**Before reading further, listen to [this clip](https://archive.org/details/star-nonsense-intro-02) and decide what you hear. (You can also listen to a version with noise reduction [here](https://archive.org/details/star-nonsense-intro-di2).)** *MAN: ...and disciplinary remains mercifully. WOMAN: Yes, and, and I'm with you, Derek, this star nonsense... MAN: Yes, yes WOMAN: Now what is it? MAN: Hm, I'm sure that-* _(Note: this is one commonly heard interpretation.)_ That odd bit of dialogue (or something like it) appears at the beginning of a classic Pink Floyd song, "Wish You Were Here", from the album of the same name. I call it "the snippet." I probably listened to it a hundred times without thinking too much about it. One day it struck me just how strange that clip was. What was it? Radio drama? A talk show? Who were these people that were talking about "disciplinary remains mercifully" and "star nonsense", and why? After a quick search, I realized that no one else knew either, and an obsession was born. This is a site for analyzing the snippet. Despite years of speculation, there is still no definitive answer as to what it is or where it came from. It's known by a couple of names. Some call it “Disciplinary Remains Mercifully”, after a common transcription of a phrase that appears at the beginning. Others call it “Star Nonsense”, after two words that most people hear in the middle. I am trying to find the source of the spoken section of the snippet. ## ...Where We Came In * [[History of my search]]: What have I done so far? ## Main Sequence 1. [[Mystery]]: The mystery of the Star Nonsense segment 2. [[Star Search]]: The search so far 3. [[Candidates]]: Our best candidates for the spoken segment 4. [[Conclusion]]: I try to wrap things up and sound intelligent ## Topics To Explore * [[Finding Tchaikovsky]]: Looking for the classical segment * [[Derek]]: Should we be looking for him? * [[Spectral Evidence]]: Looking at the signal * [[Transcripts and Phonetic Analysis]]: What does the Star Nonsense segment actually say? * [[One Piece Or Several]]: Was this recorded all at once, or edited together? * [[Joke Hypothesis]]: Was this all made up? * [[Candidate List]]: A list of some people and programs proposed for the source of the spoken segment * [[Scanning Segment]]: What's that part at the beginning? * [[The Wobbles]]: Does Speaker B have trouble remembering Derek? * [[Comparing Voices]]: How do I decide who sounds like who? * [[Glossary]]: What some of these words mean