Member-only story
We Are Stardust!! We Are Golden!!
It’s Not Just a Song
What was the first song that revealed people had materials from stars in them?
ChatGPT-4
The first song to popularize the concept that humans and other elements on Earth are made of materials from stars is “Woodstock,” written by Joni Mitchell. This song, famously covered by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, contains the line “We are stardust, we are golden,” which poetically expresses the idea that the elements within our bodies were formed in stars. The concept itself is rooted in astronomy and astrophysics and is often attributed to Carl Sagan, who popularized the idea that “we are made of star stuff” in his book “Cosmos” and the accompanying TV series. However, Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” released in 1970, brought this concept to a wider, more general audience through the medium of music before Sagan’s “Cosmos” in 1980.
Can you check to see if Joni Mitchell is still alive? I think she is.
ChatGPT-4
