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Carolyn,

You have caught one of the two mistakes in that quickly written and fuzzily
thought out email. I know that there is at least one Nick Drake song in that
playlist and that was all I could think of. If you can think of another
before I make it home and consult my list I will be happily corrected.

My definitions are also pretty loose, and I kept out a lot of titles that
suggest science but contain no real content in the lyrics like Virtual
Reality and Infinite Space by Rusted Root.

Let's face it most of the popular songs quoted so far in this thread are
only tangentially about Science or science topics. Most use science as a
metaphor or a springboard for more (or much less) philosophical musings. Do
they belong on this thread or this Listserv? I don't know. I would say yes.
While you cannot teach science with these songs, if you are going to
interact with adolescents and young adults you will get further if you know
the lyrics to even slightly relevant songs by Coldplay and Fountains of
Wayne. It helps to break the ice and many of them are not as simple minded
as many people would have you believe.

My second mistake was The Oingo Boingo song. It's Weird Science, not
Strange Science.

Matt

PS: Since we are talking about Science Geek music, I would like to make an
appeal for They Might Be Giants as pan-geek pop stars. With songs like Meet
James Ensor, Edison Museum, James K. Polk, and Constantinople they are quite
the  History Geeks as well. I have used the lyrics and songs of the latter
two in undergraduate history survey classes to good effect.


>>> "Carolyn Slivinski" <[log in to unmask]> 05/19/05 11:47AM >>>
I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to the science music
thread (we all have to pick some to let go!), but when I saw the Nick
Drake reference I had to look.

What am I missing in the lyrics to "Parasite" that makes it a science
themed song?  Even if you look at them outside of the suicide theme that
seems to surface a lot, I didn't see it.  Now I've gotta know!  Thanks.

Carolyn Slivinski
Education Dept.
Maryland Science Center
601 Light St.
Baltimore, MD  21230
[log in to unmask] 
410-545-5967

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