Great Gig In The Sky

ByBrian Smith

I listen to 70s music, a lot.  The 70s station on Sirius gets more play from me than any other station.  Amazon has a 70s station also. When I’m cooking I’ll just ask Alexa to play music from the 70s.

Last night, as we were driving home from dinner, the Sirius XM 70s station played The Eagles’ Hotel California, the song that a lot of music snobs love to hate.  I thought about that as I turned it up because I love that song and I love the Eagles.  Next up was Queen’s Somebody To Love.  I told Tywana how I used to crank Somebody to Love up and listen to it on repeat.  One of my all time favorites. OK. Here is the start of the pattern. Sirius XM- Hotel California followed by Somebody to Love.

Today, I’m in the kitchen making a salad and I say “Alexa, play music from the 70s”.  I can’t recall the first song up, but the second song was Hotel California.  Hmmm… not a big deal I think. The song was huge in the 70s. The odds of getting that on a 70s station are really high.  But, I note I heard it just last night.  Next up is Great Gig In the Sky.  Weird I think. I’m thinking about the afterlife. But, I’m always thinking about the afterlife. Still, how often did this song ever get air play? It’s 4:36 and there are almost no lyrics, just a woman vocalizing in non-English.   Just about the only lyric in the song is:

“And I am not frightened of dying
Any time will do, I don’t mind
Why should I be frightened of dying?
There’s no reason for it, you’ve gotta go sometime”- at 0:38

I never said I was frightened of dying- at 3:33

This is a little odd.  Now, the question is.  Can you guess the third song in the rotation?  Hint: there is a pattern.

Yep.  You got it. The third song up was “Somebody to Love” by Queen.

The odds of getting Hotel California or Somebody to Love are pretty unremarkable. Both are monster hits. The odds of getting them both, in the same order, back to back on different stations is not so high.  Add in the fact that Sirius is broadcast, so it’s also a matter of timing with Sirius. I had to be listening at the precise time the songs were played yesterday.  The odds of getting Great Gig In The Sky are pretty low. I’m pretty sure that song didn’t even chart in 1973.  Someone do the math on getting Hotel California, followed by Great Gig in the Sky, followed by Somebody To Love with the first and the last being repeated on two different sources, two days in a  row.