This song was written in 2006; not long after Pluto's reclassification to minor planet status after more than 70 years as ninth planet from the sun. The event was met with many responses; many had anger, knowing Pluto well since childhood; and at a to-scale model of the solar system in Washington State at the display of Pluto there was an im-promptu 'memorial' for Pluto - complete with flowers and a farewell letter signed by the eight remaining planets. Pluto was the only planet discovered in the 20th century; and the only one discovered by an American.
But for Jonathan Coulton, naturally, his response came in form of a song - and here he was thinking of Charon being the one singing to Pluto how 'I don't care'. Charon is Pluto's largest satellite - being about half of Pluto's own size; that many astronomers in fact think of Pluto and Charon as two [minor] planets in mutual orbit - as opposed to a more conventional planet-and-moon system.
And so it makes a nice setting for a love song; The charactor of Charon here is presented as one of warmth, comfort and loving indifference - in stark contrast to the cold, icy surface of Charon as alluded to in the song!
Later on Coulton would say about the song that he has noticed just how many people have used the song to relate to their own lives and relationships - and he says that now when he hears the song, instead of thinking of Pluto, he now thinks about what the song means to all these other people. And this is something Coulton finds beauty in.
This song was written in 2006; not long after Pluto's reclassification to minor planet status after more than 70 years as ninth planet from the sun. The event was met with many responses; many had anger, knowing Pluto well since childhood; and at a to-scale model of the solar system in Washington State at the display of Pluto there was an im-promptu 'memorial' for Pluto - complete with flowers and a farewell letter signed by the eight remaining planets. Pluto was the only planet discovered in the 20th century; and the only one discovered by an American. But for Jonathan Coulton, naturally, his response came in form of a song - and here he was thinking of Charon being the one singing to Pluto how 'I don't care'. Charon is Pluto's largest satellite - being about half of Pluto's own size; that many astronomers in fact think of Pluto and Charon as two [minor] planets in mutual orbit - as opposed to a more conventional planet-and-moon system. And so it makes a nice setting for a love song; The charactor of Charon here is presented as one of warmth, comfort and loving indifference - in stark contrast to the cold, icy surface of Charon as alluded to in the song! Later on Coulton would say about the song that he has noticed just how many people have used the song to relate to their own lives and relationships - and he says that now when he hears the song, instead of thinking of Pluto, he now thinks about what the song means to all these other people. And this is something Coulton finds beauty in.