Gravity's Grip

Lyrics

Verse 1
(Intro: Rapid-fire acoustic strumming)
​It’s been four point six billion years since the cloud collapsed
Gravity grabbed the matter and it didn't want it back
99.8 percent of the mass is in the middle
While the rest of us are dancing to a planetary fiddle
We’ve got a G-type main-sequence star, a G2V
Fusing 600 billion kilos of H into He
Every single second—yeah, it’s getting pretty hot
In 5 billion years a Red Giant is all we’ve got!
​Chorus
​And it’s all just a matter of scale, you see
From the photosphere down to the deep blue sea
We’re orbiting the center of the galaxy
26,000 light-years of "don’t mind me!"
From the Sun to the Earth is one AU
Eight minutes for the light to get a look at you!
​Verse 2
​Mercury and Venus? Man, they’re traveling light
With zero moons to keep 'em company at night
But Earth’s got the Moon, and Mars has two
(Phobos and Deimos, they’re a tiny crew)
Then you hit the gas giants and the party starts to grow
Jupiter’s got 95—he’s putting on a show!
With the Galilean four: Io, Europa, and the rest
But Ganymede’s the biggest moon, the champion of the quest!
​Verse 3
​Wait—Saturn’s in the lead with 146 or more?
(Actually, 274 depending on the score!)
Titan’s got an atmosphere, it’s thick and it’s dense
Uranus has 28—that’s just common sense?
Titania and Oberon and Miranda too
Neptune’s got 16, and Triton’s in the queue
And pour one out for Pluto, it’s a dwarf, it’s true
But it’s got five moons, so it’s cooler than you!
​Bridge
​(Slow down slightly, mysterious vibe)
Now step past the curb of the Kuiper Belt
Where the frozen volatiles have never ever felt
The warmth of a summer, just methane and ice
Arrokoth and Eris think the cold is pretty nice
But further than the disc, where the science gets loud
Is the 200,000 AU spherical Oort Cloud!
​Verse 4
​(Back to full speed, breathless delivery)
It’s a giant icy bubble that we’ve never even seen
Where the long-period comets keep the neighborhood clean
Shaped like S-arms by the galactic tide
It’s the edge of the influence, the end of the ride!
Until the Sun runs out of fuse and it begins to bloat
A White Dwarf cinder in a planetary coat
Then a Black Dwarf cooling for a trillion years or so
But hey, we’ve got a few billion left to go!
​Outro
​(Sudden stop)
One AU!
(Strum)
400 moons!
(Strum)
And I still can’t find my car keys.
(Final chaotic chord)