Sound-but-Not-Heard-0.mp3
Sound-but-Not-Heard-0.mp4
Sound-but-Not-Heard-I.mp3
Sound-but-Not-Heard-I.mp4
Sound-but-Not-Heard-intro.mp3
[Intro]
Have I found the sound…
(How absurd it can’t be heard?!?!)
[Verse 1]
Eighteen-sixty
(Seems like an eternity)
Two thousand and eight
(Seems a bit late)
Sound (but not heard)
[Bridge]
(Ah, ha) Ah ha
What a fate
(Ah, ha) Ah ha
Play me the tune
“Au Clair de la Lune”
[Chorus]
Have we found the sound
(The word: it can be heard)
Bound to come back round
(And heard by the herd)
[Verse 2]
Oh, oh don’t you know
Oldest surviving audio
A hundred years
To play to cheers
(Sound is found)
[Bridge]
(Ah, ha) Ah ha
Wipe your tears
(Ah, ha) Ah ha
Play me the tune
“Au Clair de la Lune”
[Chorus]
Have we found the sound
(The word: it can be heard)
Bound to come back round
(And heard by the herd)
[Outro]
What a fate
Better late
(Than never ever)
A SCIENCE NOTE
First Known Recording of Sound (Not Playable Until Later)
Year: 1860
Device: Phonautograph
Inventor: Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (France)
Recording: A snippet of “Au Clair de la Lune”, a French folk song.
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This was the first known recording of the human voice and music.
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BUT — it wasn’t intended to be played back! The phonautograph was designed to visually transcribe sound waves onto paper.
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Incredibly, in 2008, scientists used computers to digitally decode and play back that 1860 recording.
So technically, this is the oldest surviving audio of music — even though it wasn’t heard until over a century later.