February 8, 2012
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Yesterday we ran a story about calculations that confirmed earlier news that physicists may be on the verge of discovering the existence of the Higgs boson, which, if it turns out to be true, would be one of the biggest science stories of all time.
What concerns me here, though, is not science so much as popular song.
For reasons that are obscure to me, the article triggered a memory of the old Johnny Cash tune, Folsom Prison Blues, which began rolling through my head. (I hear the Higgs a comin’/ It’s rollin’ round the bend / And I ain’t seen the sunshine / Since I don’t know when / I’m stuck in the Hadron C’lider / And time keeps draggin’ on / But that Higgs keeps a rollin’…)
Folsom Prison Blues makes a pretty lame science song, but there must be a million better ones, existing or yet to be. Which brings me to this question of the day: What is the best science song of all time?
Tell us what you think. Or perhaps you want to write your own?
To get the ball rolling, here are my nominations:
Tom Lehrer’s Elements, in which the Harvard-trained mathematician rattles off the entire Periodic Table to a Gilbert and Sullivan tune.
They Might Be Giants’ The Sun, which explains with remarkable clarity the basic physics of our nearest and dearest star. (Full disclosure: I used to sing this to my kids back when they were tykes, so I might be biased here.)
Any better ideas?
NB: This will become a bona fide contest if and only if we are overwhelmed with responses. If that happens, we reserve the right to start handing out worthless prizes.
UPDATE: See Ryan Reid’s post on 10 Random Songs Inspired by Science.
About the Author: Fred Guterl is the executive editor of Scientific American and author of Fate of the Species, which Bloomsbury releases on May 22. Follow on Twitter @fredguterl.
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I’m a fan of Hard ‘n Phirm’s Pi. You can find a few videos for it on YouTube.
Link to thisPi is good. But don’t forget Science by Thomas Dolby.
Link to thisGuided by Voices, “I Am a Scientist” is pretty great. (Not to be confused with the Dandy Warhols’ “I Am a Scientist”, which I can take or leave.)
Link to thisThe most popular one has got to be the theme from Bill Nye the Science Guy! It was (and still is) on of my favorite shows as a kid. Link: http://youtu.be/SbzouFaMJU4
Link to thisWeird Al’s “Pancreas” maybe? Not only does it discuss physiology, but it also addresses Newton’s universal law of gravitation.
Link to thisNaCl by Kate and Anna McGarrigle? Here’s a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4N3rVa2ePM
Link to thisThey Might Be Giants issued a correction to “Why Does The Sun Really Shine”
http://youtu.be/u-KyciKHw-g
Link to thisMose Allison’s “Molecular Structure” is really something fine … and my favorite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgaxpwzEqDI
Link to thisLehrer’s “The Elements” was the first one to come to mind, but I might have to go with Thomas Dolby’s song as suggested by joycejax.
Link to thisThe Ring of Fire aka Subduction zone cover or GeoMan by Dr. Richard Alley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq22bVmxfuk
Link to this“The Galaxy Song” from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life.” My U of Delaware astronomy professor played it one day during lecture when I was a student there. Quite memorable!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buqtdpuZxvk
Link to this“The Galaxy Song” from “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life” gets my vote as well!!
Link to thisI’d like to give a mention to A Glorious Dawn by Symphony of Science and the Large Hadron Rap by AlpineKat.
Both are excellent.
Link to thisI think of Rocket Man from Elton John, by the way he gave an excellent concert in Costa Rica a few days ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GAKOLOnfV4&feature=youtube_gdata
Link to thisThis organic chemistry parody of “Addicted to Love” is one of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWE6uPPmgb4
Link to thisThe TMBG version of “The Sun…” is actually a cover. Being about the same age as those guys, I’m assuming they heard it on the same record I did as a kid: Space Songs, by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans. However, my vote for best science song goes to TMBG’s “Hovering Sombrero,” which is (obliquely, of course) about the scale of time and space.
Link to thisThere’s no joke in it, but “Calypso” by John Denver deserves to be mentioned.
Link to thisAnd “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which inspired the nickname for the tiny Australopithecus afarensis skeleton that has played a crucial role in understanding our evolutionary past.
Link to thisTimbuk3 “The Future’s so Bright”
Kate Bush: “Breathing” and “Experiment IV”
David Bowie: “Major Tom”
Dar Williams: “Nuclear Family”
B52s: “There’s a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)”
Talking Heads: “Moon Rocks” from Speaking in Tongues and “Little Creatures” from Little Creatures(of course, when you think about it, most pop music is about biology or at least biological drives…)
and many selections from School House Rock
Link to thisMany of the songs mentioned so far are not what I would think of as science songs, just songs that mention science. Lehrer’s “Elements” and Monty Python’s “Galaxy Song” are delightful, and Weird Al’s “Pancreas” is funny, but “Large Hadron Rap” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM) made me laugh out loud and gets my vote.
Every year at the Ig Nobel ceremony, there are science songs written by Marc Abrahams, and performed by professional opera singers and Nobel Laureates. But opera is definitely not Pop, so those songs are presumably not eligible for this contest.
Link to thisIn The Year 2525
Link to thisWhat about Queen’s ’39 written by Brian May? It concerns relativistic space travel as a folk song.
Link to thisSince we’re talking about the LHC, how about anything by Les Horribles Cernettes? My favorite is Collider:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1L2xODZSI4
Link to thisMammals by TMBG always manages to sound slightly mournful.
Car by Built to Spill may not be a science song per se, but it has a lyric that poignantly captures the thrill of watching someone “catch on” to science “I want to see you, when you find out what comets stars and moons are all about.”
Four Letter Word by Echobelly is also very clever, celebrating the delights of our chemically based existence, the four-letter word being the components of DNA, ATCG. They might have been too smart for the room, as they never use the word DNA in the song. It’s sort of a geek bonus.
Link to this“The sound of the atom splitting” by Pet Shop Boys.
Link to thishttp://youtu.be/iwhKBu0FtXI
With a possible explanation about the song title and words.
Sorry, the possible explanation (“The sound of the atom splitting”) about the song title and words:
Link to thishttp://petshopboys.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sound_Of_The_Atom_Splitting
Ebbtide on On the Water by ELO-
it was Blinded Me with Science, to tell the truth.
Link to thisLehrer’s The Elements and Monty Python’s Galaxy Song both win – although I like the latter more.
Link to this