Poem Rocket cymbal and guitar loops. The twelve-minute "Levy 9 R.S.V.P." appears to be about the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in 1994; the line "If it hits us, say I told you so/ No regrets" is repeated several times with increasing urgency. After an extended crescendo, it concludes with a whispered line about "fragmentary guests... deep in the dense layers of hydrogen." "Bataille" is apparently about controversial philosopher Georges Bataille. Poem Rocket's national (and/or international) touring history is uncertain, though they were known to play frequently around the New York City area in the 1990s at avant-garde music clubs
Lexell's Comet The comet was also noted by several other astronomers. The comet was observed in Japan. Surviving records identify it as an astronomical and historical phenomenon. It was observed in the Hejaz in Safar 1184 AH (June 1770), where some believed it to be the comet predicted by the poet al-Fasi, portending future events. On July 1, 1770, the comet passed 0.015 astronomical units from Earth, or approximately 6 times the radius of the Moon's orbit. Charles Messier measured the coma as 2° 23' across, around four times the apparent angular size of the Moon. An English astronomer at the time