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Science Songs as MP3
oll writes: "Swedish state radio (P1) had a feature a couple of days ago about science songs. There are about 80 diffrent mp3's about nature, space, physics and meteorology. Real good for children and a good laugh for everybody else. Do you know what rhymes with 'atomic energy'?"
No doubt, the brilliant effort of Tom Lehrer.
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I don't want to rule the world... I just want to be in charge of mayonnaise.
I mean no disrespect, but honestly, how hard is it to rhyme elements when half of them end in "ium" anyway?
There are actually two versions of their cover; one is the album version, which pretty much sounds like the original, and one is a live version, that is a true rockfest. You've never heard solar fusion explained until you've heard it explained to the sound of a really rippin' electric guitar!
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I'm not a real anonymous coward, I just play one on TV.
The ULTIMATE in science oriented songs is to be found at MC Hawking's Crib. Yes, little did you know that everyone's wheelchair bound astrophysicist, Steven Hawking, is in reality a rap star on the side. His works have to be heard to be believed. To give you a flavor of what we're taling about, here's the lyrics to his smash Entropy:
Trash Talk
Harm me with harmony.
Doomsday, drop a load on 'em.
Verse 1
Entropy, how can I explain it? I'll take it frame by frame it,
to have you all jumping, shouting saying it.
Let's just say that it's a measure of disorder,
in a system that is closed, like with a border.
It's sorta, like a, well a measurement of randomness,
proposed in 1850 by a German, but wait I digress.
"What the fuck is entropy?", I here the people still exclaiming,
it seems I gotta start the explaining.
You ever drop an egg and on the floor you see it break?
You go and get a mop so you can clean up your mistake.
But did you ever stop to ponder why we know it's true,
if you drop a broken egg you will not get an egg that's new.
That's entropy or E-N-T-R-O to the P to the Y,
the reason why the sun will one day all burn out and die.
Order from disorder is a scientific rarity,
allow me to explain it with a little bit more clarity.
Did I say rarity? I meant impossibility,
at least in a closed system there will always be more entropy.
That's entropy and I hope that you're all down with it,
if you are here's your membership.
Chorus
You down with entropy?
Yeah, you know me! (x3)
Who's down with entropy?
Every last homey!
Verse 2
Defining entropy as disorder's not complete,
'cause disorder as a definition doesn't cover heat.
So my first definition I would now like to withdraw,
and offer one that fits thermodynamics second law.
First we need to understand that entropy is energy,
energy that can't be used to state it more specifically.
In a closed system entropy always goes up,
that's the second law, now you know what's up.
You can't win, you can't break even, you can't leave the game,
'cause entropy will take it all 'though it seems a shame.
The second law, as we now know, is quite clear to state,
that entropy must increase and not dissipate.
Creationists always try to use the second law,
to disprove evolution, but their theory has a flaw.
The second law is quite precise about where it applies,
only in a closed system must the entropy count rise.
The earth's not a closed system' it's powered by the sun,
so fuck the damn creationists, Doomsday get my gun!
That, in a nutshell, is what entropy's about,
you're now down with a discount.
Chorus
Trash Talk
Hit it!
Doomsday, kick it in!
There used to be a band of wives and girlfriends of Cern physicists called Les Horribles Cernettes. Dunno if they're still around, but they're a hoot. They sing 60's girl band type style, but with particle physics lyrics.
They also sing a song about Pavlove (Dinner Bell), one about mammals, (convienently enough Mammal), and one about Alexander Grahm Bell, then a smattering of other more obscure historical figures. None of which were mentioned on the linked sight, incidently.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
PhysicsSongs.org
I mean no disrespect, but honestly, how hard is it to rhyme elements when half of them end in "ium" anyway?
I, um, have no idea...
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
... of a wonderful song by someone named Eric Idle...
Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.
The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.
LOTR: Elijah Wood is a munchkin asshat. Yes, asshat. LOL.
Yes, they are. They were performing at the Ignobel awards recently.
BTW - there are many many people performing works like this - I have several (purchased) CDs full of such songs, and I write them all the time. The larger set of music devoted to Science, Science Fiction, subculture and such is called "Filk". Do a google search for "Filk", and you'll find loads of stuff out there. Some Filk is set to original music, some to tradional music, and others to modern music (for instance, my song "Fibonacci ( Oh, one one, two three five eiiiight)" is set to the tune of the 80's song "Jenny (867-5309)"). Most of my Filk (as most out there is) is about Science Fiction from the popular (I have a Neon Genesis Evangelion Filk, a few Klingon Filks, etc) to the obscure (I did a filk about Sadie Corrie's Transylvanian, a background character in the Rocky Horror Picture Show), to the moving (Julia Ecklar's The Phoenix is a wonderful, heart jerking tribute to exploration, and Leslie Fish's Hope Eyrie is incredible).
Check it out if you haven't seen it. I'd recommend Tom Smith as a good starting point, other than the simple Google search.
--
Evan "But the Eagle has landed; tell your children when \ Time won't drive us down to dust again." E.
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien