My Star

Space exploration for nuclear stations
Nasa corrupters, jewelled abductors
Space exploration, excursion to the stars
On a military mission on a military journey to Mars

I see you in my star
I see you in my star
I see you in my star
I see you in my star
I see you in my star
I see you in my star

Solar system bases, the new world order
Lust for space dust, forming galaxy borders
Never seeking new life, only planning war
Sending satellites at new heights, satellites to destroy

I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star

Space exploration for nuclear stations
Nasa corrupters, jewelled abductors
Space exploration, excursion to the stars
On a military mission on a military journey to Mars
To boldly go where no man's ever been before
Astronauts the new Conquistadors

See you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star
I'll see you in my star

Lyrics by:
Brown / Ibrahim

Format:
Released 1997:
My Star (Radio Edit) (Polydor, MYSTAR 1, Promo CD)
My Star (Radio Edit) (Polydor, MYSTAR 1, Promo CD with slide)
My Star (Radio Edit) (Polydor, MYSTAR 2, Promo CD)

Released 1998:
My Star (Polydor, Promo video)

Released January 1998:
My Star / See The Dawn (Polydor, 569 334-2, CD)
My Star / See The Dawn / Fourteen (Polydor, POCP 7271, Japanese CD)

Released 12th January 1998:
My Star / See The Dawn / Fourteen (Polydor, 571 987-2, CD)
My Star / See The Dawn (Polydor, 571 986-7, 7")
My Star / See The Dawn (Polydor, 571 987-4, cassette)

UK chart position:
#5

Also available on:
Unfinished Monkey Business (5.13)

Details:

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom ?
Can you hear me, Major Tom ?
Can you hear me, Major Tom ?
Can you...

David Bowie, Space Oddity (1969)

"Brought up in the Seventies, Astronauts were sold to kids as the ultimate heroes. Watching a video on the launch of Apollo 15, I was struck with how the whole thing was a military exercise. Astronauts were former fighter pilots culled from the US air force; "Space exploration, an excursion to the stars, on a military mission, a military journey to Mars". Imagine how you'd feel living in the ghettos and the poor rural areas of America in 1968 - billions and billions of dollars spent on a rocket to visit a piece of rock in the sky; "I'll see you in My Star".
(Ian Brown speaking about My Star, Ian Brown Online).

Brown's comeback single is a take on 'Dear Prudence' by The Beatles. In a performance of My Star at Tokyo in 1999; his opening lines are those of that Beatles track: "The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful and so are you."

My Star is a criticism of the huge amount of money spent on space exploration when a large amount of the world's population doesn't have enough food to eat. The space race of the 1960s between the U.S. and Soviet Union was a contest between democratic capitalism and communism. Not only was the vast amount of money spent depriving funds for social programs on earth, but space exploration itself became less of scientific and more of military importance. It was one of many instances in the Cold War when each side would go to extreme measures to outdo the other, regardless of the consequences. The "new world order" sang of by Ian has origin in a famous State of the Union speech by President Bush in January, 1991 (this was not the first occasion on which Bush used the phrase "new world order" but it took on great significance because it was a State of the Union speech). This is the relevant part of Bush's speech:

"What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea - a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind: peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle, and worthy of our children's future."

Ian compares the role of astronauts to Conquistadors, the Spanish conquerors who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain between the 15th and 17th centuries. The discoveries of Columbus had gained Spain a foothold in America and expeditions soon took place to conquer this 'New World'. Ian perceives Space as the 'New World' being conquered for unethical gain (the issue of the injustices arising from conquest and colonialism is an important one to Ian. See Straight To The Man). The accompanying video has parallels with the video for David Bowie's 'Space Oddity'. Each are heavily influenced by Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, '2001: A Space Odyssey' (Bowie wrote the song shortly after watching the movie). Ian is cast as Captain James T Spender, back from a mission to Saturn. Three of the other crew members have died in suspicious circumstances. Spender wasn’t involved in the deaths, but the authorities lock him up in a penthouse, under observation, afraid that he has dangerous information that could bring them all down.* My Star combines dialogue from important 'firsts' in U.S. space missions. Scott Carpenter was the Mercury astronaut who uttered the famous "Godspeed John Glenn" line. Glenn's flight on 20 February 1962 made him the first American to orbit the earth. Three months later, Carpenter followed Glenn into space as the second American to orbit the earth. These words by Carpenter, preceding the final ten to fifteen seconds of the count, are used by Ian in the count-in to My Star. Just prior to this were the words of test conductor Tom O'Malley after he pushed the black launch-sequence button for Friendship 7 - "May the good Lord ride all the way". With the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the U.S. had lagged badly behind the Soviet Union for five years in the Cold War space race; this flight by Glenn was an integral one in America's emergence. This was their response to 12 April 1961 - the day the Soviets sent a Red Air Force pilot, Yuri Gagarin, into orbit on a Vostok rocket.

Dialogue is also incorporated from the Apollo 11 moon landing when man set foot on the moon for the first time (20 July 1969):

Houston: "Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."

This image was used by John Squire on the Second Coming artwork:

Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut who in 1961 became the first human in space and the first to orbit the Earth, is referenced on The Seahorses track Sale Of The Century.

I would regard the TOTP performance of this track to be his best solo appearance on the show.

* I propose that the creator of the above postcard, taking his/her lead from Ian's use of '2001: A Space Odyssey', drew inspiration from the opening sequence of the film. At the beginning of the film, a group of 'man-apes' encounter a Monolith, an object completely alien to them. After this encounter, the man-apes learn to use tools to attack prey for food and other man-apes in the conquest of territory.

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