"Quark, Strangeness and Charm" is a 1977 song by the UK rock group

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

, being the title track from the '' Quark, Strangeness and Charm'' album. The title references

quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei ...

s which are sub-atomic particles; "

strangeness In particle physics, strangeness (symbol ''S'') is a property of particles, expressed as a quantum number, for describing decay of particles in strong and electromagnetic interactions that occur in a short period of time. The strangeness of a ...

" and "

charm Charm or Charms may refer to: Arts and entertainment * The Charms, an American garage rock band * Otis Williams and the Charms, an American doo-wop group * The Charm (Bubba Sparxxx album), ''The Charm'' (Bubba Sparxxx album), 2006 * Charm (Danny! ...

" are playful terms used by physicists to refer to how many

strange Strange may refer to: Fiction * Strange (comic book), a comic book limited series by Marvel Comics * Strange (Marvel Comics), one of a pair of Marvel Comics characters known as The Strangers * Adam Strange, a DC Comics superhero * The title c ...

and

quarks are within a particle. The lyrics take a humorous look at certain famous physicists' romantic failures.

1977 single

It was released as a single in the UK (CB305) on 29 July 1977, being a slightly different version to the one on the album. Some European copies had a different B-side, such as Germany, which featured "The Iron Dream" instead. The single version was subsequently included on the 1980 ''

Repeat Performance ''Repeat Performance'' is a 1947 American film noir (with fantasy elements) starring Louis Hayward and Joan Leslie. The film was released by Eagle-Lion Films, directed by Alfred L. Werker, and produced by Aubrey Schenck. Plot On New Year's ...

'' compilation album. At the time Hawkwind shared the same management as

Marc Bolan Marc Bolan ( ; born Mark Feld; 30 September 1947 – 16 September 1977) was an English guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. He was a pioneer of the glam rock movement in the early 1970s with his band T. Rex (band), T. Rex. Bolan strongly i ...

and so were given a slot on the '' Marc''

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

programme to promote it. Dave Brock declined to appear, either being unwilling to drive to Manchester for the filming or holding a long time grudge against Bolan. For the pre-recording of the music on this show, Adrian Shaw played guitar while Robert Calvert mimed playing guitar during the filming.

Track listing

# "Quark, Strangeness and Charm" (Calvert/Brock) – 3:06 # "The Forge of Vulcan" (House) – 3:05

Personnel

Robert Calvert Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945 – 14 August 1988) was a South African-United Kingdom, British writer, poet, and musician. He is principally known for his role as lyricist, performance poet and lead vocalist of the space rock band Hawkwind ...

–

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

, percussion *

Dave Brock David Anthony Brock (born 20 August 1941) is an English musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the founder, the sole constant member and the musical focus of the space rock group Hawkwind.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

– Dave Brock biography Brock w ...

– electric lead and rhythm guitars *

Simon House Simon House (29 August 1948 – 25 May 2025) was an English composer and classically trained violinist and keyboard player, perhaps best known for his work with space rock band Hawkwind. Career Before his time with Hawkwind, House played in H ...

– acoustic and electric pianos * Adrian Shaw –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Simon King –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Credits

* Recorded at

Rockfield Studios Rockfield Studios is a residential recording studio located in the Wye Valley just outside the village of Rockfield, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was founded in 1963 by brothers Kingsley and Charles Ward. Recording studios Rockfield is a two-stu ...

, February 1977 * Produced by Hawkwind * Engineered by

Dave Charles David Charles is a British drummer, recording engineer & record producer. He often appears under both names on the same album, e.g. Help Yourself's ''The Return of Ken Whaley'', where Dave Charles is credited with drums and vocals Allmusic cre ...

Live versions

The song only briefly featured in Hawkwind's live set in 1977 with one recording surviving, released on both the '' Hawkwind Anthology'' and '' Weird Tape Volume 2'' albums. It was briefly resurrected at the end of 1993 for the tour of the '' It Is the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous'' album and remained until the end of 1994.

1994 EP

In 1994, Hawkwind recorded a new version of the song with significant rewriting of the music. This version was also included on the album ''

The Business Trip ''The Business Trip'' is a 1994 live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recor ...

''.

Track listing

#"Uncle Sam's on Mars" (Red Planet Radio Mix) – 2:43 #"Quark, Strangeness and Charm" (Calvert/Brock) – 6:24 #"Black Sun" – 9:34 #"Uncle Sam's on Mars" (Martian Conquest Mix) – 6:53

Personnel

*Dave Brock – guitar, vocals, keyboards, synthesisers *Alan Davey – bass guitar, vocals, synthesisers *Richard Chadwick – drums, percussion *Astralasia – remixes

Release history

*Sep 1994 – UK – Emergency Broadcast System Records – 12" vinyl (EBT 110) and CD (EBCD 110) *Nov 1994 – USA – Griffin – CD (GCD 312-2)

Other versions

A new acoustic version of "Quark, Strangeness and Charm" was included on '' The Road to Utopia'' (2018), produced and arranged by

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Batt created the novelty pop band T ...

with additional orchestrations.

Cover versions

The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1974. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 20 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the ...

Jean-Jacques Burnel Jean-Jacques Burnel (born 21 February 1952) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist and co-lead vocalist with the punk rock band the Stranglers. He is the only original member to remain in the band. Life and career Burnel perf ...

has long been an admirer of the song, stating it was "a song I'd really fucking wish I'd written". He has performed versions of the song with Three Men and Black.The Saga of Hawkwind, Carol Clerk, p. 176.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quark, Strangeness And Charm (Song) Hawkwind songs 1977 singles Songs written by Robert Calvert Songs written by Dave Brock 1977 songs Charisma Records singles 1994 EPs