Forget your post-punk rarities and jazz-fusion reissues – no Record Store Day crate-haul is complete without the great physicist’s limited-edition comedy cover single. Have a listen and let us know what you think

Tidal may have enlisted a crack team of influential superpowers for its world exclusives, but there’s one musical behemoth Jay Z overlooked when drawing up his musical illuminati list: Professor Stephen Hawking.

The famous physicist follows his recent Pink Floyd cameo with a cover of Monty Python’s Galaxy Song for this year’s Record Store Day. The track was originally sung by Eric Idle. Written by Idle and John Du Prez for the 1983 film Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life, the concept behind the rerecorded version of the Galaxy Song first arrived during the comedy troupe’s reunion shows, where Hawking appeared alongside Professor Brian Cox during a short video skit. It’s now being released as a limited-edition 7in single on 18 April, with Hawking adding an authoritative spin on this classic – if somewhat scientifically inaccurate – theory of the universe. Watch the exclusive video below:

As well as the track, the classic 1980s arcade game Asteroids has been revamped and taken over by Monty Python and Stephen Hawking, with its central spaceship – replaced by “a rocket propelled, heavily armed Stephen Hawking” – who must destroy the asteroids, which are now the heads of each of the Pythons.



There are just 1,000 physical copies of the song available for Record Store Day, but fans of the song can purchase a digital version from 13 April.

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