Wheely Good

You would think garage rocker Jack White and world-famous boffin Stephen Hawking are unlikely bedfellows.

But not for much longer.

A new seven-inch single featuring lyrics by the Cambridge physicist has been released today. Download it here.

A Glorious Dawn is a tribute to fellow astronomer Carl Sagan, and mixes dialogue from his 1980s TV show Cosmos: A Personal Voyage with Hawking’s trademark voice, and chilled trip-hop production.

Released by the White Stripes front man’s Third Man Records label, the song originally started life a YouTube sensation, written by composer John Boswell.

However, The Tab is unaware of Hawking’s thoughts on the label’s last release: Horehound, by cult Nashville band The Dead Weather.

The release is timed to coincide with what would have been Sagan’s 75th birthday. He died in 1996 aged 62.

150 limited-edition ‘Cosmos Coloured Vinyl’ versions of the single will also be made, which includes an etching from the 1977 Voyager Golden Record that was sent into space.

“It goes without saying that the Voyager Golden Record is one of Third Man’s favourite releases of all-time”, said label big cheese Ben Blackwell.

But the single attracted mixed reactions from students yesterday.

“Stevie is the shining star in an otherwise bland song”, said Jon Crook, a second-year mathematician and Hawking enthusiast.

A Brief History of Time author Hawking, 67, suffers from neuro-muscular dystrophy and uses a voice synthesiser to communicate.

He stepped down from his role as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University last month after 30 years.

This is not the first time the Prof’s distinctive tones have inspired musicians: Radiohead famously used a similar effect on their track Fitter Happier.

Carl Sagan was an American astronomer and author who became world-famous for writing popular science books and presenting Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. He also wrote the novel Contact, the basis for the 1997 film of the same name.