New Cosmology

I’ve done the math 
I know where this is going to 
There’s no other path
Nothing left but to see it through
 
 Can’t alter this trajectory
 A quintessence of mad futility
 And no amount of empathy
 Will sate that bastard entropy

 The process irreversible
 The vacuum untraversable
 
 I can measure the geometry
 Map out all the where’s and why’s
 A pointless act of pure cartography
 To plot the course of my demise
 The old professor of astronomy
 It’s time for him to step aside
 ‘Cause baby’s got a new cosmology
 And there are different stars 
 Spinning in her skies
 
 Connections left neglected
 Now leave our world transected
 The lives that intersected 
 Now causally disconnected
 
 The forces that once were binding
 Become the means of our unwinding
 
 The sun has set on this mythology
 The time has come to recognize
 Our fates are sealed by topology
 There will not be a last reprise
 And this old professor of astronomy
 It’s time for me to step aside
 ‘Cause baby’s got a new cosmology
 And there are different stars 
 Spinning in her skies

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Production Notes:

New Cosmology began life as just a tiny snippet, essentially just the end of the chorus. The idea sprang from the fact that the uncertain fate of the cosmic expansion in 1992 when Dark Matter was written had largely resolved itself by the end of the 90’s. Thus the idea of a second song to answer the unresolved question of the first sat and went nowhere for the better part of 15 years. (Turns out being a working scientist and a dad takes up lots of time.)

Once I picked it up again in the spring of 2017, it progressed quickly, appropriate inspiration having unfortunately arrived, often at odd times and places. The opening salvo which starts the song occurred while waiting in a fast food drive thru. The Sergio Leone backing vocals on the chorus popped into my head while shopping for groceries. Mark Willette quite rightly suggested the flams in the breakdown.

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Equipment: