The name of this website comes from a line in The Galaxy Song, Monty Python’s unexpectedly educational take on astronomy. The last verse of the song closes with:
“Pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space,
‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth.”
It’s a sentiment that has stuck with me—not just for its humor, but because it captures something real. The universe is vast, awe-inspiring, and filled with mysteries we’re only beginning to unravel. Meanwhile, Earth… well, let’s just say it often feels like a place where absurdity rules the day.
The Unlikely Astronomers: Monty Python’s The Galaxy Song
In 1983, The Meaning of Life introduced The Galaxy Song, a jaunty little tune packed with surprisingly accurate astronomical facts. Written by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, the song aimed to put our existence into perspective—scientifically accurate (for the time) but wrapped in the absurdity of Monty Python’s humor.
Idle was inspired by conversations with real scientists who explained just how small and insignificant humans are on a cosmic scale. The song became a way to convey this vastness while making it impossible to forget. And it worked. Before I learned about the speed of light or the size of our galaxy in a formal setting, I knew these facts because I had them stuck in my head to music.
Stephen Hawking, Brian Cox, and the Revival of The Galaxy Song
Decades later, The Galaxy Song received an unexpected modern twist. In 2014, during Monty Python Live (Mostly), physicist Brian Cox appeared in a video, playfully critiquing the scientific accuracy of the song. But before he could get too deep, none other than Stephen Hawking interrupted, playfully dismissing Cox’s complaints and launching into his own rendition of the song—synthesized voice and all.
Hawking, one of the greatest scientific minds of our time, taking part in a Monty Python bit? It was perfect. The blend of humor and real science had come full circle.
If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it here:
Stephen Hawking Sings Monty Python’s Galaxy Song
The Full Lyrics to The Galaxy Song
(Include the full lyrics here or link to a page with them.)
[Introduction]
Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you’ve had quite enough….
[Verse 1]
Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour
That’s orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it’s reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the ‘Milky Way’
[Verse 2]
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It’s a hundred thousand light years side to side
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick
But out by us, it’s just three thousand light years wide
We’re thirty thousand light years from galactic central point
We go ’round every two hundred million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe
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