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Aquarius (song)

Revision as of 17:16, 15 July 2008 by Blemwhip (talk | contribs) (more lyrics/samples, 23 significance)
Aquarius
Running time 5:58 (Aquarius, MHTRTC)
6:24 (Peel Session)
7:43 (Warp10)
Appears on Aquarius
Music has the Right to Children
Peel Session
Live @ Warp10


Screen capture from "Orange" Sesame Street vignette

Samples/Lyrics

  • Aquarius contains a sample from the song of the same name on Galt MacDermot's 1979 soundtrack for the film "Hair" (the slap bass riff that's present throughout the Boards of Canada version).
  • Contains a sample from a sketch in a vintage Sesame Street episode (Orange).
  • Contains samples from yet another vintage Sesame Street episode (children's laughter and the "yeah, that's right" sample).
  • At 2:40, "Aquarius (Version 3)" from the Peel Session contains a sample from "Audiotrack 12" from Old Tunes Vol. 1 side A.[1]
  • A sequence of numbers is read by a professional-sounding woman's voice that strongly resembles the voice-over in "One Very Important Thought," except that domain-specific speech synthesis is used, giving the numbers a robotic quality. The sequence varies:
    • On Music Has the Right to Children: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 44, 68, 27, 35, 42, 58, 47, 63, 85, 74, 67, 66, 51, 79, 42, 24, 45, sixty-ten, 6, 7, 56, 65, 44, 53, 44, 17, 13, 23"
    • In Version 3, the sequence ends with "...42, 24, 45, sixty-ten, 64, 47, 52, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23"
  • The same voice that recites the number sequence says "Orange".
  • A chorused male voice sings "I'm listening" (Version 3 only)
  • At 4:40, a synthesized male voice says "sixtyten new aquarius" (Version 3 only)[2]
  • A girl's voice saying what is believed to be the phrase "for Sandisons." [3]


Cultural References

  • One number heard throughout the sequence is sixtyten, a reference to the song of the same name on this album but also the brother's own label, Music70.
  • 23, another number heard in the sequence (especially in Version 3), is a prominent theme in the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. "23" occurrs five times at the end of the sequence in Version 3; another major theme in the same book is the "law of fives". The band has cited Robert Anton Wilson as an influence on their work[4], and their music has appeared on the sountrack of Maybe Logic: The Lives And Ideas Of Robert Anton Wilson.[5]

Versions


References

  1. http://www.twoism.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4227
  2. http://fredd-e.narfum.org/boc/lyrics/#peel
  3. http://fredd-e.narfum.org/boc/lyrics/#mhtrtc
  4. http://www.solesides.com/winblad/boards%20of%20canada/bocehx.html
  5. http://www.discogs.com/release/645609

External Links