“30 Century Man” – Scott Walker
(Words/music: Scott Walker, available on Scott 3, Fontana 1969)

“30 Century Man” sounds like a simple song – and sure, it’s just Scott Walker’s deep voice and an acoustic guitar – but there’s still something alluring about it.  Perhaps it’s because Walker stars out with a simple question – you can either be a dwarf star or a red giant, but you have to pick.  It’s an interesting choice – you can either be the run of the mill dwarf, one of 90% of stars with the rest of their life ahead of them, or you can be a giant, the fiery, intense ball of gas that shines brightest right before its ready to expire.  In a strange way, it’s a choice between patience and spectacle (or, to a lesser degree, similar to the quandary Neil Young would later pose – is it better to burn out or fade away?).  Still, Walker offers another possibility – take yourself out of this era and start over again next century.  I think it’s this oddity that makes the song for me; otherwise, it’s a fairly straightforward song without Walker’s strange sci-fi suggestion.  There’s something alluring to the future - it’s the realm of possibilities.  All our problems will be solved by time and technology (right?…. right?!)

Sonically, the chords and melody are interesting enough, and I like the technique of putting the guitar in one speaker and the vocals in the other.  This song doesn’t work for me, however, without being a little strange.  I think it’s the off-putting idea of a man freezing himself – taking himself out of this time period for the sake of the unknown 30th century – that makes this song interesting enough. Sure, it’s a shame you’ll never meet Charles DeGaulle, but who cares – you’ll see hover cars!

There’s not really a concrete reason that I like “30 Century Man” – perhaps it’s that it lasts for 90 seconds, perhaps it’s that it’s slightly surreal, and perhaps it’s the association with The Life Aquatic and Futurama, but it’s the kind of song that comes up in my shuffle and never gets skipped.  It’s just strange enough.

More on Scott Walker: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm