‘Copenhagen’ was inspired by the meeting between quantum physicist Niels Bohr and his friend and former student Werner Heisenberg in September 1941 in Copenhagen.

The content of this conversation was disputed. Heisenberg was a German scientist leading the Nazi state's atomic research programme. Bohr was a Danish scientist of Jewish heritage in an occupied country.

There is no surviving documentation from the time about the content of the meeting. In 1956 Heisenberg wrote a letter to a journalist claiming that he intended to discuss moral concerns about nuclear weapons. Bohr denied this and claimed that Heisenberg was happy to work on the atomic bomb for Germany.

Was Heisenberg trying to get Bohr's help in making an atomic weapon? Or was he seeking moral advice? Or absolution? Or trying to get information to the Allies? Did he even know himself what he was trying to achieve? Complicating this is the likelihood that either or both men may have been under surveillance, and may have been aware of this.

The uncertainty around this meeting in Copenhagen between the architects of the Uncertainty Principle in quantum physics remains unresolved.

This meeting was the subject of Michael Fryan's play 'Copenhagen'.

"A disputed conversation
Between old friends
A handful of words
Well, times have changed
Who are you?

I used to think I knew you
My friend, we unlocked the world together
Do you understand
What you've said to me?
Who are you?

I used to think I knew you
My friend, we changed the world together
Do you understand
What you've said to me?
Do you?

I knew you in the abstract
When we were battling equations
When you thought we were above the 'trivial things'
Who are you?

I used to think I knew you
My friend we changed the world together
Do you understand
What you've said to me?
Do you?

And you deny the words, the observation
That changed who you are in my world
Maybe we never know anyone
Until we do, but I wish I knew
If you were lying to yourself as well

We killed the dream of limitless perfection
With uncaused effect
Uncertain foundations

We precisely ended certainty
We burned away the props
Revealed uncomfortable reality
I don't know

A disputed conversation
Between old friends"

Music by Malcolm Galloway and Mark Gatland
Lyrics by Malcolm Galloway
Performed by Malcolm Galloway (vocals, guitars, keyboards, synths, producer, mastering) and Mark Gatland (bass guitar, additional keyboards, vocal engineer, co-producer) 
(c) Malcolm Galloway / Mark Gatland / Glass Castle Recordings

After the fairly thematically intense A-side, we thought a little light relief might be appropriate. ‘Safe When Handled As Directed’ is a very playful instrumental, featuring lots of Hammond organ and brass.

The title is reference to Philip K Dick's Ubik.