“In March 1953 an organization known as the International Flying Saucer Bureau sent a bulletin to all its members urging them to participate in an experiment termed ‘World Contact Day’ whereby, on March 15 at a predetermined time, they would attempt to collectively send out a telepathic message to visitors from outer space. The message began with the words…’Calling occupants of interplanetary craft!'”
Apparently, no one replied.
But the old news story inspired a Canadian band to form with the peculiar name of Klaatu. The group name came from the science-fiction classic 1951 film “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” in which the immortal phrase “Klaatu Barada Nikto” is uttered to stop the robot Gort from destroying the earth after the humanoid Klaatu (Michael Rennie) is shot and (temporarily) killed. Obviously, Ringo Starr copped the imagery for his 1974 album, which helped fuel the rumor that Klaatu was really the Beatles.
In the mid-1970s, Klaatu wrote and recorded the song Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day), or Calling Occupants on the label. Here’s a verse:
Please come in peace we beseech you
Only a landing will teach them
Our earth may never survive
So do come we beg you
Please interstellar policemen
Won’t you give us a sign
Give us a sign that we’ve reached you
And here’s a link to the single. 
The song was covered by the Carpenters(!), who took it to #32 in the US charts in 1977.
Coincidentally, two both Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977, each with a golden phonograph record designed to “contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or for future humans, who may find them.”
There are, of course, plenty of movies of visitors from another planet; here’s somebody’s top 10 list. Conversely, the 50th anniversary of an Earth human actually going out into space is this month.
As we know more about the universe, it becomes increasingly doubtful, at least to me, that there isn’t intelligent life SOMEWHERE out there. Although I was a bit distressed by the fact that 1/3 of the Russians and 1/5 of the Americans on THIS planet believe the sun goes around the earth. Oy.
Interesting Roger! I wish if we will ever find such a disk from extraterrestial life!
Thanks for your visit to Oxfam! Have a great week!
Correction! Interesting Roger. I wonder if we ever find such a disc from extraterrestial life.! Have a great week
Whoa! Like this is like cool, man! The sun doesn’t revolve around Earth? Man, that’s news! lol
Enjoyed that. A subject I’ve researched a lot, and written about in fact and fiction.
How do you know all this stuff? Love that song Calling occupants…didn’t David Bowie sing that song too?? Now I need to go investigate this crazy idea about the sun.
I liked your outer space post. If I were from another planet I’d steer clear of humans.
Great post Roger. Pretty arrogant if we were to think we are alone in this vast universe.
Love your comment, Leslie….
Well, Roger, I have never heard the song or this information before, but then again, I’m not into outer space whatevers.
As Carver said, if I were from outer space, I’d steer clear of Ringo Starr. Or something like that.
Seriously, it’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years since the first human visited space. I remember it as if it were yesterday.
Sigh.
Great stuff, Roger. I always enjoy your posts.
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel
Occupants in outer space-pretty obscure! Always educational and an entertaining stop here with you!
Great post for the day, Roger, as always. I tend to agree with Carver!! Humans have made a pretty big mess of our planet!!! Hope your week is going well!
Sylvia
ABC Team
WOW As usual GREAT post. Where do you find this stuff? It’s great…and where are these guys now? What might aliens think of us as they see these ‘very ’70’s’ guys…LOL. I just love your posts. Thanks
PS regarding your post to me: I love what you’re doing with your daughter. Creating original sentences with vocabulary words is a great skill. One thing I did to help my students: Each week we met and talking about our favorite sentence of the week. It could be from anything read, said, sung, heard. Kind of helps kids appreciate the power of the word.
Talk again soon and thanks,
Meryl
I had forgotten about this song… thanks for taking me back!
Could the 1/3 of the Russians and 1/5 of the Americans who believe the sun revolves around the earth really be aliens having a good laugh? It’s almost impossible to believe that so many Earthlings are so ignorant. Hmmm.
Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying
I suppose since the Creator of the Universe was responsible for Earth and everything on it, life outside our solar system could have been created as well. 😉 I do find it odd that with all our advanced technology, we’ve never discovered any other life forms for certain. The earth revolving around the sun? Holy Galileo, Batman!
So you mean I really can get beamed back up?
Jane x
Hello fellow earthling. Only 40,000 years before Voyager reaches another planetary system. Wonder what earth will be like then, and how far we will have travelled in space. Obviously when the dilithium crystals have created warp drive:-)
It all sounds so immature, but I suppose we felt less lonely then. I think they’re ‘out there’ but we’ll have destroyed ourselves long before we’ll ever know. Sad.
Interesting post!
I agree with Carver. I’d avoid us like the plague. 🙂 Surely an interesting post, as always.
This is very cool!!! Thanks for the visit!
ABC Wednesday
Outstanding information! 🙂
ha ha, that was an interesting post! good thing i blog-hopped today 😉
O is Overcrowded
I wish our society was far enough advanced so that we could make contact with other life forms.
These is quite an information Roger, thanks a lot for sharing.
that was oh so wonderful!
Very interesting information.
It’s the Carpenters I immediately thought of when I first saw the title and image of this post 🙂 And thanks for the new(to me) info on Ringo Starr’s link to it.
As I start to look more and more like an ET with the age, it’s only normal to me that the sun turns around the earth ! How is it possible that you don’t believe that ??
nyahaha..you made me think if the sun turns around the Earth or the Earth turns around the sun…tsk..tsk…too much blogging, made me sick.
Thanks for dropping by Roger.
I wish we knew now . . . I hate not knowing. What came before the Big Bang? Was there ever a time when there was no time, when there was nothing – and how could we be sure?? Too many questions, too few answers.
Must be the same people who believe the earth is 6,000 years old. Yeah, baby.
Oh My! This was an interesting post! I’ve got to go read some more of your blog. Thanks for stopping by to say hello today. Candace
What an interesting post! Always love to see what you choose each week!
Interesting post! Amazing the variety of information you offer…..
Loved the sentence “Apparently, no one replied.” 🙂