Now these are some damn good lyrics, I always expect amazing lyrics from Neil but these are incredible.
Most of the references are pretty obvious but there are some awesome subtle ones too.
'The alchemical comic stoned again in his class.' Alchemy is a 'science' (supposedly) that is famous for getting nowhere and being completely pointless. Given that most of the song is about quantum mechanics, I'd say it is comparing quantum physicists to alchemists. Quantum mechanics often seems so ridiculous you seriously wonder if the people who came up with it all were on drugs. I know I have before. This stoned comical alchemist is a quantum physicist.
'Boom, subatomic, the singularity's here' A black hole is formed when mass is compressed to subatomic scales (due to its own weight) and forms a singularity. I'm not sure if there actually is a boom but it happens just as fast.
'Hey rolling collider, the horizon is near' The LHC is circular (rolling?) and some think it will make black holes and destroy the earth. Horizon is almost certainly referring to the event horizon, the boundary around a black whole from which no information (or anything else) can escape. Except Hawking radiation but that is different.
'But one has to wonder, are we in or are we out?' Perhaps refers to quantum mechanical uncertainty, where something can be in two states (and even two places) at once until you check.
'Djinn and pentatonic all night long'
Djinn are Arabic supernatural beings, from where we get the word Genie. Pentatonic is a scale of music and to be honest I have no idea how this relates. The Djinn bit is probably just pointing out that quantum mechanics seems supernatural i guess?
'The good doctor's box, what a terrible riddle.
That poor damn cat split right down the middle.'
This refers to Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment. Basically there is a cat in a box hooked up to some cruel killing machine, a Geiger counter and a source of radiation, blah blah quantum mechanics (you can look it up if you want), and the whole point is the cat is not just either dead or alive until you look at it, it is actually both dead and alive. Split right down the middle.
'In the void it rambles, rattles and rolls
while the comical alchemist grinds up his bones.'
Not too sure what the first line is about, the second line is just saying how the quantum physicist is doing something useless (like an alchemist grinding bones).
So yeah, the song is about quantum mechanics (or just advanced physics in general, although everything referenced involves quantum mechanics) and how messed up it is, to the point that we could just be making a 'terrible blunder' chasing these djinns all day long. At least, this is my conclusion. Impressive song all the same.
Now these are some damn good lyrics, I always expect amazing lyrics from Neil but these are incredible. Most of the references are pretty obvious but there are some awesome subtle ones too.
'The alchemical comic stoned again in his class.' Alchemy is a 'science' (supposedly) that is famous for getting nowhere and being completely pointless. Given that most of the song is about quantum mechanics, I'd say it is comparing quantum physicists to alchemists. Quantum mechanics often seems so ridiculous you seriously wonder if the people who came up with it all were on drugs. I know I have before. This stoned comical alchemist is a quantum physicist.
'Boom, subatomic, the singularity's here' A black hole is formed when mass is compressed to subatomic scales (due to its own weight) and forms a singularity. I'm not sure if there actually is a boom but it happens just as fast.
'Hey rolling collider, the horizon is near' The LHC is circular (rolling?) and some think it will make black holes and destroy the earth. Horizon is almost certainly referring to the event horizon, the boundary around a black whole from which no information (or anything else) can escape. Except Hawking radiation but that is different.
'But one has to wonder, are we in or are we out?' Perhaps refers to quantum mechanical uncertainty, where something can be in two states (and even two places) at once until you check.
'Djinn and pentatonic all night long' Djinn are Arabic supernatural beings, from where we get the word Genie. Pentatonic is a scale of music and to be honest I have no idea how this relates. The Djinn bit is probably just pointing out that quantum mechanics seems supernatural i guess?
'The good doctor's box, what a terrible riddle. That poor damn cat split right down the middle.' This refers to Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment. Basically there is a cat in a box hooked up to some cruel killing machine, a Geiger counter and a source of radiation, blah blah quantum mechanics (you can look it up if you want), and the whole point is the cat is not just either dead or alive until you look at it, it is actually both dead and alive. Split right down the middle.
'In the void it rambles, rattles and rolls while the comical alchemist grinds up his bones.' Not too sure what the first line is about, the second line is just saying how the quantum physicist is doing something useless (like an alchemist grinding bones).
So yeah, the song is about quantum mechanics (or just advanced physics in general, although everything referenced involves quantum mechanics) and how messed up it is, to the point that we could just be making a 'terrible blunder' chasing these djinns all day long. At least, this is my conclusion. Impressive song all the same.
Djinn were also typically evil spirits.
Djinn were also typically evil spirits.