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    Dark Matter

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    Coming of Age in the Milky Way

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    Four Per Cent

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    Plastilla!

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    She's So Cold

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    The Loneliest Thing in the World

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    The Lovelock Dilemma

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    The First To Go Under

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    The Sidewalk Astronomer

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    Macro2Micro

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    Said the Dark to the Light

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ABOUT Jim's Science Songs

These songs use recent scientific discoveries, theories and personalities as subject matter. It's a music style I describe as 'Poetic Science'.  The working title of this collection is 'Math2Metaphor'. It explores the emotional sphere of discoveries as they ripple through all of our lives. Comments on these tunes are much appreciated, and may be used for the formal release in 2011. These songs are still in the process of mixing/mastering so you may notice some volume changes between tunes. Here's 9 songs of a coming 15-song collection for those who have a 'Meta-Quizzical' nature. 

Song Descriptions

Coming of Age in the Milky Way
Penned after Dr. Timothy Ferris' great book of the same name. This is a song celebrating our species long evolution from our earliest beginnings as one celled organisms to the present moment as we face our greatest tests and potential. The music is a crazy blend of honky-tonk piano, rock n roll guitar, and a sort of 'Buddhist Rap', with a catchy pop chorus you can hum. We are the most flexible macro-fauna this earth has ever evolved. We're truly coming of age in the Milky Way!
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Macro to Micro
A song inspired by cosmic extremes from the infinitesimal to the huge and how small things resemble large things and back again.  From atoms to galaxies, from rivers to the blood vessels down your arm, "Macro to Micro" explores the beautiful patterns of our existence.  It's a majestic pop piece with hints of Bruce Hornsby and a superb piano solo by Brian Whistler.  The outro is moody and atmospheric with strings reminiscent of Cat Stevens, 'Lily White', from the classic "Tea for the Tillerman" record.
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The Sidewalk Astronomer
This song celebrates one of the world's real human treasures, John Lowry Dobson, also known as the "Sidewalk Astronomer".  Now in his nineties, Dr. Dobson took an oath of poverty many decades ago and has dedicated his life to showing people the heavens using telescopes he made from "garbage" and recycled materials.  He feels that the more eyes we get on space the faster our consciousness will evolve as a species, that the truth is in the looking.  For many years, John Dobson gave people free "looks" all night long.  The song invites you to stand with him on a clear, chilly San Franciscan night for a look at the mountains on the moon.
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The Loneliest Thing in the World
This song is a tribute to the NASA team that launched the Mars Rovers. It's also dedicated to the Spirit Rover presently hibernating and mired in Martian sand. It's due to wake up soon or it may be permanently disabled. The song explores the feelings we have for our machines especially these amazing extra-planetary outposts of our collective intelligence. They are truly beginning the process of feeling at home on Mars and other planets. The music is a wistful ballad reminiscent of early Simon and Garfunkel with a lonely harmonica evoking the feeling of wide open spaces much like parts of the American Southwest. Thank you NASA for the inspiration!
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Plastilla!

This song satirizes the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' renamed here as Plastilla! According to researchers there are large areas in the sea where plastic has accumulated in huge, Texas-sized floating gyres, breaking down into the food chain, and causing unknown, possibly catastrophic problems. The song runs like a news bulletin as the monster wakes up Frankenstein-style in an electric storm and absorbs most of the Pacific Northwest. Then we follow a Salsa band escaping the San Francisco area running east only to get stranded in Denver as Plastilla comes over the Continental Divide. We added some lines from Bill Paxton from 'Aliens 2' which are hilarious!. The music is all Latin Beat and Salsa with some bilingual touches.
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Four Per Cent

This song is really a song about humility, or, the lack of it. According to Richard Dawkins, and other scientists we only see 4% of reality (see my blog). This song names many things from our everyday routines that we take for granted but, considering how small our aperture is currently set, it's amazing how swept up we are in the drama of it all. We are precious small things in a incredibly large place holding out our candles. This songs begs us to support one another as we go forward as a species into the unknown. It's a Folk/ Rock song with a Funky style drivinging the rhythm perfect for dancing!.
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Dark Matter
This is the song that got this whole collection going. I was listening to one of my favorite radio programs NPR's  'Science Fridays' with Ira Flato a couple years ago. Ira was talking with some scientists about the discovery of dark matter, and he asked them how it made them feel, and they said it made them feel a bit queasy. "We know it's there, but we can't detect it, and we don't really know what it is." The music is very exotic and mellow with some unusual instruments giving it a Middle Eastern feel. The song carries a message that "Life is meant to be loved."
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She's So Cold
Inspired by James Balog's incredible documentary 'Extreme Ice' this song explores the vast regions of the 'Cryosphere'. Set in Antarctica the song sings about the ice which is 2 and 3 miles deep in places, and it's effects on the Earth. She's So Cold advises that we should let the place sleep. Better to not wake up such a vast planet-changing force. The music is a surprising combination of acoustic guitar, electronica, and keyboards pulsing along like the light on an icy blue surface. 
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The First to go Under
Climate researchers and scientists predict that sea levels will rise from 3 to 6 feet depending on many variables by the end of this century. This song sings about the low- lying islands and coastal regions that are predicted to under the sea. It relates the odd feeling of watching it all happen in slow motion on TV as millions of people world-wide have to migrate to higher ground. The song mourns the palm trees, the sunsets. and the vanishing homes of the people. The music is reggae meets the blues.
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The Lovelock Dilemma
This song is dedicated to one of my favorite scientists, James Lovelock, whose great book 'Gaia: Life on Earth' changed the whole way I perceive the planet. His theories are that the Earth is a living entity with systems designed to sustain and protect life. Now, however after more than a century of industrial pollution, and over-population, he predicts vast changes in the eco-system with a sharp decline in human populations as Gaia seeks a balance. I call this song the Lovelock Dilemma because I think he's right, though feeling this way about the future is quite a dilemma for me. This is a folk ballad with guitar, piano and multiple harmonies giving it a soothing feel until 'Gaia' wakes up at the end evoked by a blistering electric guitar.
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Said the Dark to the Light
After watching a Stephen Hawking documentary on the universe with a lengthy expose' on 'Machos and Wimps', the current acronyms for dark matter, this song just poured out of me in 15 minutes late one night. It gives dark matter a voice as if it were singing to luminous matter shining on it's structure. The song really is a 'Beauty and the Beast' tale as dark matter woos us to look at it and understand what it is. A very romantic look at the universe. I used my big Guild F-50 tuned way down to low C to give this ballad a resonant , rich feel. Multiple melodies and harmonies on the outro weave together just like light and dark weave together in space.
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