I have been listening to Aerial, the new album from Kate Bush, and it just gets better with every hearing.

One of my favourite tracks is "Pi":

"a sentimental ode to a mathematician, audacious in both subject matter and treatment. The chorus is the number sung to many, many decimal places." - Observer Review

But something kept nagging me about the song. Was Kate really singing Pi to 150 decimal places?

I got hold of the lyrics and checked them against an online version of Pi. All was well for the first 53 decimal places but then Kate sang "threeeeee oneeeee" when she should have sang "zeeeeeeerooo" instead. She recovered for the next 24 digits but then it went to hell in a handbasket when she missed out the next 22 digits completely before finishing with a precise rendition of her final 37 digits.

It may seem a bit pedantic to make a fuss but if you are going to sing Pi then you should make an effort to get it right.

"Sweet and gentle and sensitive man

With an obsessive nature and deep fascination for numbers

And a complete infatuation with the calculation of PI Oh he love, he love, he love

He does love his numbers

And they run, they run, they run him

In a great big circle

In a circle of infinity"

If Simon Singh can get Katie Melua to re-record her song because of a error about the age of the universe then maybe I can get Kate to re-record Pi.

Real Pi: 3.

1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510

5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679

8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359408128

Kate Bush Pi: 3.

1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510

58231974944 5923078164 06286208

8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223

In case anyone is worried about the accuracy of the published lyrics I did check the audio against the published lyrics and can confirm that they are the same.

And yes I know that I am a bit sad.

[Update 14th March 2006 - Just added another pi related rant.]