The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 06/11/09
"More Than A Theory"
In one of those examples of 'thread-drift' on alt.fan.pratchett, an old rock'n'roller from Tulsa (yeah, Rocky, we've all sussed your new ID!) expressed the thought that 'Tentative Hypothesis' would be a good name for a rock band. Lesley Weston in Vancouver then suggested they could open for 'Scientific Method', before John Wilkins in Australia came up with the idea that the set could finish with 'More Than A Theory'. This prompted another antipodean, 'SteveD' to come up with the following filk (*).
Unlike most filks, this isn't funny as such (allowing for the fiction that most filks are funny), but it is very well done, and indeed the last verse is extremely moving. I'd like to dedicate it to the memory of Carl Sagan, one of the great communicators of science, who would have been seventy-five next Monday. Take it away, SteveD:
"I woke up this morning and the sun still shone
Bath of neutrinos to start my day
The spectrum's light was a familiar song
Now analysed, and the maths all say
It's more than a theory (more than a theory)
When the data lines up that perfect way (more than a theory)
I begin dreaming (more than a theory)
Of a world where pure science holds sway
I want my science world ruling the day
"By noon I wandered through Nature's wilds
So many lifeforms to marvel at
All as wond'rous now as when a child
This jackpot we've won, just observing that -
It's more than a theory (more than a theory)
When the data lines up that perfect way (more than a theory)
I begin dreaming (more than a theory)
Of a world where pure science holds sway
I want my science world ruling the day."
"When I've retired and gotten old
My life wasn't wasted, regret no day
My dream still unfurls, and ever grows
I built my part, and they'll always say
"It's more than a theory (more than a theory)
When the data lines up that perfect way (more than a theory)
I begin dreaming (more than a theory)
Of a world where pure science holds sway
I'll have my science world ruling the day."
(To the tune of More Than A Feeling by Boston, of course, just in case you didn't know)
(*) Filk: originally from the world of SF/fantasy fandom, it now denotes parodies of popular songs to reflect the interests/obsessions of a particular 'in group'. Or something like that, anyway.
