Watching the Planets

Album: Embryonic (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song features Yeah Yeah Yeahs vocalist Karen O. The band's frontman Wayne Coyne told the Swiss music site Die Klangschau: "For the Karen O tracks, I just called her up in her hotel room and we just did it right over the telephone. It's pretty absurd."
  • Coyne (from press notes): "Tribal conquering dirge. Karen O kicks in singing with me and Steven (Drozd, multi-instrumentalist). A final revelation that celebrates the power of nature and implies that the only laws worth obeying are the laws one makes for oneself. Experience is the only teacher."
  • Coyne spoke further about the Karen O collaboration in a 2017 interview with Consequence Of Sound. He said: "She was in a hotel room, and I sent her the song. I think by then you could go on your computer and record your own material. And she really liked the song. I could tell because she was already adding cool things to it, then just made up crazy little noises, which we just absolutely loved. She didn't know that I was gonna use it, but I went ahead and started to make a couple of other songs with all the other noises [see "I Can Be a Frog"]. I think she was kind of embarrassed about it first, but I urged her to allow us to do it. Her being on that record I think was really another special sound and a special moment."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."