Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2020 February 27

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February 27[edit]

science fiction with intergalactic (not just interstellar) travel[edit]

Anyone know of anything decent? Something with super-duper faster than light travel, not instantaneous but no billion year generational ships, not too much technobabble but at least some kind of sciency veneer. There should still be some notion of travel time increasing with distance, so travelling between galaxies should take a while, during which the characters are doing stuff rather than sleeping in stasis. It is ok if there is instantaneous or near-instantaneous communication as opposed to travel. I think in most space travel fiction (plus Star Trek etc.), the ships never leave the galaxy. Maybe this request is a bit odd I'm wondering how universal that limitation is. Thanks. Added: it should be possible to reach very distant (cosmologically distant) galaxies, not just nearby ones like Andromeda. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 06:13, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If I remember correctly, Yoko Tsuno went to another galaxy. That should be nr 6 plus some of the following. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 07:14, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Some examples are mentioned here [1], but I have no idea if they fit your other requirements. We also have a Galaxies in fiction and Category:Intergalactic travel in fiction but I don't think either include examples which fit your requirements. (Stargate and Doctor Who both have basically instant travel.) Nil Einne (talk) 12:15, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Not sure how much you consider Star Wars to be science fiction, but IIRC, The New Jedi Order series contained some elements of intergalactic travel. --Jayron32 12:55, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The long-running and award-winning webcomic Schlock Mercenary springs to mind, though the intergalactic travel aspect has only become prominent in the last 18 months of its 191/2-year run to date. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.202.162.227 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 15:37, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
In the 1978 film Superman, the title character tells Lois Lane that he is from "another galaxy", although that assertion does not necessarily conform to other facts stated in the movie. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:29, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
In the backstory of The Genesis Quest by Donald Moffitt, humanity sent a huge data-dump to another galaxy, including human DNA and artworks, and some people there recreated humanity (by now extinct at home). In part two, Second Genesis, a community of these humans – now immortal – goes looking for home. That's the only story that comes to mind with sublight intergalactic travel. —Tamfang (talk) 01:34, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks all, some of the above sound interesting and I'll check into them. Sure, Star Wars counts: I just figured it had the usual limitation since after all, the Sith's ambitions didn't go beyond ruling the galaxy that they lived in. Mostly I wanted to see how authors handled the question of being able to get anywhere in the universe while still having distance mean something. I'll confess that the question was inspired partly by the game Universal Paperclips, which in its final phase involves using a fleet of self-replicating robots to convert all the matter in the universe into paper clips. It doesn't dwell much on the scientific aspects of how to do this though. Warning: don't try the game unless you have a day or so to kill--it is addictive until you finish it. 67.164.113.165 (talk) 19:35, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

When I saw the question, the first thing I thought of was the Arcot, Wade and Morey series written by John W. Campbell and published under his own name. In Islands of Space, our heroes invent what later science fiction would call a warp drive, and the first thing they do is travel to the Andromeda Galaxy and help one side win an interplanetary war in the first planetary system they come across. It's space opera, so not that good, but still half-decent, I say. But since you asked on the Entertainment desk, perhaps you were thinking of movies, in which case, never mind. --69.159.8.46 (talk) 21:35, 29 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Star Trek had a few episodes with intergalactic travel I think. Unfortunately the one I remember best involved Wesley Crusher. 89.172.75.199 (talk) 01:16, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I'm just remebering Tau Zero, which is hard sf with slower than light (but relativistically time compressed) intergalactic travel. They make it all the way to the big crunch. I haven't read it though, only had it recommended. Some day. 173.228.123.39 (talk) 06:46, 3 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Songs about writing the song[edit]

I mentioned to a friend recently that I always liked how "Smoke on the Water" is a song written about the writing and recording of itself. That made me wonder about songs that are about writing the song. The only other song I though of is "25 or 6 to 4." So, I've been wondering if the group here knows of more examples. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 14:39, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I Write the Songs, for starters. --Viennese Waltz 14:49, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Yes and no. The singer is supposed to be a personification of music itself, and therefore claims to write every song. Including that one, obviously. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:53, 2 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
And I'd dispute your assertion that "Smoke on the Water" falls into this category. It's famously about a particular event that happened on the shore of Lake Geneva. That doesn't make it a song about itself. --Viennese Waltz 14:51, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
They were attempting to record the song during that event. The lyrics discuss the fire where they began and the following attempts to find a place to record the song. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 15:02, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I believe that I was not clear in my question. I am looking for songs that have lyrics which describe the process of recording that specific song. I'm not looking for songs about the art of songwriting. For example, Smoke on the Water discusses the troubles the band had recording Smoke on the Water. 25 or 6 to 4 describes the authors troubles trying to write the song and noticing that it is 25 or 6 to 4am and he still doesn't have a song. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 15:07, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Your Song --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 15:03, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I thought of that one and I wondered... Do you think that Bernie Taupin was really sitting on the roof, kicking at the moss while he wrote the song? I also thought of a song I don't really know, but heard a couple times. It was something like I won't write you a love song. I think the title may have been a reaction to being told to write a love song, but the song itself doesn't describe what went down while making the song. There are many notes about the events in songs, such as Black Dog. They claim a black dog walked into the studio while they were recording it, so it was named the black dog song. But, the song never mentions trying to record and a black dog suddenly walks in. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 15:10, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The one you're thinking of is Love Song (Sara Bareilles song). --Jayron32 15:55, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
True (Spandau Ballet song) --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 15:21, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Track 3 pf Avalon_Sunset#Track_listing --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 15:21, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
"A Song for You" is not exactly about writing the song, but it's self-referential. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:25, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
It's probably not quite what you're looking for but the lyrics of George Harrison's Only a Northern Song address the point of view of the person listening to the song itself. More generally you might find something in the Metasongs category. Blakk and ekka 15:27, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
"This Song" by Harrison is also self-referential, written after he lost his copyright case which argued that "My Sweet Lord" sounded like "He's So Fine" (which it did, but that's another story). ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:53, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Closer by ACDC would be "It's a Long Way to the Top." But, that is about what happened before the song was written. It isn't about the writing and recording of that specific song itself. Most examples here are about the art of songwriting, but not about the writing and recording of the song itself. There are many songs where an idea popped up before the song was recorded. Klaatu's "Sellout" references real events that took place before the song was written and which gave them the idea for the song, but the lyrics have no mention of where they were recording, who was producing, who came up with the lyrics, who had the idea of dumping coins in a cash register for the song... 135.84.167.41 (talk) 15:59, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Another close miss, "Tribute" is about writing a different song, but possibly also itself. --Jayron32 15:31, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
That is a good answer, but I thought all those people were fake, like that Sarssipius (sp?) guy on the Infectious Grooves albums. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 16:00, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Billy Joel's The Entertainer may fit the category. "You've heard my latest record/It's been on the radio/Ah, it took me years to write it/They were the best years of my life" but that could apply to another specific song (Piano Man maybe) or just an arbitrary commentary on the songwriting process. --Jayron32 16:03, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen song) is probably the best fit I've found. It is literally about the writer's block he had when writing this song "I get up in the evening, and I ain't got nothing to say/I come home in the morning; I go to bed feeling the same way/ I ain't nothing but tired, man, I'm just tired and bored with myself". --Jayron32 16:06, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The ball is heading straight towards the back of the net right up until the point that "I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book" unfortunately tips it over the bar.Blakk and ekka 16:14, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
No, it's literally about being asked to write the song itself. It's a well known story that his manager Jon Landau had demanded another song by morning, and he had nothing good to write, so he wrote the song about having nothing good to write. As noted in the Wikipedia article, "Springsteen sat in his hotel room and wrote the song in a single night. It sums up his state of mind, his feeling of isolation after the success of his album The River, and his frustrations of trying to write a hit single." Said hit single was what became Dancing in the Dark. --Jayron32 16:31, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
So he ended up with a hit single by writing a song about not being able to write a hit single? As you say that's probably about as close as we're going to get. Blakk and ekka 16:38, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • Maybe also "Lose Yourself": " he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud/ He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out" More about performance rather than writing. --Jayron32 16:12, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • SDMB comes through. Just came across this 17-year old thread: [2]. A treasure trove of ideas. Many of the ones we've come up with, but some others as well. --Jayron32 16:20, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
In a conversation with a country music fan, I was told that "Fountains of Wayne Hotline" is about the band calling someone to help them with the song. The conversation is the song. That would be great if it was really what was happening, but I strongly suspect that there was no phone call to get lyrics for the song. They just wrote a song about the call. So, finding a song that is specifically documenting the act of writing the song itself is rather difficult. Most are songs about the general idea of writing songs, but not documentaries along the lines of: We went to the studio and met a producer. He asked us to play, so we are playing this. We changed the next lyric. Here's a solo to fill some time... 135.84.167.41 (talk) 18:55, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Jimmy Buffett's "Tryin' to Reason with Hurricane Season" (from his 1974 album A-1-A) contains the lyrics "Feelin tired, then I got inspired/I knew that it wouldn't last long/So all alone I walked back home/Sat on the beach and then I made up this song", but the rest of the song is more about dealing with a hangover than about song writing. I can think of a few other songs about songwriters in general ("Sixteenth Avenue" written by Thom Schuyler, originally sung by Lacy J Dalton) or about the song writer's personal history (Eric Church's "Mr. Misunderstood"), but a song about the writing of that same song doesn't seem to be that common. --Khajidha (talk) 20:30, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • There's the bit in Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen song) where it goes "It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift" and where the chord progression does exactly that (in the key of C it goes F (4th), G (5th), Am, F). Maybe that's a kind of self-referential thing about the writing of the song itself. --Jayron32 20:43, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
"The Tennessee Waltz" is also self-referential, though just being self-referential may be insufficient for the OP's criteria. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:53, 27 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]
  • "Stab" by Built to Spill could be seen as self-referential: "I wrote a song / It was slow and long / I wrote the words and the music wrong / But life goes on". Lfh (talk) 07:29, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

► Hey!  We have Category: Metasongs -- "songs with lyrics that refer to themselves..." 2606:A000:1126:28D:8C52:8F68:C701:7CD2 (talk) 21:54, 28 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

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