Quite possibly the only song dedicated to mitochondria, ever!


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Continuing on with my promise to play around with this science songwriting thing (1, 2), here is the third song in my World's Fair repertoire. This one on the awesome mitochondrion!


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Here is the demo mp3 for your listening pleasure (might be best with headphones), and the lyrics reprinted for all to see below:

MITOCHONDRIA!

(verses)
Floating round in a cell,
making A T P
In your own kind of hell
in the cytoplasmic sea

You got own DNA
Came maternally
Never sure how you stayed
Endosymbiotically

(Chorus)
Mitochondria, Mitochondria, Mitochondria, Mitochondria
Mitochondria, Mitochondria, Mitochondria, Mitochondria

(Bridge)
Inner membrane, oxidation, many cristae, metabolism
Electron transportation chain!

REPEAT VERSES

My vocals have much to be desired, and I'm a little unpracticed with the electric, but hey, didn't that describe Dylan at some point in his career (not that I'm even remotely comparing myself to Dylan, although if Dylan ever wrote a song about mitochondria, then that would be something else). Favourite lyric this time around is getting the word "endosymbiotically" to rhyme with "maternally."

Alright then... What should the next song be about?

More like this

Science Scout twitter feed Thanks so much for all the great feedback with the Mitochondria song, and as promised, I picked a request from the comments for my next attempt at song writing. Specifically, this one: That's right - we're talking about the Buckminsterfullerene! Here is the demo…
As I was composing a few lyrics to a song about thermodynamics (mp3 is further down the page), it quickly occurred to me how the first three laws could easily describe various elements of love. You've got the first law, a testament to bookkeeping, where explicit in equations like dU=dQ-dW is the…
O.K. Sorry this took a while, but you know, things are busy, having just finally launching the Phylo game website. A while back, I mentioned getting an acoustic bass, and wanting to work on yet another science-geekery song. This one with a biodiversity theme and the inclusion of reader supplied…
O.K. I just re-strung my guitar and it's sounding oh so pretty right now. As well, my delayed Christmas present is also arriving soon (a Fender acoustic bass - woo hoo!). In any event, it's high time, I started to write another silly science song. I've done a few already and they're peppered…

That chorus is kind of addicting. Your other post on the thermodynamics song, said something about TMBG covering this kind of stuff, and my two cents is to say that that would be cool.

Write a song about the quadratic equation. I dare you.

If you enjoy science songs, please enjoy the motherload over at Singing Science Records. From jet propulsion to gravity and friction, it's a whole lot of old skool awesome. http://www.acme.com/jef/singing_science/

By Luigi Cooper (not verified) on 08 May 2009 #permalink

Loving this. Sounds like you need a bass track and a grounded guitar amp. What are you mixing this on? If you like I'd be happy to drop some bass on it :)

Honestly, I'd like to collaborate with someone who can right a good rap song about a microbiology-related topic so I can go head on against these other science gangstas LOL

Enjoy - http://is.gd/xNHS Regulatin' Genes, Y'all

How about a song about tagmosis or even cephalization?

Regionalized endothermy?

Ostracoderms? Nah, Ray Troll has got the fossil fish genre all locked up.

So many wonderful things, so many wonderful words. Write a love song to allele, just because it sounds so pretty.

Buckyballs are begging for a song.

@Chris Condayan:

I happen to be one such scientific gangsta. I've got many tracks of beats waiting for lyrics to be xenografted on top. If you wish to collaborate, I can be reached at Toaster(DOT)Sunshine(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

And I agree that it needs more bass. If I had a direct line in for my bass I'd offer, but as it is I haven't yet figured out how to reliably get the buzz out of my mic.

As a teacher, all I can say is THANK-YOU!! This is probably about all most of my students will ever remember about the cell.

By Freya Fitzpatrick (not verified) on 08 May 2009 #permalink

In my freshman biology class, the professor showed a movie with a modern dance routine. It illustrated DNA transcription. The choreography and dance were done by students at one of those hippie colleges in California. Made quite an impression.

Hey! My four year old caught onto the chorus and was singing right along.

Not really the same at all, but there's Boiled in Lead's The Microorganism:

In April when your barge sailed through
I fell in love with you
Alas my paramour alack
A stranger to me 'til the test comes back
Chorus:
Oh the micro-organism
Oh the micro-organism
Dive in the gene pool down you swim
Down to where the light grows thin
Flail little fishies flail if you can
But avoid the micro-organism man
[Chorus]
Caffeine sugar and THC
Is all that the doctors are gonna find in me
When they do the autopsy
The micro-organism won't get me
[Chorus]
God is good and God is great
God's a big invertebrate
God made the river change its route
But he won't pull the micro-organism out
[Chorus]
The cowslips bloom and the bluebells too
Here's advice I'll give to you
Rattle your sword before you strike
And never kiss anyone you like
[Chorus]

Might that chorus owe a touch to The Kinks' "Victoria"? Easier for me to do baritone harmonies w/yours; it's slower... now Don't be insipid, sing me a lipid.

I think this is awesome! Do you take requests for upcoming science songs? My graduate supervisor's birthday is coming up and it's a big one this year...

my anatomy techer sings this song best! i love the sciences!! 8-D

By baba black sheep (not verified) on 03 Sep 2009 #permalink

**teacher

By baba white sheep (not verified) on 03 Sep 2009 #permalink

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By king of spam (not verified) on 07 Oct 2009 #permalink

Wow I was just getting notes off the internet and I saw the caption. It sure was catchy. Who knew there was a song about mitochondria.

I love it! Never knew there were so many science songs - I'm psyched! Keep writing and share the knowledge:)

I found this while doing research for a project on mitochondria! This definitely made it more fun.

secta 7 - Cells of mitochondria

Please, please repost this song. Link doesn't work anymore and we used it in the school where I teach.

By Gemma Davies (not verified) on 13 Nov 2012 #permalink