The Golden Record: Voyager's Deep Space Playlist

Courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsThe following story will sound like something from a science fiction novel but it is entirely based in fact. Three and a half decades ago, a man obsessed by the possibility of extraterrestial life recorded songs from Earth on a golden record, put it on a spacecraft and launched it into deep space. The golden record contains sounds and images gathered from many different life forms on Earth. There are sounds of babies crying, warm greetings spoken in many languages, remarks from a president, mathematical and scientific definitions, scenes from nature, and even an attempt to explain human reproductive processes. The man responsible for this impossibly hopeful communication was none other than the famous scientist Carl Sagan, and the spacecraft, NASA's Voyager 1, is only now about to enter interstellar space.

Whether or not intelligent beings from outer space may find this Golden Record or if they could even decipher it is a matter for the Science and Technology section. Since this is an Arts & Entertainment post, the real issues of interest here are the songs that made it onto Voyager's Golden Record. What music did people back in 1977 feel would best represent Earth to an alien lifeform? Do these same songs still hold that kind of importance today?

Listen to a few selections from the 90 minutes of music on the Golden Record and remember that right now copies of these same songs are hurdling at 35,000 miles per hour on the back of Voyager 1 into the cold black void of deep space. These songs etched in gold are some of the first man made objects to travel beyond the reaches of our solar system.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement - J. S. Bach

Pygmy girls' initiation song

Indonesia "Puspawarna" ("Kinds of Flowers") - Mangkunegara IV

"Johnny B. Goode" - Chuck Berry

Die Zauberflöte, Queen of the Night aria No. 14 - Mozart

The Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance - Stravinksy

Fifth Symphony, First Movement - Beethoven

Night Chant - Navajo Tribe

"Jaat Kahan Ho" - Kesarbai Kerkar

"Liu Shui" 《流水》 ("Flowing Streams") - Bo Ya

"Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" - Blind Willie Johnson

Carl Sagan and his team pretty well covered the wide range of human emotions for any space aliens who might be listening, but try playing interstellar DJ yourself for a few minutes. What additions would you make for the 2012 remix of the Golden Record?

Comments

[James Dugan]

I wouldn't replace the Pygmy song. I can't even figure if it was happy or sad. I think happy. Great selection -- I am going to have this playing on shuffle all holiday long. They will have to ask right?

When they have murmurs (etymology heads back to Sanskrit meaning "crackling fire" and its onomatopoeia), I thought it said mummers and I never connected the two. But mummer comes from the French "to mask oneself". It would be great if they put a mummers salute to greet the new systems.

I saw Carl Sagan speak in college -- he was awesome and he talked about the golden record and cosmos. Did you read about the giant crater in Arizona today on Yahoo helping future astronauts? Did you read about the cloaked spaceship at Mercury? I love this stuff.

But other than the Mummers, I think the aliens would be impressed with Mannheim steamroller. I am pretty sure that is not from earth.