SelenaLion Selenelion

Summary

Written for the total lunar eclipse of March 3, 2026 (Australian Eastern Daylight Time), this song celebrates the rare selenelion — the optical phenomenon where atmospheric refraction allows a simultaneous view of the eclipsed Moon and the rising or setting Sun, despite both being below the geometric horizon. The form is a WWII instructional film parody crossed with big-band comedy: a deadpan Narrator delivers mandatory information while the ensemble provides educational entertainment. Along the way the song digresses into lycanthropy, Kilimanjaro, Selenium (element 34, sulfur's cousin), and a tender birthday verse for Joan, turning 88 that day, who plays recorder with George.

Lyrics

ATTENTION please, ladies and gentlemen:
Tonight we observe a phenomenon of celestial incomprehensibility.
Do not panic.
Do not howl unnecessarily.

[Verse 1 (Training Film Voiceover + Band) NARRATOR (over snare and muted brass)]
You may be told it's "impossible" to see the Sun and Moon at once,
Yet the sky is fond of loopholes when the air gets in the way.
The atmosphere bends light, like paperwork bending rules,
And for a brief, instructive window, both horizons have their say.

[SUNG (crooner + chorus, jaunty):]
So if you spot the Moon in shadow, and dawn (or dusk) also shown,
Congratulations, citizen: your eyeballs have been loaned
A little lift by refraction, a half-degree of fate,
A selenelion slipping through the geometry gate.

[Chorus (Big, silly, memorable)]
[ALL:]
Se-le-na-lion se-len-el-ion!
Two horizons, one occasion!
If a lion's watching too,
It's a selenelionlion…
(try saying that in formation!)

[TAG (spoken, deadpan):]
"Information is optional.
Enunciation is not."

[Verse 2 - SUNG (clear, bulletin-style, like a public notice set to music)]
To-night, Tuesday the Third of March, the Moon goes ruddy-red!
Totality from 10:04 pm till 11:02 pm, they said,
And peaking at 10:33 with that copper-coloured glow,
So finish your tea, then step outside, and let the night-light flow.

[NARRATOR (quick aside, clipped)]
"Times are for Australian Eastern Daylight Time and are approximate.
Amazement is mandatory.
Howling is optional"

[Verse 3 (The Subtle Snark / Lycanthropy Thread)]
[SUNG (minor key, playful menace kept on a leash):]
There's talk in back-row whispers, in the canteen's smoky sheen,
Of "the last rays of the setting moon" and what that might have meant.
Not a curse, not quite a claw-mark, just a lycanthropic line,
As though the night had teeth… then smiled, and called it fine.

[NARRATOR spoken, dry, conspiratorial]
"Should you feel an urge to become folklore, consult your nearest mirror."

[Verse 4 (Kilimanjaro Daydream + Serengeti Lion Cutaway) SUNG (cinematic widen):]
Some will climb Kilimanjaro, above the plains' long night,
High where stars look nearer, and the air tastes lightly of life,
While down in grass-cathedrals, a lion lifts his head,
And watches Earth's own shadow paint the Moon a war-time red.

[CHORUS (whispered, like a secret password):]
Selenalionselenelion… Selena lion selenelion…
Selenalionselenelion… (Selena lion) selenelion…

[Bridge (Periodic Table & Band Personnel Roster)]
[NARRATOR (American, upbeat, WWII instructional tone):]
"Now class, meet Selenium, element thirty-four.
Sulfur's cousin. Same neighborhood. Different shoes. Essential to life, even a bit toxic, but sure to make very smelly emissions!"

[ALL (chant):]
Se! Se! Se! (hi-hat ticks like a Geiger counter that found jazz)

[Instrumental - Strip back to plunger-muted brass and soft brushes + gentle oboe, with soft portamento harmonies from the choir]

[Verse 5 - (Joan's Verse, Warm and True)]
[SUNG (tender, not syrupy):]
And here's to Joan, turning eighty-eight today,
With George, and recorder bandmates keeping lovely time in eight.
May your notes be bright as moonrise, your breath as calm as dawn,
And may your birthday make the night feel kindly, safely worn.

[NARRATOR (soft)]
"Happy birthday, Joan!" (Chocolate!? why not!)

[drop]

[Final Chorus (Bigger, Brassier, Victory-Poster Ending)]
Se-le-na-lion-se-le-ne-lion! (se-len-el-ion)
Brief horizon conjunction!
Moon in umbra, Sun in sight,
Thanks to air's refraction…
For one to three minutes of instruction!

[OUTRO (Recorders reprise + oboe salute):]
[Recorders play the opening motif again, brighter. Oboe holds one noble note like a lighthouse beam. Projector clatters, then stops.]

[NARRATOR (final):]
"This concludes the announcement.
Go outside. Look up.
And if you see a lion, that is just Selena Lion at Selenelion!"

Detail

The song operates in two modes simultaneously: genuine astronomical instruction and elaborate comic apparatus that makes the instruction more memorable. The Narrator's asides function as deadpan metadata — "Times are for Australian Eastern Daylight Time and are approximate. Amazement is mandatory. Howling is optional" — parodying the disclaimers of public information films while actually delivering the information. The chorus ("Se-le-na-lion se-len-el-ion!") is designed to be nonsensical enough to lodge in memory.

The title unpacks into three overlapping references: selenelion (the astronomical phenomenon), Selena (the moon goddess, root of "selenium" via Greek selēnē), and lion (both the African animal in verse 4 and a phonetic joke — "selenelion" contains "lion"). The Selenium digression is not merely a pun: Selenium (Se, element 34) was named after Selene because it was discovered alongside tellurium (named for Earth), so the pun has etymological depth. The hi-hat that "ticks like a Geiger counter that found jazz" is a good example of the song's wit density.

The verse for Joan (turning 88 on March 3, 2026) is the emotional centre of the song, though it arrives late and briefly. The surrounding comedy makes the birthday dedication more affecting by contrast — warm, specific, personal. "May your notes be bright as moonrise, your breath as calm as dawn" is the one moment of unironic lyricism in an otherwise entirely comic piece. Joan plays recorder with George ("and recorder bandmates keeping lovely time in eight" — i.e., in 8/8, matching her age).

The Kilimanjaro verse is the song's most cinematic stretch: it pulls the frame from suburban tea-cup to mountaintop to Serengeti grassland, with a lion watching the eclipse from below. This is the point where "selenelion" and "Selena Lion" converge spatially — a lion at selenelion is a Selena-Lion at a selenelion. The comedy is structural.

The song is a companion to the SOTD tradition of event-specific works written for specific occasions — see also SelenaLion Selenelion (this song) alongside birthday or event-specific pieces elsewhere in the canon.

Cross-references

Song of the Day (album)