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Reaction to Nightwish - The Greatest Show on Earth (AMAZING!)
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- čas přidán 12. 08. 2024
- Evolutionary biology and heavy rock together? Yes, please! An amazing song and video by Nightwish, The Greatest Show on Earth. With a special appearance by Dr. Richard Dawkins, the author of the book that inspired the song. He recites the final paragraph of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species by..." (1859) as it stands in the FIRST edition. I.e., without the "by the Creator", which was inserted in the 2nd edition to the 6th (and final) edition to appease the religious sensibilities of the times.
Link to the original: • NIGHTWISH - The Greate...
00:00 - Intro
01:58 - Song starts
27:00 - Dawkins comes on stage
It is a real pleasure for me to meet a good connoisseur of Nightwish, in your own element, enjoying this magnificent piece. I hope to meet again, considering that the last 2 albums of Nightwish abound in approaching this major theme, about who we are and how we got here. New subscriber here, of course.
All the best, from a physicist from Romania!
Dear general Bardac, do you ever dream/sleep?
@@puarterquonder Mostly dreaming then sleeping :))
Well done for reading the room with this one ... and well done for everything else you have done, and will do, for this wonderful band!
I always wondered what you did for your "day job", general Gabriel. Thanks!
hello again my dear General Gab
I remember Dr. Dawkins saying that this was his first rock concert ever. :)
And he went straight to the stage like a star! :D
There's an interview before the show with him, he admitted that he's nervous. He's made many public appearances, but never with that amount of people.
@@johnscaramis2515 Yes, his voice almost broke on the final word "evolved", so I guess he was feeling emotional himself.
This was one of the most unique and intresting reactions i ever heard about this song. Thank you so much loved every second of it. I think its time for me to read more about Dawkins. I am also very intrested how you look as a scientist to all songs on the latest album Human : Nature. Hope you do some reactions on them too.
"The cosmic laws of gravity pulls the newborns around a fire" refers to the newborn planets being pulled into their orbits by gravity. "Lonely farer in the Goldilocks zone, she has a tale to tell" refers to Earth. The Goldilocks Zone being called that because it's not too hot or not too cold to sustain life as we know it. This is simply a brilliant composition both lyrically and musically. In my opinion , the greatest composition of my lifetime.
A big fire..our sun :)
@@secularnevrosis Absolutely! Our systems campfire.
It is difficult to decide which is the more epic, the Nightwish work or your reaction to it. My most sincere thanks and congratulations. Can’t wait for your input to Shoemaker and, especially, Procession.
Will check them out for sure!
I second watching Shoemaker!
Without music there would be no reaction so it seems pretty clear😈
Thank you for doing this reaction! I have waited for so long for someone to react to this song and analyze it properly (including all the lyrical references). It was so good to watch this video again with your reaction and explanations! 👏👍❤️ (I am a massive Nightwish fan, I saw them play this song live in April 2022 and to experience this song live is another experience).
Me too I had taken to once in a while searching for scientist or biologist reacts to Nightwish greatest show on earth but it came up empty every time... until now
In the the opening piano intro, the "strings in the back" is actually Troy on electric guitar employing an E-Bow, which is an electro-magnetic (?) hand held device that simulates the bowing of a string, and therefore sounds like cellos/strings when coupled with echo/delay.
Of the 100 or so reactions to this masterpiece that I have watched, yours might be my favorite. It is certainly the most unique. Thank you!
A fellow marine scientist here, marine biology this time. No matter how many times I hear this song, it's lyrical brilliance, majestical execution and the emotional floorcoasterride has me snottering along every time. Sheer magnificance indeed
"Richard Dawkins about joining Nightwish on stage" a one minute video about his feelings after the concert.
"Prof. Richard Dawkins Nightwish interview" a 7 minute video.
Dawkins' voice can be heard on two other songs on the album Endless Forms Most Beautiful
SHUDDER BEFORE the BEAUTIFUL Wembley 2015
WEAK FANTASY Tampere 2015 with lyrics
There are several songs on the newest Nightwish album you might find interesting:
Shoemaker, Endlessness, Tribal, Pan, Music...
Links for Richard Dawson interviews:
m.czcams.com/video/rDLgBipPQtM/video.html
And
m.czcams.com/video/1IedC7HZWhU/video.html
@@deed5811 Thank you for these links!!
@@deed5811 thank you @Dee D
Floor has a beautiful beetle named agter her: Snippet: This fine example of the endless forms most beautiful species on this green planet was discovered last year by Andreas Weigel. He named the beetle ‘Tmesisternus floorjansenae" (Weigel, 2018).
How special to have the honor of having a beautiful animal named after me. 🙏🏻
How cool! :-D
There's more out there, mesozoic reef crabs were named "tandromites nightwishorum" and a new found insect in Finland was named "Sciophila Holopaineni"
Seems Nightwish has quite the fanbase amongst scientists.
And an archaeological dig in the USA named after their song Alpenglow
@@richardwest6358 nice
Interesting to hear all the scientific gems that Tuomas included be recognised.
Yes, that was was the Metallica riff you heard. There is a few other special little nuggets of goodness included throughout the song too that you’ll hear about!
Give the Tampere show video a viewing - you’ll love that too!
🇫🇮😁🇫🇮❤️🎶✨🤘
I think you will find he missed most of the musical Easter eggs
12:20 I think this passage refers to the first appearance of primitive predecessor of eyes.
The "stuff of stars" is light and the ion channels transport the information to a form of "central processing unit"
Thank you for your great unique review. There are part of lyrics I didn't know about related to Darwin & Dawkins that you explained. As I just seen Nightwish in concert last Friday, May 20th 2022 in Wiltern, Los Angeles I wished I seen your reaction video prior to the concert. Cool reaction video!
This song is from the album 'Endless Forms Most Beautiful" which was the first album written specifically for Floor's vocal abilities.
Hey, the ‘law of gravity pulling the newborns around a fire’ refers to the planets around the sun I think.
agree
Makes perfect sense, yes! At that point in the history, I am sure that's what they meant. Thanks!
Amazing observation👍
The Cello sound at the beginning is actually Troy on the guitar using what's called an Ebow.
If you care to take a look at thr Tampere 2015 version of this you should notice something interesting with Floor's dress.
That was an exceptional reaction. I've watched many reactions to this song (usually the Tampere version, which I prefer, but the Dawkins version was more appropriate here), and this was definitely one of my favorites! Loved your insights from a scientific point of view, but also loved seeing you get emotional at the end (me too!). Great job!
Thank you so much for taking my suggestion and reacting to this. Your opinion as both scientist and a musician was extremely interesting and a pleasure to watch. I believe the other songs from the last 2 albums would also be interesting for you. Looking forward to more of your reactions
Thank YOU for suggesting, that was incredible and, apparently, opened a Pandora's box. I had no clue Nightwish had such a penchant for scientific themes! :-)
✨✨ HOLY SH.. What a great and different reaction! Have seen this video i ton, but never understood the words behind it all. Thank you so so much!!!!!✨✨
It is impossible not to be moved by this great work and my respect and admiration for all the comments you made to understand the lyrics of this great composition even more thoroughly, greetings from Honduras
There's nothing that we don't know yet. But there's no other band in the Universe, who could and want to do this. A whole Evolution in a one song. It's Mammoth of a song, and the best version is the Tampere 2015 one. Greetings from Finland! ⛄👍
The energy this band always creates with their crowd connection is incredible!!
Get on the Nightwish express. It takes you away. You don’t know where they’ll take you but you know it going to be friggin’ epic.
Sensory overload….and Floorgasms..NW style!!
such a fascinating time to see you experience this performance. The pure genius of Tuomas Holopainen to imagine the path to produce this and keep true to the science is amazing. and , yes i was tearing up as well and i have seen this many more times than i can even remember.
This is a science lesson, thank u for that. Nightwish is out of this world.
I've listened to this song so many times and I think this is the most I've really grasped it. Thank you for all the explanations! It was really enjoyable to watch this alongside you 😁
Very nice to watch someone understanding and explaning what the lyrics are all about.
Even some things I didn't caught myself so far. (but I'm not a scientist so....)
Had fun watching this one. :-)
when i first heard this song from the cd, it was like meh. but performed live, and also understanding more what tuomas was trying convey, my opinion swung 180 degrees. its really good.
I had the same thought at some point. Musically, by itself, it would not have nearly as much impact as with the live version. After all, it's hard to have a more than 15 min song be good start to finish... It's still quite good though.
@@scientistanalyzes Try "Gates of Delirium" by Yes, on their Relayer album. It's "War & Peace" in a highly complex musical composition. A modern day "1812 Overture", if you will. Second greatest composition of my lifetime, in my opinion ... and I'm an old guy!
@@chadbennett7873 relayer was 1000 times better than topographic oceans. Moraz bouncy jazz keys were such a difference from the organ swells from Kaye and Wakeman. I preferred the gorgeous church organ on awaken more.
@@scientistanalyzes When Tuomas wrote it the song was almost twice as long. Quite how he managed to reduce evolution to 20 minutes or so amazes me.
@@billmorrison8292 where are those cd reissues with that bonus track?
This is a wonderful epic piece and Nightwish's execution of it in a live setting is outstanding. Great and interesting reaction.
"She's doing that live - Nice"
Nightwish fans just nod and say "Yep"
At the end of a very long 17 track concert !
I love this one with Troy using the E-Bow on the guitar. However I find the Tampere production with the fireworks part way indicates the big bang better in the intro.
Both versions are epic and this one has Richard Dawkins of course so is better for you :)
Really great reaction - I tear up as well seeing this for 100th time.😂😂😂 Greetings from Denmark🇩🇰
Sir, that was a most wonderful reaction to what is, I think, a most beautiful piece of music which most listeners will fail to comprehend in its entirety. Most people will get most of what is said but fail to understand the true meaning of the piece. I feel confident that you understood what was being passed o to the listener far better than most. You have all my best wishes for the future, and a blessing from the heart!
This was a wonderful reaction! Thank you!!
The string sound you refer to is Troy on guitar with the e-bow I believe.
Troy is the member who plays ghe Uilleann pipes (Irish elbow bagpipe).
The piano intro is also evolving. It is not as repetitive as you might think - in true minimalist style it changes very slowly maybe a different note here and there.
Porridge!
"Every form most beautiful" is also the title of the album of which this is the last track. The entire album has the evolution thread running through it.
I always think Tiomas as a Finn has a better vocabulary and usebof language than the majority of native English speakers.
How many times have reactors said they don't know the meaning of a word in a Nightwish song. At last someone who understands his language!
You missed the evolution of music though 😁
Absolutely brilliant reaction/analysis video. "Thank you so much" as a certain Valkyrie Queen would say.
yes, that was Troy with an e-bow.
"The piano intro is also evolving." Pun intended? :-D Slowly evolving is all this whole theme is about, and you are right, that happened musically as well. Thanks! Indeed, this Tuomas guy is someone to watch out for, heh.
@@scientistanalyzes I used to read natural history. I recall Stephen jay Gould write that evolution is not a slow linear event but it’s static punctuated with sharp events that promote one species over another. No meteor, no mammals.
@@scientistanalyzes Oh yes quite deliberate 😉
As a Finn, Tuomas uses English words that simply aren't used in other English-speaking regions.
Such as the "eider covered in oil." The only eider seen in the US is found on the northern coast of _Alaska._ So the vast majority of Americans aren't going to know anything about the species.
The strings in the beginning was Troy on his guitar, he was using an ebow : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBow
I really didn't expect this kind of expert knowledge to the lyrics - this was an excellent deep dive into this brilliant masterpiece of a song. Caught the quotes and references, the layers and evolution of the music.
New subscriber from an old danish science and nature - and Symphonic Metal gig. 👍🤘🤘
Basically I love the work by Darwin, Dawkins, NW and Floor. This reaction video is one of the best so far. Just my humble opinion.
I think "pulling the newborns around the fire" is like the planets coming to the sun.
I just love that Tuomas & Floor have things named after them. Like a gnat & I can't remember what else but it's pretty cool cos Floor wanted to be a scientist
Lovely! finally a scientist's reaction to this masterpiece! it is gratifying to have explanations of scientific terms, even if some are familiar to me. since I was 9 years old, I have been interested in astronomy, the ancient history of the earth, physics, chemistry, biology, etc. However, most people have missed this scientific side of the song. Thank you, I'm dying to read all the books you mentioned. I wish you all the best and greetings from Finland.
You should also check the Tampere version of this song, in the open air and with fireworks in the first part (maybe just for yourself), better sound and better Floor (if that is possible). Also interesting is the song “Stargazers” (also for that one the Tampere version is perfect) that Tuomas wrote when he was just 18. The same fascination for the universe, the earth and us in it. “Tragédienne of heavens, watching the eyes of the night”
Thank you for your reaction. Funny thing Floor wanted to be a Biologist when she was young.
So did Tuomas, specifically a marine biologist.
Those musicians have good taste in science! :-P
The strings at the beginning is actually Troy playing guitar with an EBow
True, I thought of that cool gadget after editing the video. I first saw it when a great bass here on CZcams (forgot his name) demonstrated it.
Awesome reaction. It seems that one has to be a scientist to understand this song. Most people don't get what this song is about. I am no scientist, just a truck driver, but I have always educated myself by reading and I think that life is a long way of learning. I have also read some of Dawkins's books and the Origin of species by Darwin. I guess that most people don't get this song because of their poor education. Here in Finland all the things in this song are been taught at elementary school biology. That teary eye thing, it happens to me also everytime I listen to this song. New subscriber here. :D
That's the spirit, Joonas! :-)
WOW, the most interessting Reaction of TgSoE. And i see many.🤗 A lot of new little details for me. Thank you. With a 🤘from northern Germany
Grüße aus Brasilien! :-)
@@scientistanalyzes Grüsse zurück 🤘
One of My favourite lines is
"Man he took his time to understand a single grain of sand"
As knowing as we think we are.. we still do not know all about Even a single grain of sand.
When you think you know something go and explore and learn More.
The single grain of sand line is from William Blake poem Augeries of Innocence,
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
Religious apologists: science does not know, WE know. The god of gaps.
I wonder what these apologists would say if the use their god the same way as sanitary silicone.
I asked this question quite a few times, never got an answer...
I really like your reactions. Very good grasp on the interpretation and the perfect amount of pausing. Your notes on the top are very welcome.
Impressive explanation from a biologist. Thank you for that!
Glad Angel Gabriel arrived at your channel 😊💥👌⚡🔥💜🎶🎻🎤🎹🥁🎼🙏🏼
That was a great reaction and thank you for explaining very well and simply the many scientific words and terms that Tuomas used in the lyrics of this amazing song.
That was simply wonderful. I've done a fair amount of homework after first hearing this song and enjoyed learning more with you. The album it came from, titled Endless Forms Most Beautiful, is loaded with things that might interest you, as is the follow-up album, Human:Nature. I'd enjoy seeing more of your reactions. Thanks!
Hello there, Mr. analyzes, fellow biologist here (zoologist). Here's a bit of trivia regarding this very concert, I must admit, I hesitate to state it. At 28:00 when Richard pauses, *he actually forgot the quote and read the relevant bit off a piece of paper he was holding behind his back. I felt disappointed initially, thinking he would have mastered it for this. But then I realised it might have been nerves in front of that crowd. Note how the camera shots do not show him during that pause, to hide it.
I have read and own all Richard's books and writings. His literary skills (as I'm sure you will agree) are world-class, his prose magnificent.
*how do I know? Crowd filmed footage!
Fascinating and enlightening reaction. It's gratifying to listen to some one with scientific knowledge and, judging by the instruments in the background, musical experience, analysing this epic composition. You have confirmed what we already knew, namely Tuomas's considerable scientific knowledge. He's fascinated by nature, evolution and the stars. Come to think of it, he would be eminently qualified to give the Christmas Lecture, at the BBC. Now that I would watch!
Subbed.
Yes! I've been waiting for an actual scientist to react to this song and I'm not disappointed 😊 loved your detailed analysis
Nightwish has done a song called Sagan
Sagan
Shoemaker
Both man of science
As a huge Sagan fan, I must check that out some time. :-D
From a layperson who just loves Nightwish, thank you for bringing some context into this song, that I had not invested time into learning yet. I knew a bit about the basics that it was about, but watching you react to it gives it a lot deeper meaning.
While I know metal commonly has great subjects in the songs, I can't help but wonder if the origin of the earth is something more common, because you don't really mention it in your reaction that it is special for a band to go this deep into it.
Just needed to correct two things for you with respect
1-the line about the children around the fire l “believe” is a reference that I’ve heard other Astro physicists make about the formation of the solar system with Sol being the fire that gave birth to the planets ( Sols children) forming and coming together in the gravity wells.
2-you got the movie right it’s Halloween but wrong guy lol, Michael Myers is the one out of Halloween, the guy in the hockey mask is Jason Voorhees. He’s in the Friday the 13 series
Good reaction thow, learned a couple of things I didn’t know so thank you for the knowledge
After Floor's verses ending "enter LUCA" "enter Life", Empuu plays the intro guitar riff from Metallica's "Enter Sandman" at about 14:44
A minor detail of the sort Nightwish is rich in.
Ha, I did not catch that, was too engrossed in the lyrics. Will have to listen to again later paying more attention to the music.
@@scientistanalyzes You cannot miss J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor right before that! At 21:48 on your reaction video.
Well that was fun and interesting. Thankyou more please
Thank you for that fantastic reaction and great explanation
Wow!Thank You! More Nightwish
My pleasure to watch you reacting mister. Thank you, I got some new knowledge too.
Gonna subscribe to learn more. Greets from Finland. Take care.
What a great reaction , best i ever seen too this song.
I'm still very new to Nightwish (only a couple of months at this stage), but it's so great to hear that my new favourite band are a bunch of science nerds just like me! 😁
I have wanted to have Dawkins' "we are going to die" excerpt played at my funeral ever since I first read it (and heard it). With these guys setting it to some epic music too, it now makes a simple choice for my funeral song! (Not the whole song, of course, as I doubt anyone would want a funeral to go on that long. Just that last bit!)
This was great in every way! I learned a lot. Thank you.
Yes, I guess "the last light of the library" could be about the library of Alexandria. I've interpreted it a bit more poetically and more broadly, though, as the last spark of collective human knowledge being extinguished with the extinction of Homo sapiens. We were here...
I have watched these reaction videos only if there is a real musician and/or singing teacher cos I want to hear technical terms and tricks at singing especially.😊🎼🎵🎶🎤 But this was something totally different, very interesting and I really liked it! 🙂👍 I love this masterpiece, and it's so amazing to hear live, and gets me emotional every time. ❤️😍 And now I can't wait to see your reaction to Nightwish new songs like Procession and especially Shoemaker! ❤️ 🤘😊 Greetings from Finland! 💙 🇫🇮 🙂
Interesting commentary my scientist friend. A fascinating subject. You are a lucky man to have the opportunity to work in your field of study. I am sure you worked very hard to achieve to get there? Well done!
It is a long, rocky, and twisting road but fun nonetheless. :-)
THE GIRL IN THE FRONT ROW IS A legend
Beautiful analysis. Thank you.
Great reaction. Thank you, sir 🙏🏻🔥❤️🇫🇮
Wow!! This was awsome to se..Super interesting to se you react to this song. Thank you so very much for reacting to Nightwish!!
Thanks for the educated reaction. And I can only assume that Tuomas got it right. No surprise there as he is such an amazing composer.
I have my wife who is a biologist (an entomologist), and I'm continually corrected on biological facts by her, and I'm glad for that. I'm a better physicist than she is, but that matters little. When it goes into deep time, there's the through with the snot-ball (stromatolites-bacs and their genera) earth to the snow-ball earth with light starvation. When that let off, there were some organisms who were accessing the primordial version of the Earths' sunlight output. I fact oxygen they let off (some ten of percent of modern times) is a terribly corrosive gas to living things when it first appeared, something like breathing fluorine to is us now.
The multicellular life survived and thrived. I feel we are not that beholden to LUCA, but out ancestors who were perhaps multicellular and in the end had the facility to exchange especially chosen cells with those with the meiosis performed, theories why this happened are multiple.
The foundations of the tree of life are reassessed with new discoveries of how we are interrelated, maybe of the archaea, maybe not. I'm waiting to get news...
Thoroughly enjoyed your reaction and insight into this masterpiece 🤘
the outro might be tuomas's best symphonic arrangement.
21:48 Halloween is the movie indeed (from 1978, with John Carpenter's great theme music), but Jason is actually from another horror film series, "Friday the 13th". "Halloween" has bad guy Michael Myers wearing a modified Captain Kirk mask which they painted white.
Watch the Tampere version and her dress was like a DNA molekyl strip. Thanks for youré reaction. Greetings from Finland City of Vasa hometown for NW drummer Kai Hahto.
FINALLY! Someone familiar with the content of the song. Everytime I see a reaction to TGSOE I always hope for that, but it's never the case, until now.
Hi there, nice reaction. It explained a lot of terms I didn't know.
Since your the scientist, you might also like the song Shoemaker from nightwish
Very much enjoyed this, thank you.
oh thanks a lot for explaining all the things❤ loved it
If Gabriel's comment is here I am subscribing. Was about to watch when I saw his comment haha
Recommend that you listen to something off their most recent album Human:||:Nature album, Shoemaker.
I think that you would also like the most recent album HumanIINature
great reaction from Colorado. thanks
A great reaction sir, well done.
Great job on the scientific explanation of this song. please react to NIGHTWISH Shoemaker..
"The cosmic law of gravity pulls the newborns around the fire" refers to the new planets around the sun.
...and we have all this knowledge thanks to science as a whole, one off...if not the most open minded community in the planet writing history as we go...first a theory then a fact, simple rule that works, outstanding Nightwish, great reaction...💥✨🌎
Jason is not in Halloween. It's Michael Mayers. Jason is in Friday the 13:th 🙂
Was about to write that to. Both have a mask 😊
Ha, indeed! I always confuse the two and did not bother looking... I should have stuck to the scientific themes. :-D
@@scientistanalyzes Hahahahaha Who cares. It's scary movies. i loved your reaction by the way. Two songs that is like a red thread to this one is Alpenglow (live Mexico City) and Shudder before the beautiful ( Wembley) Check them out also please
darwin was just as good as a poet as he was a scientist.
Bravo from.Chile new suscriber!
¡Muchas gracias!
Great Reaction Brother 🤘🏼🔥👹🎸
I have one philosophical disagreement. We ARE Here!
Interesting analysis! You said in the start that the line "The cosmic law of gravity
Pulled the newborns around a fire" didn't make much sense. I read it as the newborn planets are getting settled in their respective orbits around the sun (fire) before moving on to talk abouth the Earth's placement in the Goldilocks zone.
Even Non-scientists cries to this one.... After seeing it more than 50 times....still crying.
Also, we will enter rat-kind after destroying our living conditions. Only the rats will survive it.
Much Love to you and Ukraine
🌻🌻🌻💙💛💙
Well, based on the Tampere version I had a go and interpreting the lyrics, it's a bit long and I'll have to reply to myself twice, but FWIW:
#1
"The Greatest Show On Earth"
(Spoken parts are in quotations)
[Part 1: Four Point Six] (4.6 billion years ago)
Archaean horizon
(part of the Precambrian period, in which there was no life on the earth. Earth's history is divided into four principal Eons: the Hadean, the Archean, Proterozoic, and the Phanerozoic. The Hadean is the Eon during which the Earth and Moon formed; in the Archaean, primordial life appeared. )
The first sunrise
On a pristine gaea
(Greek personification of the Earth as a goddess)
Opus perfectum
(the perfect work, the perfect creation, a masterpiece)
Somewhere there, us sleeping
(the DNA and carbon for life was in the space dust)
"After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with colour, bountiful with life.
Within decades we must close our eyes again.
Isn't it a noble and enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it?"
(Dawkins refers to the birth of the earth as a planet and mankind's brief geologic time on earth to understand how we came to be here at all)
[Part 2: Life]
The cosmic law of gravity
Pulled the newborns around a fire
(Planetary gravity aligning the solar system around the sun)
A careless cold infinity in every vast direction (space)
Lonely farer in the Goldilocks zone
(The earth moving on its own in the exact place for life to thrive - mother bear’s porridge was just right for Goldilocks)
She has a tale to tell
From the stellar nursery into a carbon feast
(the condensing big bang dust clouds into planets and the earth and all life is carbon based)
Enter LUCA
(Last universal common ancestor - a simple life form that all life carries a genetic marker for, LUCA was not the first living organism but the sole survivor of previous types)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_universal_common_ancestor
The tapestry of chemistry
(The periodic table of the elements and combinations)
There's a writing in the garden
(DNA and the garden, earth)
Leading us to the mother of all
(the trail to our beginnings)
We are one
(having a common DNA marker and we are all made from the galactic space dust and condensing gas. All the material from the big bang is still here, state might have changed for some things, but it is here.)
We are a universe
(This is the natural conclusion to draw from the fact that life shares common origin, that all life is built with the same blocks, and that all life on Earth is interdependent (gaia hypothesis). The multiplicity of beings on Earth are one, just as the cells in a body are one. Lately it has been shown that we are indeed made of star dust material from the birth of our universe)
Forebears of what will be
Scions of the Devonian sea
(419.2 to 358.9 million years ago from rocks found in Devon England, scion is a young shoot of a plant, the land grew plants and the multitude of fishes started to come ashore and walk on fins briefly)
Aeons pass
Writing the tale of us all
(The DNA and evolution branching out into other forms)
A day-to-day new opening
(The continuity of evolution)
For the greatest show on Earth
(a poetic reference to life developing and evolving)
#2
Ion channels welcoming the outside world
(Google Ion channels, protein molecules that span across the cell membrane allowing the passage of ions from one side of the membrane to the other.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_channel )
To the stuff of stars
(the original star dust everything came from and still is.)
Bedding the tree of a biological holy
(the start of the tree of life)
Enter life
The tapestry of chemistry
There's a writing in the garden
Leading us to the mother of all
(The periodic table of elements does look like a sort of patchwork tapestry, but this can go further. The historical function of tapestries was as "nomadic murals," pictographical histories which moving people could pack up and revisit wherever they went. The "writing in the garden," in nature, is not only the stone murals left by dead animals in the form of fossils, but is also this chemical writing that encodes the relatively nomadic DNA molecule with the instructions for life. The scientific investigation of this information leads us back to LUCA)
We are one
We are a universe
Forebears of what will be
Scions of the Devonian sea
Aeons pass
Writing the tale of us all
A day-to-day new opening
For the greatest show on Earth
We are here to care for the garden
The wonder of birth
(the odds of us being born at all is 400 trillion to one)
Of every form most beautiful
Every form most beautiful
(Forms Most Beautiful - Charles Darwin)
We are one
We are a universe
Forebears of what will be
Scions of the Devonian sea
Aeons pass writing the tale of us all
A day-to-day new opening
For the greatest show on Earth
[Part 3: The Toolmaker]
After a billion years
The show is still here
Not a single one of your fathers died young
(our prehistoric fathers must have been old enough to breed or we would not be here at all)
The handy travellers
(the first tool makers)
Out of Africa
(from whence we all came)
Little Lucy of the Afar
(Lucy was discovered at Afar in Ethiopia, an upright hominin, so called because the Beatles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was being played at the time, Lucy is considered to be the missing link from apes to humans and believed to be about 13yo at the time of death.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(Australopithecus))
#3
Gave birth to fantasy
To idolatry
To self-destructive weaponry
Enter the God of gaps
(God of the gaps is a theological perspective in which gaps in scientific knowledge are taken to be evidence or proof of God's existence. The term "gaps" was initially used by Christian theologians not to discredit theism but rather to point out the fallacy of relying on teleological arguments for God's existence)
Deep within the past
Atavistic dread of the hunted
(relating to or characterized by reversion to something ancient or ancestral)
Enter Ionia, the cradle of thought
(Ionia is accepted as the cradle of thought and philosophy)
The architecture of understanding
The human lust to feel so exceptional
To rule the Earth
Hunger for shiny rocks
(Diamonds being suggested)
For giant mushroom clouds
The will to do just as you'd be done by
(A reference to Mutually Assured Destruction)
Enter history, the grand finale
(when we will become extinct too)
Enter ratkind
(this suggests after mankind has perished/killed itself, the rats will become dominant and sentient life, then they hypothesise how we became extinct. It is a fact that the first life forms returning to nuclear test sites are rats living in radiation levels lethal to us, this hypothesis is from Dawkins also.)
Man, he took his time in the sun (us now)
Had a dream to understand
A single grain of sand
He gave birth to poetry
But one day'll cease to be
Greet the last light of the library
(the cessation of mankind and the ending of our recorded knowledge)
Man, he took his time in the sun (us now)
Had a dream to understand
A single grain of sand
(in this second iteration, the first two bars of Metallica “Enter the Sandman” are played as a nod to them, one of the first HM bands to work with an orchestra and the sand reference. Metallica is rather a favourite of Tuomas too as they set him off on a musical path. There are several Easter eggs in this too with some phrases from classical and pop music too. Someone said, and I take no credit for this analysis, the little hidden melody bits were some African tribal drumming, a medieval hymn (Dies Irae), Johan Sebastian Bach (Christian Petzold) - Minuet in G major and Toccata & Fugue in D minor, American banjo music, Metallica - Enter Sandman and the bassline from Nightwish - I Wish I Had An Angel. Also Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction.)
He gave birth to poetry
But one day'll cease to be
Greet the last light of the library
Man, he took his time in the sun
Had a dream to understand
A single grain of sand
He gave birth to poetry
But one day'll cease to be
Greet the last light of the library
(There will be a human extinction event, no if's, just when. The sun is getting bigger by capturing space hydrogen, space is not exactly empty, it will eventually turn the planet to sand and boil the seas, we will be long gone by then, or on a different planet. It will become a red giant and swallow Mercury, Venus and the Earth. None of us need worry presently, it's a very long way off, a very long way off being about 5 billion years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Life_phases)
We were here!
We were here!
We were here!
We were here!
(We have always been here, we're made of the space dust and condensing gasses from the big bang, everything before us is still here in a different state and everybody and everything to come is here, as yet un-assembled, we are a universe as the atoms and molecules that make us and we have come from a universe.)
[Part 4: The Understanding] (From Richard Dawkins)
"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones.
Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara.
Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people.
In the teeth of those stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here. We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred"
[Part 5: Sea-Worn Driftwood] (original text from Charles Darwin read by Dawkins)
"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."
Great sincere reaction, thanks!
"The cosmic laws of gravity pulled the newborns around the fire". Gravity bringing the newly formed planets into their orbits around "the fire" (the sun).