The first song played on the moon
There are a lot of common themes throughout music, the majority of which are predictable. People will continue writing about a broken heart until the day they learn how to fix it. However, one common theme that is quite surprising is that of space travel. Ever since people have been able to observe the stars, they have pondered over what might be beyond them, and whilst scientists answer those questions, they are commonly posed by musicians.
A vast range of songs and performances centre around the cosmic world. One of the first that comes to mind is Michael Jackson’s moonwalk, where the way he moved seemed to reflect how people lost in space might move, completely defying the laws of gravity and fundamental principles of the physical world. Before he did this, other dancers were famous for moving in a way that also fought what we know.
On top of that, a lot of the lyrics in songs talk about going to space. A lot of the time, it is used as a metaphor for love, but then some earlier compositions used the idea of space travel and being among the stars as inspiration for instrumentation. For instance, the appropriately named DJ Sun once became obsessed with a piece by Jorge Ben Jor called ‘Errare Humanum Est’, which translates to “To Err is Human”.
“He addresses our curiosity with space travel,” said DJ Sun, reflecting on the song, “and how it reconciled with him being a devout Catholic from Brazil. It was such a beautiful listen that I enlisted Tim Ruiz of La Mafia to help me assemble a band to perform a 15-minute tribute to the song at the SXSW 2012 showcase.”
As music lovers, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wanted music to accompany them on their journey to space. Their choices varied but were very much appropriate considering the task at hand.
During the flight, Neil Armstrong played ‘Music Out of the Moon: Music Unusual Featuring the Theremin’. This was very much in keeping with the sci-fi theme of the journey to the moon, given that the Theremin is commonly associated with the likes of Star Trek. The pieces were composed by Harry Revel and Les Baxter, who were excellent composers of the time.
Buzz went down a slightly more classic route, opting for ‘Galveston’ by Glen Campbell, ‘People’ by Barbra Streisand, ‘Angel of the Morning’ by Bettye Swanna and ‘Three O Clock in the Morning’ by Lou Rawls. Despite the journey to the moon taking a few days, there is no doubt the two astronauts had plenty of good music to entertain them.
What was played when they landed, though? As lovers of music that stayed with their space travel theme, the first song played on the lunar surface was ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ by Frank Sinatra. It’s not the first time the cosmos will have heard this track either, apparently a favourite among astronauts, it was also played on the Apollo 10 mission.
We don’t know if there is intelligent life in space; many think there isn’t, some believe there is, and some think there always has been, and we are simply being monitored by it. If that is the case, and if Buzz and Neil were followed to the moon to be observed, one thing is certain: those aliens got a glimpse of some fantastic music.
