Across the (Open or Closed?) Universe

For perhaps obvious reasons, I've been learning more about The Beatles. I've also been exploring the roots and origins of progessive rock and experimental music. These selections are from those searches, the first deliberately chosen and the second a track essentially selected at random.

Across the Universe

A beautifully simple John Lennon song. This is a wonderful example of lyrical imagery and musical ideas combining in a nicely synergistic manner. I particularly like it because it resonates with my own naturalist view of existence, of the universe as a complete interconnected whole. The stream of consciousness lyrics reinforce this to me.

Sadly, it is also attached in some way to a con artist, having clearly been influenced by the time The Beatles spent in India and from the associations made there. A phrase from the chorus, "Jai Guru Deva" has been interpreted as a reference of sorts to this con artist (or at least a figure important to him). It can also be interpreted in a more general spiritual manner. This is the one I choose.

Open or Closed?

A piece of music from The Science Group's "...A Mere Coincidence..". It should be impossible for a physicist like myself not to be at least amused by this album, replete as it is with lyrics discussing quantum mechanics, mathematics, and cosmology. This particular song actually references the energy density of the universe Omega. Naturally, the title refers to the question of whether the universe is open or closed. The lyrics are cute, to a physics geek, but the music, fortunately, is also excellent, although perhaps not to many people's taste. The band was founded by Henry Cow's Chris Cutler and pianist and composer Stevan Tickmayer. Henry Cow veteran Fred Frith is also on the album, but not on this track.