Space Heroes & Other Fools 09 - Pushin' the Speed of Light [HQ]

Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs,
Download the album here:

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Lyrics.

Now the big ships fly to a hundred suns, by pushing the speed of light
And they want good men for the deep space runs, pushing the speed of light!
And the pay is good, and you're young and strong,
And you tell yourself that it won't be long
So you sign on board, hear the drive's deep song,
Pushing the speed of light
Pushing the speed of light

And you've left behind the world of men
With no way in space to go home again
When you're pushing the speed of light
Pushing the speed of light

Now it's two months out and it's two months back, when you're pushing the speed of light
Twenty years on your homeworld's track, pushing the speed of light
And your friends are gone and your lovers too
And there's damn-all left that you can do
And you try to lie, but you know it's true, pushing the speed of light
Pushing the speed of light

So you sign back on for another run of pushing the speed of light
And you swear to God that your pushing's done, pushing the speed of light
But that one run turns into four or five
And your heart beats time to the humming drive
And there's nothing left keeps you alive, but pushing the speed of light
Pushing the speed of light

Now you've spread your seed with the star drive's flame, by pushing the speed of light
Left sons behind you to carry your name, pushing the speed of light
And you watch them age, and you watch them die,
As you race the light-wind across the sky
And the gods are silent when you ask them, Why? Pushing the speed of light
Pushing the speed of light

Now, the speed of c is a wall, they say, when you're pushing the speed of light
That cuts you off from yesterday, pushing the speed of light
But you know someday you're gonna win that race
And fly back the years to your starting space
And you'll stay awhile 'fore you're back in space, pushing the speed of light
Pushing the speed of light

And you've left behind you the world of men
With no way in Hell to go home again
When you're pushing the speed of light
Pushing the speed of light

[gdaddy]

I like that he wants to go back in time, not to prevent himself from going to space, just waiting longer till he does. So even after everything he's been through, he still wants to go back into space eventually.

[davidburnett]

20 years in 2 months.. that's heavy. The little nephew you had is now your age.. the games you wanted to play are old news, all the authors of your favorite series are retired or finally toast..

[clippedwings]

I'm so fucking glad I searched "Space Shanty" in the search bar.

[coalcreekdefense]

Don't you know what starlight is? It's all of the spacers who finally won the race. Managed to beat C and travel back to the days of their youth. They were ripped atom from atom and quark from quark until there was nothing left but photons, streaking across the void, praying against all odds for a chance to brush against their lover's face one last time, and die as a bit of warmth on their cheek.

[anonymouskultist]

This one and a ballad of a space man are my favorite on this album

[elijahemory]

Time dilation makes this song hurt a lot. This could really happen...

[dylanwight]

Three centuries pass before you know; How far you've come and how far you'll go
But now nothing's left for you to show; For pushing the speed of light
Your last haul is done and you have no home
And the stars above call out to roam
So you sign aboard a survey ship; Once more pushing the speed of light
Pushing the speed of light

[youarenotmadenough]

Makes me incredibly sad to think about all the sacrifices people will have to make if we collectively want off this rock

[johnburt]

The quality of the recording and the quality of the cover image are both [chef's kiss].

[BeInspiredwithDominic]

I have to say that I love this song. It evokes so many feelings, as deep as the void between the stars. Thanks for sharing!

[Ultrawup]

This sounds like a Merchanter's song in Cherryh's universe

[shane]

There isn't a word I can find to describe how this makes me feel. Hopeful melancholy maybe. Either way it has imprinted upon my soul.

[TechSupportSparky]

Wow, I've been listening to that old Cassette version on YouTube for the past 5 years at least and I've just been used to that quality. I never would have dreamed there was a higher quality version of these songs out there, bless you man! Also thanks for the dropbox for preservation purposes! Instant subbed

[jae]

This is such a good quality, thank you!

[Lodestone]

Wow, they weren’t kidding when they said pushing the speed of light. Doing the math for 4 months to dilate to 20 years assuming an earth year, our spaceman would have to be traveling at about 299750817.2667m/s or 0.999861101465c or 99.9861101465% the speed of light, that’s fast, way fast. Of course, that's not accounting for acceleration or deceleration.

[Albtraum_TDDC]

This is quite profound. But I sometimes feel that way about our lives on Earth too. We only live like 75 years, we often lose friends and family, some die, some simply go away and you lose touch. Even if we had immortality we'd still only be able to experience an infinitely small slice of humanity.
So life really, is just about enjoying the moment, the present, and the space around you, what is close, the people and things that are in proximity.

[hehe]

Just got pushed across my recommendations, new album to go buy!

[pikablob]

I personally like to think that one day, the protagonist does outrun light, but there's still no way to go _back_, so he can't return to *when* he came from. He breaks the light barrier and ushers in a new age of true FTL, sparing future generations from his fate, at the cost of having already seen everyone he loves age and die several times over. I know it's not what they were going for, but it's what I've settled on for an original world of mine (that draws a lot from a bunch of old filk) :))

[hehe]

Given a gamma ratio of 4/240 months the 'big ships' would be traveling at 99.986% the speed of light

Edit: Gamma is the ratio of relative time over stationary time, in this case 4 months experiences to 20 years homeworld

[matts]

Queen sang a song called '39 with the idea of leaving and coming back many years later when it's only been a short time for the person. Very interesting.