FALL OF ANCIENT SCIENCE (Words & Music by A. Marscher ©2007)
1. The bodies of heaven move with constant speed on circles and on spheres
So said the Greeks and all believed for about 2000 years
With Earth at the center, the planets chimed songs no human ear could hear
'Til Kepler's ellipses unveiled the secrets of the music of the spheres
Chorus:
When you think you've seen and understood everything, think you've explained it all
Next you'll find something you've never seen, and your hypotheses will fall
Be satisfied with descriptions that make firm predictions, find evidence, not proof
Nature leaves no inscription to aid its depiction, so you never discover full truth
[background chorus, 2 times:
Copernicus and Kepler, Galileo Galilei
The planets revolve around the Sun, the Earth spins once each day]
2. Aristotle proposed that heavenly motions are natural, not forced
And the tendency of objects on Earth is to fall to the center, of course
They drop with constant velocity as they proceed to fall down
But Galileo found that they accelerate all the way to the ground
[chorus]
Ending: [Background chorus sung in the foreground]
Return
to Alan Marscher's songs page