Astronomy (song)

This article is about the Blue Öyster Cult song. For the Conan Gray song, see Superache.

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1974 song by Blue Öyster Cult

"Astronomy"

Song by Blue Öyster Cult
from the album  Secret Treaties
Released| April 1974
September 1978
July 1988
June 1994
September 2002
Genre|

* Hard rock
* progressive rock
* heavy metal

Length| 6:28 (1974 studio version)
8:18 (1978 live version)
6:47 (1988 studio version)
8:45 (1994 studio version)
10:19 (2002 live version)
Label| Columbia Records
Composer(s)|

* Albert Bouchard
* Joe Bouchard

Lyricist(s)|

* Sandy Pearlman

Producer(s)|

* Murray Krugman
* Sandy Pearlman

"Astronomy" is a song by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult that has appeared on several of the band's albums. It was first released on their 1974 album Secret Treaties. Their second live album, Some Enchanted Evening, included a version with an extended guitar solo and a third version was included on the Imaginos album. It was also re-recorded for the band's Cult Classic collection in connection with the TV miniseries of Stephen King's The Stand. Most recently, the song was included on the A Long Day's Night album.

## Lyrics

[edit]

Astronomy (1988)

The version of "Astronomy" from the album Imaginos was sung by Buck Dharma, instead of Eric Bloom

* * *

Problems playing this file? See media help.

The song's lyrics are selected verses from a poem by Sandy Pearlman, the band's producer and mastermind behind their image, called "The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos". In the poem, which was later partially released under the BÖC moniker in the album Imaginos, aliens known as Les Invisibles guide an altered human named Imaginos, also called Desdinova, through history, playing key roles that eventually lead to the outbreak of World War I.

In "Astronomy", the character of Imaginos comes to realize his heritage and his role as the altered human. He is raised from the dead and transforms into the female persona[1] of Desdinova, who is also mentioned on the back cover of Secret Treaties and in the song "I Am the One You Warned Me Of" from the Imaginos album. References are made to celestial objects throughout the song: "the light that never warms" being the moon, "the queenly flux" the constellation Cassiopeia, though both may also serve as epithets or descriptions of Desdinova. "My dog, fixed and consequent" refers to Sirius, the dog star. The "Four Winds Bar" may be a reference to the Tropic of Cancer, compass rose, or an actual bar.

## Music video

[edit]

A music video of the 1988 version was released by Sandy Pearlman in the United Kingdom. The video had no footage of the band playing, and instead focused on the story told by the song. Longtime BÖC fan and author Stephen King recorded a spoken narration for the video, which is as follows:

> Imaginos (performed by Blue Öyster Cult) – A bedtime story for the children of the damned. From a dream world, paralleling our earth in time and space, the invisible ones have sent an agent who will dream the dream of history. With limitless power he becomes the greatest actor of the 19th century. Taking on many ingenious disguises, he places himself at pivotal junctures in history, continually altering its course and testing our ability to respond to the challenge of evil. His name is 'Imaginos'.

## Covers

[edit]

* Metallica did a cover of the song for their 1998 Garage Inc. album.
* Arch Enemy used the chorus for their song "Pilgrim" from the Burning Bridges album.
* Albert Bouchard's band the Brain Surgeons recorded the song for their 1997 album Malpractise with Deborah Frost on lead vocals. Albert's post-Brain Surgeons band Ünderbelly released a version of the song with original Soft White Underbelly singer Les Braunstein on lead vocals in 2011.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Chris Akin (January 4, 2022). "Legendary Drummer Albert Bouchard (ex-Blue Öyster Cult)". www.cmspn.com/ (Podcast). The CMS Network. Event occurs at 3:45. Retrieved January 6, 2022.

## External links

[edit]

* Official lyrics
* Live performance from 1976 on YouTube

* v
* t
* e

Blue Öyster Cult

* Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser
* Eric Bloom
* Danny Miranda
* Richie Castellano
* Jules Radino

* Allen Lanier
* Albert Bouchard
* Joe Bouchard
* Chuck Burgi
* John Miceli
* Greg Smith
* Bobby Rondinelli
* Rudy Sarzo
* Kasim Sulton

Studio albums|

* Blue Öyster Cult
* Tyranny and Mutation
* Secret Treaties
* Agents of Fortune
* Spectres
* Mirrors
* Cultösaurus Erectus
* Fire of Unknown Origin
* The Revölution by Night
* Club Ninja
* Imaginos
* Heaven Forbid
* Curse of the Hidden Mirror
* The Symbol Remains

Live albums|

* On Your Feet or on Your Knees
* Some Enchanted Evening
* Extraterrestrial Live
* A Long Day's Night

Other albums|

* Bad Channels
* Cult Classic
* Workshop of the Telescopes
* St. Cecilia: The Elektra Recordings
* The Essential Blue Öyster Cult

Songs|

* "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll"
* "(Don't Fear) The Reaper"
* "Godzilla"
* "Burnin' for You"
* "Veteran of the Psychic Wars"
* "Shooting Shark"
* "Astronomy"

Videos|

* Black and Blue
* A Long Day's Night
* Some OTHER Enchanted Evening

Related|

* Discography
* Members
* John Shirley
* Michael Moorcock
* More Cowbell
* Patti Smith
* Richard Meltzer
* Sandy Pearlman

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Metallica

* James Hetfield
* Lars Ulrich
* Kirk Hammett
* Robert Trujillo

* Dave Mustaine
* Ron McGovney
* Cliff Burton
* Jason Newsted

Studio albums|

* Kill 'Em All
* Ride the Lightning
* Master of Puppets
* ...And Justice for All
* Metallica
* Load
* Reload
* St. Anger
* Death Magnetic
* Hardwired... to Self-Destruct
* 72 Seasons

Cover albums|

* Garage Inc.

Extended plays|

* The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Re-Revisited
* Beyond Magnetic

Collaboration projects|

* S&M (with the San Francisco Symphony)
* The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria (with Anthrax, Megadeth & Slayer)
* Lulu (with Lou Reed)
* S&M2 (with the San Francisco Symphony)

Live albums|

* Live Shit: Binge & Purge
* S&M
* Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México
* Six Feet Down Under
* Six Feet Down Under Part II
* Live at Grimey's
* Freeze 'Em All
* Through the Never
* S&M2

Box sets|

* The Good, the Bad & the Live
* Live Shit: Binge & Purge
* Limited-Edition Vinyl Box Set
* The Metallica Collection

Singles|

* "Whiplash"
* "Jump in the Fire"
* "Creeping Death"
* "Master of Puppets"
* "Harvester of Sorrow"
* "Eye of the Beholder"
* "One"
* "Enter Sandman"
* "The Unforgiven"
* "Nothing Else Matters"
* "Wherever I May Roam"
* "Sad but True"
* "Until It Sleeps"
* "Hero of the Day"
* "Mama Said"
* "King Nothing"
* "The Memory Remains"
* "The Unforgiven II"
* "Fuel"
* "Turn the Page"
* "Whiskey in the Jar"
* "Die, Die My Darling"
* "Nothing Else Matters '99" (with the San Francisco Symphony)
* "No Leaf Clover" (with the San Francisco Symphony)
* "I Disappear"
* "St. Anger"
* "Frantic"
* "The Unnamed Feeling"
* "Some Kind of Monster"
* "The Day That Never Comes"
* "My Apocalypse"
* "All Nightmare Long"
* "Broken, Beat & Scarred"
* "The View" (with Lou Reed)
* "Lords of Summer"
* "Hardwired"
* "Moth into Flame"
* "Atlas, Rise!"
* "Now That We're Dead"
* "Spit Out the Bone"
* "Lux Æterna"
* "Screaming Suicide"
* "If Darkness Had a Son"
* "72 Seasons"

Promotional singles|

* "Fade to Black"
* "For Whom the Bell Tolls"
* "...And Justice for All"
* "Don't Tread on Me"
* "Ain't My Bitch"
* "Bleeding Me"
* "Better than You"
* "Cyanide"
* "The Judas Kiss"

Other songs|

* "Seek & Destroy"
* "Am I Evil?"
* "Battery"
* "Disposable Heroes"
* "Orion"
* "Breadfan"
* "The God That Failed"
* "Astronomy"
* "Tuesday's Gone"
* "Last Caress/Green Hell"
* "Stone Cold Crazy"
* "So What?"
* "Overkill"
* "The Unforgiven III"
* "Inamorata"

Video albums|

* Cliff 'Em All
* 2 of One
* A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica
* Cunning Stunts
* S&M
* The Videos 1989–2004
* Français Pour une Nuit
* Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México
* The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria
* Quebec Magnetic
* Metallica: Through the Never
* S&M2

Tours|

* Damage, Inc. Tour
* Damaged Justice
* Wherever We May Roam Tour
* Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour
* Shit Hits the Sheds Tour
* Summer Sanitarium Tour
* Madly in Anger with the World Tour
* Sick of the Studio '07
* World Magnetic Tour
* 2012 European Black Album Tour
* Metallica By Request Tour
* Lords of Summer Tour
* WorldWired Tour
* 2021–2022 tours
* M72 World Tour

Related articles|

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