Welcome to new subscribers and regular readers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Spaceman” by Phil Ochs. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.
Below, you’ll find my interpretation of the lyrics which are written in italics. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below. TOEIC (PBT) 450+, Eiken 2, CEFR B1.
(384 words)
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, when people were just starting to explore space, it was very exciting. However, there were many people who were worried about how much money it cost. They thought that money could have been better spent on helping others, like giving to charities or finding new ways to treat illnesses.
Today’s song is by Phil Ochs. He wrote this song in 1963. In that year, the first human spaceflight program, Project Mercury, was ending. During this mission, the spaceship Mercury-Atlas 9 went around the earth 22 times. This was a record at the time. NASA was also preparing for later programs that would land humans on the moon.
In this song, Ochs is talking to an astronaut who is riding in a spaceship.
Way high, so high
Traveling fast and free
Spaceman, look down
Tell me what you see
Can you see the hunger there
Strike without a sound?
Can you see the food you burn
As you circle round?
Ochs is showing that the money spent just on rocket fuel could help to feed many people on our planet.
Way high, so high
All the world will cheer
Spaceman, look down
Tell me what you hear
Can you hear a child cry
Body filled with pain?
Deadly sores when cures are there
How much fuel remains?
There was, as still is, a lot of poverty around the world, even in rich countries like the U.S. There are also diseases that can be cured if we had better ways to get the medicines to the people who need them. But this costs money. Ochs asks ironically, how much fuel remains?
Way high, so high
Spaceship made of steel
Spaceman, look down
Tell me what you feel
Can you feel the money gone
As you sail through space?
Can you feel how many die
When you win the race?
The race refers to the space race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Both countries were trying hard to develop space technology.
Way high, so high
Traveling fast and free
Spaceman, look down
Tell me what you see
Phil Ochs wrote many, many songs about social issues in the 1960s. He also thought there may be more important ways to use these great amounts of money that come from people’s taxes.
Question
There have been many medical discoveries during space missions. What do you think about exploring space?
Vocabulary
spaceflight 宇宙飛行
astronaut 宇宙飛行士
deadly 致命的な
sore 傷、痛み
cure 治療
ironically 皮肉なことに
I believe that education should be free.
All of the articles about the songs will remain free for students to use. (We are all students, are we not?) However, if you find these articles useful and are in a position to make a small (or large) donation, I would be deeply grateful.
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Very timely. Cat just read about NASA astronauts who land on earth today after accidental 9-month-long space journey. Cat is curious to hear about their experience.
When Cat has thinkings about exploring space, Cat remembers learning about the "overview effect", a transformative inner experience shared by astronauts after viewing earth from outer space. Cat read that the overview effect give feelings of awe, transcendence, and greater appreciation for beautiful, fragile, Earth. Cat wishes overview effect could be experienced by every human on earth, not only humans who explore space!