It’s a star-filled night in nineteen fifty-
eight and atop Lookout Point your car is
positioned toward the North Star, Polaris,
for the best airwaves. The DJ’s cool, drifty

voice says the top song on the Billboard poll
that week (after a special long distance
dedication) affirms the existence
of purple aliens who like rock-and-roll.

Now NASA beams “Across the Universe”
(Beatles Rule!) on its fortieth ann’y
to every outer space nook and cranny –
long distance dedication to dispurse

its funds. Dearthbound Beatles fans, Dr Geldzahler –
purpled, aliened – might sing with your research dollar.

Related information

On February 4, 2008 – the fortieth anniversary of Beatles’ hit “Across the Universe” – Dr Barry Geldzahler of NASA’s Deep Space Network transmitted the song to Beatles fans in deep space some 431 light years away.