An Astronaut And A Barenaked Lady Perform Space/Earth Duet
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Astronaut Chris Hadfield has to be one of the most savvy guys out there, and considering he’s on the International Space Station, he’s really out there. Even though private companies are making the space race high-profile and interesting again, a lot of people are still underappreciating that which we came from, and Hadfield is making it relevant again, using social media outlets, outstanding photography, and music to draw in an audience who might otherwise have never looked upwards.
Hadfield gives the world another first, in sharing a stage, albeit via satellite, with Ed Robertson from the Barenaked Ladies and the Wexford Collegiate School of the Arts glee club, the Wexford Gleeks. The duo-plus-choir performed the song “I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing),” released on February 8th. Canadian pride is all over this somewhat sappy, though more clever than I would have imagined, song about leaving the Earth for outer space, and talks about how much you miss things, like your family and shit. It isn’t so different from Hadfield’s other songs, but with background music mixed in afterward from the rest of the Barenaked Ladies, it’s a pretty powerful-sounding tune, and would serve properly as a “We Are the World” anthem for astronauts. Check out the video below, and before you waste your time waiting for glitches like I did, know that the synchronization between the two musicians is pretty spot on the entire time.
Hadfield, who will end his training and become the Commander of the ISS next month, was the astronaut giving a tour of Houston’s Mission Control when Robertson was taking it, and the two have kept in touch since then. While I’m personally not a fan of Barenaked Ladies music on the whole, and this song isn’t really in my listening department, I already know this will be the best new song I hear this week. Take that, Grammys.
