteen years smothering his body in paraffin wax
How were we to know?
Which way he would go?
There is science in this child

Protons! Neutrons!
Fourteen years greasing the Earthís invisible pig
Nothing draws a crowd
Like a hole in the ground
There is science in this quiet child

Wonít you let me in?
To touch your Farah Fawcett skin?
Donít you want to know whatís underneath this tent-like white coat?

That light! It is bewitching!
There is something up my sleeve
The reaction is ungodly, but the Devil knows Iíve tried to believe
Everything will blow on New Yearís Eve

The universe is made of fourteen fingers and fourteen toes
This I know from my research to be sound
The properties of the penetrating radiation emitted from beryllium
When bombarded by the a-particles of polonium
Have been examined thoroughly ... very thoroughly!

So we must proceed
With our fingers in the dark
With the flavours of the quark

Protons! Neutrons!
14 years living with the buzz of a cycolotron
The girls have all left home
Theyíve gone out to roam
With the child and his science

Protons! Neutrons!
14 years living on the bed of a black, black stream
Their eyes have all gone wide
They have filled up their minds
With the child and his science

Protons! Neutrons!
14 years living with a Chinese woman in my cupboard
The air will dye us red
As we lie asleep in bed
There is science in this violent child

I wish to express my thanks to Mr H. Nutt for his help in carrying out these experiments
And not forgetting Maxwellís Demon, who held my hand and opened so many doors along the way

La Ballade de Mr Matthews

Music by Julian Peters
Lyrics and vocals by Audrey & Rob Fisher

moi, j'adore mon soda pop
quand je commence je bois non-stop
dans ma bouche sa picotte
Mr Matthews thank you sir!
trouvÈ par Lavoisier
l'acide carbonique fut mÈlangÈ
‡ l'eau par Preistly et mÈcanisÈ
par Bergman le suÈdois

et tu as mis les voiles vers un territoire o˘ le thÈ n'Ètait pas si dominant
et le marchÈ a permis quelque chose de bien plus pÈtillant

ensuite ‡ 55 Gold Street
t'as installÈ ton usine
et donnÈ la vie
aux bulles qui chatouillent ma langue

l'acquisition peu catholique
du marbre de St Patricks
tu l'avais eu pour un bon prix
Mr Matthews clever boy

de big Ben Austen je vais parler
la soupape de s˚retÈ
avec son pouce sur le pressure cock
le PSI Ètait rÈgulÈ

Monsieur Roussel avec son charme innÈ de la saveur a ajoutÈe
a explosÈ la scËne avec des go˚ts d'immenses possibilitÈs

tu as ralliÈ les forces
avec tes compÈtiteurs
les bons messieurs
Tuft, Lippincott et Puffer

les jeunes, ‡ la premiere gorgÈe du soda, expÈriencent des sensations,
qui comme celles de l'amour ne peuvent Ítre oubliÈes

i like soda fountain fun
pour toi, je chante cette chanson
tes bulles effleurent ma langue
oh Mr Matthews, tu es number one!

Dr Robotnik

Music by Richard Yates and Nick Osbourne
Lyrics by Julian Peters
Vocals by Julian Peters and Aya Saito

So another day has passed you've done the same old things,
You've been bouncing off springs and collecting gold rings,
Rolling over bridges that crumble away,
But Christ Between here and level 5 someone stands in your way,

(Eggman)
Kukukachoo he's searching for you
His IQ is 300 so what the Dickens will you do,
You must get past him if you want to curl into a ball at home,
Watch out he's twice as brainy as soft porn queen Sharon Stone

(Robotnik)
AKA
(Eggman)
(Robotnik)
That's right, the Eggman


Although most people aren't quite sure what his game is,
everyone knows he's the spit of Windsor Davies
So when you see him coming boy you better run
Because this Mutha F "Aint half hot mum"

But For someone so bright to devote his life
To hunting down a hedgehog something isnt quite right,
Building mecha suits that are amour clad,
To be destroyed by a hedgehog well that's just plain sad

(Robotnik)
Idiot
(Eggman)
Slender legs like Red Rum,
(Robotnik)
A hedgehog hater,
(Eggman)
Wallybasher
(Robotnik)
Kicking hedgehogs to death
(Eggman)
(Robotnik)
Wazzark
The Eggman

Winsaa Deibisu (Windsor Davies)
Winsaa Deibisu (Windsor Davies)
Shiranai shiranai (I don't know, I don't know)
Wakanai (I don't understand)
Mo ikai (once more please?)
Wakatta (I got it!)
Einta hafu hotto mum deshou (Aint half hot mum, isn't it?)

Oh My Beautiful Problem Child

Music by Dan Gresham
Lyrics by Tim Turton
Sung by Kelly Hoglund

(DIT DIT DIT DIT...)

Verse 1:
The alkaloids of moldy rye, were only the beginning
Of Albert Hofmann's curious and psychotropic drugs
Amino-alcholic variations to their structure
Produced Lysergic 25 - Oh Albert, what have you done?

CHORUS 1:
Hands making trails - and turning quite pale - in a mosaic of diamonds
Perceptions remain, but constantly change - connecting in elegant science
Love pervades my - omnipotent mind - in a profusion of rainbows
But its a gyp - and you are the trip - Oh my beautiful problem child

(DIT DIT DIT DIT...)

Verse 2:
Biking home on '25 - thru curving fields of vision
Stand before the monolith - the Doctor Dionysian
Albert, theres a danger here - and folks are turnin' crazy
The counter-culture psychonauts - are poisoning the Kids

CHORUS 2:
Dizzying minds - and spiralling skies - vivid arrays of distortion
Invulnerable maze, dimensional change - and things of colossal importance
External delights - magnificent sights - a dance of kaleidoscope patterns
And its thanks to you - my beautiful brew - Oh my beautiful problem child

(DIT DIT DIT DIT...)

Verse 4:
Take a trip to Mexico - and chill out with the indians
Salvia and mescalin - exploding in your minds
Gurus on the box again - expounding medications
You never should have synthesized - oh Albert, what have you done?

CHORUS 3:
Cacophonous dreams, invisible screams - a skyline of tormented faces
Demonic applause, ecstatic remorse - cognition of terrible places
The feeling is odd, no longer a god - you're suddenly nothing and nowhere
But there's always you - my beautiful brew - Oh My beautiful problem child
Theres always you - my beautiful brew - Oh my beautiful problem child
And Theres always you - and theres always you - and theres always
there's always, always, always, all...

(DIT DIT DIT DIT...)

Wondermachines

Music by Greg Dean and Rob Fisher
Lyrics by Barney Brown and Layla Vandenbergh

Santos Dumont built and numbered 20 flying machines. This is their story, and his.
1. A giant cigar made from Japanese silk. I crash into trees then fly up to the milk.
2. Wider, gasier, a rotary fan. I crash into trees, this time I cut my knees.
3. Shorter, thicker. Lamp gas inside. Around the Eiffel tower itís lifting my pride.
4. Out of my basket I straddle a bike. Like a witch on her broom I can fly where I like.

World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams

5. Piano wire ropes. I crash at my friends but master the art of aerial bends.
6. Crystal Palace, Monaco, Deutsch Prize, New York. Sunken and slashed. People talk, people talk.
7. I compete at St Louis for a shining grand prize and again my balloon is hacked at with knives.
8. I return to Paris. And contemplate. Avoiding acknowledgment of the dreaded number 8.
9. I transport a child in this aerial car and hand the controls to a woman. Huzzah!
10. I build it for 10 but it flies with just 1. This is the worldís first airship for no one.

World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams

World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams

World love through flight
In wonder machines
We control
All our dreams

11. A glider. One engine. That can barely fly. It has to get better so upward I try.
12. Leonardo inspired this twin helicopter. But unlike my vision, itís ability falters.
13. A division of hydrogen and piping hot air. An airship that lacked elevation and flair.
14. My airship becomes an aerial tug which I use to pull planes like a donkey with brains.
15. A biplane at last, to the future I ride. If only I could make it fly high like a kite.
16. Is it an airship or is it a plane? Whatever it is its clearly insane.
17. A biplane again, but the design is elusive. I lack the passion to even build it.
18. A plane that can float on the beautiful Seine. Did I call it a plane? Itís a boat, message ends.
19. A precarious mess which I hope will win big. It carefully springs from the earth and then digs.
20. Demoiselle. I love you but war has begun. You fly in my dreams. Dream on everyone.

John Muir

Music - Rob Fisher
Lyrics and vocals - Julian Peters
(Rob also did a few "shoop shoop waaa"s on the backing track so that
counts as backing vocals I reckon).

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.

Worked by a father stern and harder than most of us ever now know
A child's hands blistered raw from the plough and the hoe
But in free moments running through valleys is where your life began
The child is the father of the man

Seeing the world through once blind eyes
You saw the earth as heaven in disguise
So plain folk please now rise
For John.

Oddly obsessed by the possibilities and properties found within wood
And then doing with it as many things as a young mind could
Making clocks that creaked along keeping perfect time
Machines that tipped you sleepy from your bed before the sun could shine

Shepard, farmer, theorist, writer,
Wearer of the dungaree
Naturalist, explorer, child of the forest
A climber of the trees
Like a friendly, bearded, wily Womble wandering free
You were fathered by "The Nature"
And you fathered Yosemite
For everyone

By scientists with grants your ideas were
poo pooed and feared
But you knew better and sat patiently
knowing behind your beard
That one day they would make the trek right to your cabin door
And they did
We're sorry John you were right
our science was flawed
It would seem "The Nature" taught you more

So thank you now for so very many generations to come
For your glaciation theories and for all you have done
Far and wide people now care, your influence is felt
The sierra club, Laconte, Emerson, Teddy Roosevelt

Seeing the world through once blind eyes
Music in the animal cries
So plain folk please now rise
For John.

Seeing the world through once blind eyes
You wander on through starry skies
So plain folk please now rise
For John.

Having written some lyrics and recorded some vocals...

...are they good enough? The dangers of writing over the top of someone else's creation. If I'd recorded the music myself, OK would have been good enough, but given I'm writing over someone else's toil. I've got to just try harder! I'm happy enough with the tone of the lyrics and most of the delivery but I just feel there's something missing. I think maybe, it all needs to be a little, dare I say it, crazier? Not knowing how everyone else is going to write it's difficult to tell whether this track will be the calm bit in the middle... or not. Time will tell.

Writing lyrics over someone else's song

I've got to write some lyrics about Galileo over a beautiful piece of music written by Oli Hayhurst. At first I did some research about the great man (Galileo that is, though Oli is a great man as well) and then I started listening to the track, a lot.

I'm new to this approach to song writing having normally written the melody, chords etc. at the same time as writing lyrics. So my process has been to:
- work out the tempo, time signature etc.
- work out the basic structure (verses, choruses, breakdowns etc.)
- write some suitable lyrics (subject wise - they don't scan with the track yet)
- write a melody line over the top of the track

And then to where I am now. Cutting up, condensing the lyrics/ideas so they fit with the melody I've written. The chorus melody is already there in the piece Oli wrote and great is to, a really nice timing for vocal delivery.

The key points of Galileo's life seem to boil down to experimentation, telescopes, catholicism, house arrest, death. Should be a very positive song then... He was a devote Catholic, never I think questioning his faith even when it landed him arrested for knowing the earth revolved around the sun. He denounced his Copernican theories by request of the Spanish Inquisition, a good self-preservation technique I think. Most importantly though, and is the case with many of the scientists on this album, he had a great beard.