Cosmogony

Cosmogony is a theory that attempts to explain the origins of the universe and human existence, and this haunting ballad finds Bjork singing about different traditions of how the universe came to be. Each verse is a separate creation story, from the "silver fox" of the Native American Miwoks who sung the world into existence to the Big Bang theory. The song was released on iTunes as a solo promo-single on July 19, 2011.

Björk was asked by StreetDate.Radio.com if this song came from her mind or whether she drew inspiration from other sources. She replied: "That particular sound, Cosmogony, I guess after watching documentaries about string theory, it was sort of a personal joke, maybe my sense of humor is local and a lot of people might not find it funny because they are talking about Big Bang being 20th Century and string theory being so 21st Century. Big Bang theory felt like a creation myth that is 100 years old. Me and my friends, probably after a few glasses of something, were sort of thinking 'I guess all creation myths at the time of their making were science.' I'll bet the pharaohs thought pyramids and mummies were the future – that was pretty science fiction. 3000 years later it is just mythology and the creation myth. In this song you have four verses. The first verse is the American native creation myth, next verse is Sanskrit creation myth, the third verse is Aboriginal creation myth and the fourth verse is Big Bang theory. But it is also tongue and cheek. It is Monty Python. I guess it doesn't translate as well in print."