chemistry songs
Carlton E Cross
suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
Carlton Cross cro...@wwc.edu
Walla Walla College
College Place, WA 99324
DavidB3401
writes:
>We're planning an open-house party for a college chemistry building. Any
>suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
Tom Lehrer, on his album "An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer," has a song
called "The Elements," in which he recites every element discovered up to
the date of the recording (1959), to a Gilbert & Sullivan tune. Worth
hearing.
David B
Charles Galt
: >suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
A great song, "Sodium Chloride", from -- I THINK -- a Kate and Ann
McGarrigle disc; don't have it here, but here are the words, if you can
find/make up a tune (it was sort of bluesy)
Just a little drop(atom) of chlorine, valence minus one
Swimming through the sea, diggin' the scene, just havin' fun
She's not worried about the shape or size of her outside shell --
it's fun to ionize!
Just a little atom of chlorine with an unfilled shell.
Somewhere in that sea lurks handsome sodium
With enough eletrons on his outside shell plus an extra one
"Somewhere in this deep blue sea, there a negative --
for my extra energy"
Yes somewhere in this foam, my positive will find a home!"
Then unsuspecting chlorine felt a magnetic pull
She looked down and her outside shell was full
Sodium cried "What a gas, be my bride,
And I'll change your name from chlorine to chloride!"
Now the sea evaporates to make the clouds for rain and snow
Leaving her chemical compounds in the absence of H2O
But the crystals that wash upon the shore are happy ones --
so if you never thought before,
Think of the love that you eat ... when you salt your meat!
Chuck
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Charles Galt, Professor Tel: 310-985-4808 |
| Department of Biological Sciences Fax: 310-985-2315 |
| California State University Internet: ga...@csulb.edu |
| 1250 Bellflower Boulevard Omnet: c.galt |
| Long Beach, CA 90840-3702, USA Finger: ga...@beach.csulb.edu|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomas D Bending
>suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
Maybe it's not strictly chemistry, but "First and Second Law", about the
Laws of Thermodynamics ("from the Greek 'thermos' meaning 'hot' ... if
you don't drop it") is fun. It was performed by Michael Flanders and
Donald Swann on one of their "At the drop of a[nother] hat" records, and
I think they wrote it though I could be wrong. Lyrics posted on request.
Thomas Bending JANET: t...@uk.ac.qmw.maths
<a href="http://www.maths.qmw.ac.uk/~tdb/homepage.html">WWW homepage</a>
A J Mestel
escapes me perform an anti-smoking song called "Polonium 240" on a recent
release. Jonathan
Geoff Walters
> We're planning an open-house party for a college chemistry building. Any
> suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
How about "Chemistry Class" by Elvis Costello from his album _Armed Forces_?
Geoff
Matthias M. Koehler
: writes:
: >We're planning an open-house party for a college chemistry building. Any
: >suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
Has anybody mentioned 'NaCl' by Kate and Anne McGarrigle already?
(Just a little atom of chlorine, valence minus one, ...)
It is on the album Pronto Monto from 1978
Have fun at that party,
Matthias
ALANA LEE BERRINGTON
>We're planning an open-house party for a college chemistry building. Any
>suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
Um.. I'm not sure I remember all of the words .. but I do remember
learning a FILK song once at some con somewhere ... Remember now.. I've
withdrawn from 1st year chem twice ... so I'm not really sure if this has
anything to do with chemistry
To the Tune of My Bonney Lies Over the Ocean:
Black Bodies
Black bodies give off radiation,
And ought to continuously
Black bodies give off radiation
And do it by Plank's theory
Bring Back
Brink Back
Oooohh bring back that old continuity
Brink back
bring back
OHhhh bring back Clerk Maxwell to me
I can't remember the other versers
Later
Lana Berrington
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Mary-Sue Haliburton
description of how salt is formed as a romance between male and female
humans. It's on the album Pronto Monto.
"Just a little atom of Clorine...she's not worried about that gap in her
outer shell.....
"Along comes handsome Sodium...with a full set of electrons PLUSTHAT EXTRA
ONE..."
They have a lot of other great stuff too.
--
The Jungle BBS -- Ottawa Canada (613) 241-8170
Mary-Sue Haliburton
But more apt is his song _The Elements_ which is the list of the chemical
elements sung to a tune by Sir Arthur Sullivan. It can be found on his
_An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer_ album.
Can this and other Lehrer albums still be found? I have not seen one, but a
few years ago I saw a delightful stage production featuring his songs sung
and acted out by three performers.
Tom Snider-Lotz
that has lyrics to many of his songs including, I think, the Periodic Table.
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-- Tom Tom Snider-Lotz / Atlanta, GA
also: tsnide...@rosedale.org
BOMBADIL (GEnie)
Yet Another Steve
Mary-Sue_...@jungle.achilles.net wrote:
> But more apt is his song _The Elements_ which is the list of the chemical
> elements sung to a tune by Sir Arthur Sullivan. It can be found on his
> _An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer_ album.
>
> Can this and other Lehrer albums still be found? I have not seen one, but a
> few years ago I saw a delightful stage production featuring his songs sung
> and acted out by three performers.
At least a couple of them are available on CD -- just saw them a week or
so ago at Tower, in the "comedy" section.
Steve
gabler
> Cross) writes:
> We're planning an open-house party for a college chemistry building.
> Any suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
How about 'Big Science (un, deux, trois)' from the album
'Les cathedrales de l'industie' by Malicorne?
The text is in french but it is really chemistry!
The titlesong is also an ironic ode (?) for progress in society
(half french half english) Have a nice party!
greetings,
Paul
... One can never have too many trombones.... (Del Futrell)
Ralph Sterling
>We're planning an open-house party for a college chemistry building. Any
>suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
Oog, you reminded me that I helped perpetrate a chemsong back in high school
days that somebody transcribed and stuck in the yearbook (to shame guilty
parties at reunions, no doubt). Since your request dragged me down memory
lane, I figured you deserve to share the consequences.
To the tune of Silver Bells:
Silver nitrate, copper sulfate,
Potassium chloride on the side
It's beginning to smell a lot like Chemistry
Poison chemicals, broken crucibles,
And a cork in the air
And above all the barking you hear
Chemistry, chemistry
We sure do miss dear old Tony
Chemistry, chemistry
PV = nRT
btw - dear old Tony had been our Physics teacher the year before. We didn't
appreciate him properly 'til we saw what came after.
Linda Mattson
Tom Lehrer wrote a song called The Elements which, if I remember
correctly, is the entire periodic table (although a new verse needs to be
added, since this was in the late 50s I think). Still, it is quite the
tongue twister!
I knew a guy once who had this thing memorized!
Edie Gale Hays
: > But more apt is his song _The Elements_ which is the list of the chemical
: > _An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer_ album.
: >
: > Can this and other Lehrer albums still be found?
Three Tom Lehrer cds are available from Reprise
REVISITED #9 26203-2
THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS #6179-2
AN EVENING WASTED WITH TOM LEHRER #6199-2
I ordered them recently through the WIRELESS catalog.
Edie
A J Mestel
"Polonium 210" Performed on "almost commercially viable" by "No spring
chickens", consisting of Peggy Seeger and another whose name I shamefully
cannot recall. Jonathan
Lawrence P. Casson
Linda Mattson <lind...@netcom.com> wrote:
>
>Tom Lehrer wrote a song called The Elements which, if I remember
>correctly, is the entire periodic table (although a new verse needs to be
>added, since this was in the late 50s I think). Still, it is quite the
>tongue twister!
>
>I knew a guy once who had this thing memorized!
>
Was his name Bob by any chance?
Dearg Doom
> But more apt is his song _The Elements_ which is the list of the
chemical
> elements sung to a tune by Sir Arthur Sullivan. It can be found on his
> _An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer_ album.
>
> Can this and other Lehrer albums still be found? I have not seen one,
but a
> few years ago I saw a delightful stage production featuring his songs
sung
> and acted out by three performers.
Subsequently, In article
<steve_hoffmann-...@shoffman.sdd.trw.com>,
steve_h...@qmail4.trw.sp.com (Yet Another Steve) writes:
::At least a couple of them are available on CD -- just saw them a week or
::so ago at Tower, in the "comedy" section.
The song "The Elements" can be found on "An Evening Wasted With Tom
Lehrer," (Reprise 6199). Others available include "That Was The Year That
Was" (Reprise 6179) and "Tom Lehrer Revisited" (Reprise 26203), which
features two bonus tracks from the Electric Company television show ("L-Y"
and "Silent E"). They should be available at any decent record store, if
not in the bins, at least by special order. Happy hunting.
Robin E. Baylor
(Check out alt.music.filk for the address of Unlikely Publications)
The elements, the elements
Their names just don't make any sense!
I think it goes through most of the periodic table, including
the symbols.
(You will search in vein for gold, for I won't tell you "Au")
--
It's none of your business what my .sig says
REB
Tim Parker
>>We're planning an open-house party for a college chemistry building. Any
>>suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
This also reminds me of a song Michael Cooney used to do (still does??) to
the tune of the 12 days of Christmas. If I remember right, 'demi' is a
teaching assistant... I don't remember much of it - perhaps someone else
in net-land can come up with the rest??
The first time I made it up the demi said to me
there's one metal more in group three
-----
I'm very fuzzy on the rest of them - I remember that the fifth is
'no chloride' - others include (in no particular order)
try another mixture
what was that explosion?
it ends with a simple 'go take up physics.'
--
Tim Parker - Litchfield, New Hampshire, USA
internet: t...@mv.mv.com
voice: (603) 424-3136 - machine answers all calls
fax: (603) 429-1404 - call (voice) first - not always on
Not affiliated with MV Communications - just a satisfied customer
Richard Mortyn Sims Turner
Okay, you asked for it.
"Elements"
There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium,
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium,
And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium,
And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.
There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium,
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium,
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,
And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium.
There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium,
And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium,
And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium.
And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, plutonium,
Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,
And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,
And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.
There's sulfur, californium, and fermium, berkelium,
And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium,
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc, and rhodium,
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin, and sodium.
These are the only ones of which the news has come to Ha'vard,
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discavard.
More of his songs can be found on Mono (telnet ne.city)
Martyn
The sharks they played melodians.
MOOH
re...@indiana.edu (Frank Reid) writes:
Haven't seen this update before. Was this written by Tom Lehrer or other
elves trying to keep the song current?
Frank Reid
> We're planning an open-house party for a college chemistry building. Any
> suggestions of songs about chemistry or chemists?
is "Hexyldimethylaminobenzaldehyde" (sp?) to the tune of "Irish Washerwoman,"
for which, alas, I don't have the words. Someone on alt.music.filk could
probably help. Both these songs take a while to memorize. :-)
Here's an update for the last verse of T. Lehrer's Elements, which
incudes a few more:
...Californium, cadmium, calcium and chromium and curium.
There's sulfur, rutherfordium * and fermium, berkelium,
Mendelevium, einsteinium, lawrencium, nobelium.
...
(*) formerly known as kurchatovium.
--
Frank re...@ucs.indiana.edu
David Kassover
>
>"The Elements" by Tom Lehrer is a classic. My other favorite chemistry song
>is "Hexyldimethylaminobenzaldehyde" (sp?) to the tune of "Irish Washerwoman,"
>for which, alas, I don't have the words. Someone on alt.music.filk could
>probably help. Both these songs take a while to memorize. :-)
There's only one word, and it is
Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde.
For this, we have another (unfortunately, now late as well as
emeritus) professor, of BioChemistry, Isaac Asimov.
--
David Kassover "Proper technique helps protect you against
RPI BSEE '77 MSCSE '81 sharp weapons and dull judges."
kass...@aule-tek.com F. Collins
kass...@ra.crd.ge.com
Cheryl L Perkins
Maybe I have missed something, but has no one mentioned the song by Kate
and Anna McGarrigle (not sure of spelling of last name) about the
spell-binding romance between negative and positive ions?
-- Cheryl Perkins
cper...@calvin.stemnet.nf.ca
Mary-Sue Haliburton
Maybe I have missed something, but has no one mentioned the song by Kate
and Anna McGarrigle (not sure of spelling of last name) about the
spell-binding romance between negative and positive ions?
-- Cheryl Perkins
cper...@calvin.stemnet.nf.ca
I did some time ago but don't know if the message got routed out properly
from here. Song is on album Pronto Monto, by these two artists.
Scott Dorsey
: In article <19940928150946.reid@frank_reid.electronics.indiana.edu> re...@indiana.edu (Frank Reid) writes:
: >
: >"The Elements" by Tom Lehrer is a classic. My other favorite chemistry song
: >is "Hexyldimethylaminobenzaldehyde" (sp?) to the tune of "Irish Washerwoman,"
: >for which, alas, I don't have the words. Someone on alt.music.filk could
: >probably help. Both these songs take a while to memorize. :-)
: There's only one word, and it is
: Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde.
: For this, we have another (unfortunately, now late as well as
: emeritus) professor, of BioChemistry, Isaac Asimov.
Actually, there are other lyrics to it, as well. I don't recall the whole
set, but it includes the following verse:
Whisky, tequila and rum are too tame,
No, the stuff that I drink must explode into flame
When I breathe, and dissolve all the paint in the room
As it rattles the ground with an earth-shaking boom.
Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde
Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde
Paradimethylaminobenzaldehyde
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
Janet Rosoff Encarnacion
Janet Rosoff Encarnacion
Songbook", (a songbook of biochemical pathways put to traditional
British tunes, such as the citric acid cycle put to the tune of
Waltzing Matilda) I dug up the info and am posting it in case
anyone else is interested:
The Biochemists' Songbook
by Harold Baum
published by Pergamon Press in 1982
ISBN 0-08-027370-X
I have not checked to see if it is currently still in print
and the last time I purchased a copy was in 1990.
However if it is not still in print you might be able to
track it down from the same place where you can purchase the
cassette (again this information was good as of 1990):
Professor Harold Baum
Department of Biochemistry
Chelsea College
Manresa Road
London SW3 6LX
in 1990 the cassette plus shipping and handling cost
5 British Pounds (don't know how to make that character)
in the United Kingdom
6.50 B.P. (or $10) for other European countries
7.50 B.P. (or $11) for the rest of the world
the cheque should be payable to "Metabolic Melodies"
In 1990 the songbook cost $9.00 I think.
Janet
Janet Rosoff Encarnacion
know if I'm being repetitious. this is also the first time I've
ever tried follow-up posting and I'm new to news (although I've tried
to read all the FAQS this is part of my first practical experience)
so I apologize for any mistakes.
I don't think this quite falls under folk songs but they ARE
chemistry songs and both handy and funny.
"The Biochemists' Songbook" by Harold Baum with forword by Sir Hans Krebs
(there's also a an audio tape you can order) has songs of al the biochemical
pathways written to traditional British tunes.
example: Waltz Around the Cycle (tune: Waltzing Matilda)
Once a jolly pyruvate enters the matrix
Of a mitochondrion so they say,
A decarboxylating, complex dehydrogenase
converts it to acetyl co-enzyme A
Waltz around the cycle
Waltz around the cycle
Waltz around the TCA cycle today
A decarboxylating, complex dehydrogenase
Turns pyruvate to acetyl CoA
Oxaloacetate looking for a partner
Thinks "active acetate" looks OK;
Condensing enzyme arranging a merger
Makes a new citrat and kicks out CoA
Waltz around the cycle etc.
if interested and this is not redundant let
me know and I'll dig up the ordering/publishing info.
Janet