50th Anniversary of First American Astronauts: Song Titles to Honor the Occasion

Wednesday, April 8 marked the 50^th anniversary of NASA's selection of America's first seven astronauts. The most well-known among them is probably John Glenn, the first man to orbit the earth, who later gained political notoriety as a senator from Ohio. Along with Glenn are Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Alan Shepherd, Wally Schirra and Donald Slayton.

To honor these seven astronauts I decided to create a list of popular song titles regarding space travel. It's not surprising that many of the songs stem from the 60s and early 70, the era when the space race between the USSR and USA was at its peak.

10. "Spaceman" by The Killers: Track from Day and Age is the most violent space song with its description of blood and being cut open. The space here, as is the case with many of these songs, seems to be more, metaphorical than it is aeronautical.

9. "Space Ship Orion" by The Ozark Mountain Daredevils: This song faces the trip to another world with the ambivalence of hope for a better future and the sorrow for past fortunes. The laid-back tone implies that the trip is fearless, much like the carefree attitude in the band's top hit from the Quilt album, "If You Wanna Get to Heaven (You Got to Raise a Little Hell)."

8. "Lost in Space" by Fountains of Wayne: This track from the excellent album Utopia Parkway is about "pretty little thing" who is lost in space. Unlike Will Robinson, his robot and the other characters from the classic TV show, this girl is on earth. The space is, as they say, mostly between her ears.

7. "Space Truckin'" by Deep Purple: From the title you can appreciate the seeming contradiction of the futuristic concept of space with the very earthly truckin' fad of the 70s. This track is one of the best rockers on the band's best album, Machine Head.

6. "Rock It to the Moon" by The Stranglers: The alternative/new-wave band's bass-heavy look at the future starts out with "I'm looking forward to the year '88, We'll be eating each other I fear before that date." They were part right, since Jeffery Dahmer was sentenced to life for eating his murder victims.

5. "Spaceman" by Phil Ochs: The astronaut here looks down at a war-torn earth and draws the envy of the peace-mongering folk singer. Though it might get overlooked by most of the other tracks on The Broadside Tapes, the tune is as worth treasuring in any the Phil Ochs catalog.

4. "Spaceman" by Nillsson: This tune is the blast off for the singer-songwriter's best album, Son of Schmillsson. The ordinary guy has always had just one wish, to be a spaceman. Once he gets up high, he begs, "Hey Mother Earth won't you bring me back down, Safely to the sea?"

3. "Mr. Spaceman" by The Byrds: The plea from the 60s band in this friendly tune is for the hallucinated aliens to take the guy with him, for he is disgruntled with earth.

2. "Rocket Man" by Elton John: Bernie Taupin's lyrics seem to be not so much about an astronaut but a guy who leaves earth while never leaving his office. He admits "I am not the man they think I am at home" and that "I'm a rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone."

1. "Space Oddity" by David Bowie: "Ground control to Major Tom" is the classic opening to this title track that serves as a metaphor for Bowie's drug trip. He's "sitting in a tin can" and feeling good until he loses contact with ground control and realizes there's something wrong. Bowie revisits his astronaut a decade later in "Ashes to Ashes," when he admits, "We know Major Tom's a junkie."