Nikolai Kardashev was a soviet astrophysicist and creator of the Kardashev scale. The Kardashev scale attempts to place speculative civilisations in outer space, into different types based on a planets particular use of energy. Kardashev also believed that he was communicating with extraterrestrials, who may well have been on his scale. A communication was picked up for six years at the same time and date from 1959-1965. Kardashev referred to the people he was talking to in outer space as a 'Kardashev civilisation', naming the extraterrestrial people after himself. Unfortunately this communication was found to be a pulsating quasar rather than a sophisticated race. This song was an attempt to merge science fiction synths into a song about the visonary science of Nikolai Kardashev, speculating as to his thoughts at the time. I probably also project a little of myself into the character as is often the way!!!
lyrics
Kardashev Civilisation
I tried to communicate with extraterrestrials,
I drew myself a probability chart,
I received signals a very long time ago,
you know I just can't pick up the phone,
I made a chart, and I kept them in a row,
it's a surprise, was it surprising to you,
I switched my radio on, and tuned in to CTA 102.
I tried to read signals from afar,
the universe is growing in a jar,
the space around you will change,
the space around you will change,
and space around you will change!
Down here I can only communicate with people,
all of the very human people,
some times they have a tendency,
to cause me such a fuss,
'oh but the universe is growing between us!'
she didn't seem impressed by this much,
besides which I had my own civilisation once !
Now I can tell which planets are likely to be dust,
although I spent some time talking to a quasar,
many years ago.
I tried to read signals from afar,
the universe is growing in a jar,
the space around you will change,
the space around you will change,
and space around you will change!
In the future we could have,
extrasolar craft ! Interstellar between the stars,
these are the days to live for my friend,
if it ever happens at all !
I tried to read signals from afar,
the universe is growing in a jar,
the space around you will change,
the space around you will change,
and space around you will change!
Wonderfully absurdist pop songs that manage the tricky balance of humor and hookiness—The Exquisite Corpse as ’60s pop. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 4, 2022