Ultra-Powerful Short Wave Radio Picks Up Music From Venus

(album: Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo - 1996)

He loved to listen to sports from Spain
Newscasts from Nebraska
Mariachi music from Mexico
And weather reports from Alaska

He heard talk shows in Texas and Tennessee
And a ballgame in Baltimore
But one night he listened to something strange
That he'd never heard before

He turned the volume all the way up
Until it hissed and it crackled and popped
A few minutes later he turned it off
And his ears rang after it stopped

He scratched his head and rubbed his eyes
Then a grin spread across his face
Somehow he figured that what he had heard
Was coming from outer space

The song was sincere and simple
But it lacked any wit or charm
It sounded a lot like a cross between
A drill and a burglar alarm

It might have been music from Venus
That he listened to that night
But I think it was probably the static you hear
When your radio's not tuned in right