Jack White Sends Symphony of Science Sagan Song Surging

Earlier this week, Tonic paid tribute to the late astronomer Carl Sagan, who would have turned 75. As a summary note, we embedded a clip for the John Boswell Symphony of Science song "A Glorious Dawn." As it turns out, the song has made some news on its own accord.

As The Telegraph reported on November 9, which was Sagan's 75th, Jack White of the White Stripes has released "A Glorious Dawn" in a limited pressing 7-inch vinyl format through his Third Man Records label.

Further, Wired reports that 50 random purchasers will end up with an extra special version pressed on colored vinyl and a B-side that sports an etched design that was attached to the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts.

Turning the spoken words of Carl Sagan (as well as the synthesized speech of Stephen Hawking also used in the song) into something that sounds musical was made possible through Boswell's use of Auto-Tune pitch-adjusting, sound-editing technology. A somewhat controversial technology in musical circles, sometimes maligned for its use in turning the vocals of good-looking but questionably talented pop stars into something that sounds good, Boswell's work should indicate to sonic cynics and purists that the technology is not lacking merit.

You can read more about Boswell's Symphony of Science project here. An apparently prolific independent musician, Boswell's compositions may additionally be found at his Colorpulse project Web site and at his YouTube page. It's an impressive and broad body of work that spans the range from the stirring to the downright silly. The latter variety is perhaps most evident in his use of Auto-Tune to memorialize the late TV product pitchman Billy Mays in a clip that may be found here, which I beg any of you who could use a smile to go check out immediately.

Photo courtesy of Sarah N, via Wikimedia Commons