Alfred Beach is an odd source to inspire a song.
Klaatu was always an obscure at best Canadian band. Their biggest hit. Calling Occupants (of interplanetary craft), was clearly destined to be a novelty song. It was from their first album, 3:47 E.S.T.
One of their songs that I've always liked without understanding the lyrics, has been Sub Rosa Subway. Well, much to my surprise, one of the lessons I'm teaching next week is about the same topic as that song.
To whit, Alfred Beach, publisher of Scientific American, decided that New York City needed a subway system, and that he was going to build it. But, the city didn't want it. So he built it in secret! Even stranger, instead of being an underground train or horse and buggy, it was a pneumatic tube.
The whole project turned out to be unsustainable, and the underground, with it's two grand stations, closed and fell into obscurity. Every once in a while, there will be references to it in movies or TV shows. The Wikipedia article linked below does a good job of cataloguing most of them.
Oh, and Klaatu eventually released five albums before disappearing. Just checking with Wikipedia. Apparently Klaatu aren't as obscure as I thought. there was a "KlaatuKon," a whole convention dedicated to them, in 2005. Wow.
