Lab Tracks

Lab Track: Skeptic Love Song

giantrobotalbumWe here at the Lab are big fans of Nicole and her one-lady band Hello the Future, seeing as the vast numbers of songs she’s written and performed are all about science and skepticism and geekery. Today’s lab track features one such song: it’s about love in the context of science and skepticism. Even better, it’s one of 10 tracks on her new CD, Giant Robot Album, which is backed by a full band! Go check it out!

Skeptic Love Song
Hello, The Future

I know love isn’t real
It’s just the oxytocin we produce
To help us get close and reproduce
Which I don’t want to do right now, but thanks

And you can’t trust what you feel
Because our neurons can be manipulated
As science has repeatedly demonstrated
Which kind of throws into doubt the whole veracity of our personal thoughts and opinions, but

I know that when we signed up for the skeptic frame of mind
It meant we had to look at everything from rational perspectives
And I know that all the research says that everything behind this
Has less to do with me and you than with a species-based short-term objective

And I know you and I are on the side of the scientists
But scientists fall in love too
Even though they know it isn’t strictly true

So:

I’ll love you till the heat death of the
Universe; until the galaxies collide
In four billion years or
Till we fall into the sea
Which could be next week

I’ll love you till my loop becomes estranged
Until my mind becomes deranged
And when it does just put us out of our misery, please.

I know love really means
I like your genes
So take them off

I know love really means
I like your genes
So take them off

I know love isn’t real
It’s just a biological imperative
That we construct into a narrative
Which you do so freaking well, by the way

And you can’t trust what you feel
Because inputs come and rearrange our stasis
And yes, people change
But change is inevitable.

I know that when we signed up for the skeptic frame of mind
It meant we had to say goodbye to paradise and ever after
And I know that all the research says that you and I will find the way
To hurt each other like we never dreamed we’d do

And I know you and I are on the side of the scientists
But scientists fall in love too
Even though they know it isn’t strictly true

So:

I’ll love you till the heat death of the
Universe; until the galaxies collide
In four billion years or
Till we fall into the sea
Which could be next week

I’ll love you till my loop becomes estranged
Until my mind becomes deranged
And when it does just put us out of our misery, please.

I know love really means
I like your genes
So take them off

I know love really means
I like your genes
So take them off

I’m so glad that I got to know your brain
In this segment of infinity before we die
And I hope you feel the same and won’t complain
That we won’t get to be with each other on a non-existent other side
And I wrote this love song for you, to explain
Every day I don’t tell you I love you is a lie.

Even though I know love isn’t real
It’s just an evolutionary tendency
That we’ve converted into a trancendency
But hey, I’m so f**king transcendent for you

And you can’t trust what you feel
And yet people somehow last it out
With the people they cannot live without
So I’m playing the long game, darling

And I know that when we signed up for the skeptic frame of mind
It meant we had to trust reality was better than our dreams
And we both know all the research but with you and me combined
We’ll face whatever the world can bring us and I’m glad you’re on my team

And I know you and I are on the side of the scientists
But scientists fall in love too
Even though they know it isn’t strictly true

So:

I’ll love you till the heat death of the
Universe; until the galaxies collide
In four billion years or
Till we fall into the sea
Which could be next week

I’ll love you till my loop becomes estranged
Until my mind becomes deranged
And when it does just put us out of our misery, please.

I know it makes you sad
That we won’t be there
When it ends

I know it makes you sad
That we won’t be there
To see it end

And I know that if I could
I would stand hand in hand with you
Until everything became still
Which it will

This has been another installment of Monday Lab Tracks. Send us your musical recommendations through our contact link at the top of the page, and tell us what you think of the song in the comments below!

Ashley Hamer

Ashley Hamer (aka Smashley) is a saxophonist and writer living in Chicago, where she performs regularly with the funk band FuzZz and jazz ensemble Big Band Boom. She also does standup comedy, sort of, sometimes. Her tenor saxophone's name is Ladybird.

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