We know Record Store Day isn’t a competition, necessarily, but Stephen Hawking wins the gold medal, which maybe one day will be the Voyager Golden Record recovered by an alien life-form and returned to us thanks to the scientific visionary’s research.
Why does he win (normally a rhetorical question)? Because the physicist released this incredibly lighthearted cover of Monty Python‘s “Galaxy Song” from 1983’s Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life. The vocals are delivered via Hawking’s signature voice synthesizer, but it is so easy to imagine the vivacity and humor in his heart as he sings the classic song, complete with footage of him hurtling through space and the legendary comedy troupe prancing and slapstick-ing as they do. It was such a pleasant surprise when we saw hints of this sketch in a clip with Hawking and Eric Idle from 2012, and it’s so so great that this was turned into a fully realized effort.
The track will be released as a limited edition 7″ single on April 18 (Record Store Day) with 1,000 physical copies available. Or you can download it here if you live in the UK. Also, in support of the single, the team have made their own version of the arcade game Asteroids, in which a rocket-propelled Hawking must shoot lasers out of his head at giant flaming versions of the Pythoner’s heads. This is easily the best news of the day.
Oh, and we would be remiss if we did not post the original, as well:
