The Elements (song)

2012-11-08T15:48:37Z

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{{About|the Tom Lehrer song|the unreleased Beach Boys song |The Elements (Beach Boys song)}}

[[File:Periodic table.svg|thumb|right|300px|The [[periodic table]] of the chemical elements]]

"'''The Elements'''" ([[1959 in music|1959]]) is a song by musical humorist and lecturer [[Tom Lehrer]], which recites the names of all the [[chemical element]]s known at the time of writing, up to number 102, [[nobelium]]. It can be found on his albums ''Tom Lehrer in Concert'', ''[[More of Tom Lehrer]]'' and ''[[An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer]]''. The song is sung to the tune of the [[Major-General's Song]] from ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'' by [[Gilbert and Sullivan]].<ref>[http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/mdlehrer.htm Review and analysis of Lehrer's G&S parodies]</ref>

The song is also included in the musical [[revue]] ''[[Tom Foolery]]'', which also includes many of Lehrer's other songs.

== Description of the song ==
The ordering of elements in the lyrics fits the [[meter (poetry)|meter]] of the song, and includes much [[alliteration]], and thus has little or no relation to the ordering in the [[periodic table]]. This can be seen for example in the opening and closing lines:
<poem>
:There's [[antimony]], [[arsenic]], [[aluminum]], [[selenium]],
:And [[hydrogen]] and [[oxygen]] and [[nitrogen]] and [[rhenium]],
:... 
: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 [[Harvard University|Harvard]],
:And there may be many others, but they haven't been discovered.</poem>

Lehrer was a Harvard Mathematics lecturer, and the final rhyme of "Harvard" and "discovered" is delivered in a parody of a [[Boston accent]]—a [[non-rhotic]] manner—so that the two words rhyme. Lehrer did not normally speak with that accent. Lehrer accompanied himself on the piano while singing the song.

== Background ==
Lehrer drew the inspiration for "The Elements" from the song "[[Tchaikovsky (song)|Tchaikovsky and Other Russians]]", written by [[Ira Gershwin]], which listed fifty Russian composers in a similar manner.<ref name=Interview>"A Conversation With Tom Lehrer", BBC Interview, 1999.</ref>

"The Elements" differs from the "[[Major-General's Song]]" in that:
* On some of the live recordings, Lehrer pauses in the middle for spoken interludes, in which he talks to the audience (e.g., "I hope you're all taking notes, because there's going to be a short quiz next period!") while [[Ostinato#Vamp|vamping]] on the piano.
* The verse structure is altered, omitting the third verse of the original as well as all of the "responses" from the play's chorus, and adding an extra two lines at the end of the last verse.
* The song ends with a piano [[coda (music)|coda]] ([[Shave and a Haircut]]).
* "The Elements" is in the [[key (music)|key]] of [[C major|C]], while the "[[Major-General's Song]]" is in [[E-flat major|E-flat]].
* In some live versions, after the song is finished, he may tell the audience of an earlier version, from [[Aristotle]]'s time, that consists of [[Air (classical element)|Air]], [[Fire (classical element)|Fire]], [[Water (classical element)|Water]] and [[Earth (classical element)|Earth]], explaining that it was a much simpler time.

== Parodies and covers ==
Although "The Elements" is a [[pastiche]] of the Major-General's song, it has itself been parodied, including by the group [[Amateur Transplants]] (of ''London Underground'' fame) as ''The Drugs Song''. The Jewish parody group [[Shlock Rock]] acknowledges Lehrer and "The Elements" as inspiration for "The Shabbat Song".<ref>[http://catalog.shlockrock.com/product_info.php?products_id=56&L=288#lyric Liner notes for the CD "Woodshlock" at the ShlockRock website]</ref> In the episode "Ex-File" of ''[[NCIS (TV series)|NCIS]]'', [[Timothy McGee]] and [[Abby Sciuto]] hum the song, and it forms a key clue in their case. In ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' episode "[[List of The Big Bang Theory episodes#ep58|The Pants Alternative]]", a drunk [[Sheldon Cooper]] starts to sing the song during his acceptance of an award from his university. In the 2006 episode of ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'' called "The Real Paul Anka", [[Luke Danes]]'s daughter April and her classmates sing the song on the bus.<ref>{{cite web|title=IMDb Trivia: "Gilmore Girls" The Real Paul Anka (TV episode 2006)|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765894/trivia}}</ref> Other pastiches of "The Major-General's song" in "The Elements" mode include the "Boy Scout Merit Badge Song," which lists all the merit badges of the [[Boy Scouts of America]]<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_-nCH3tX1U "Boy Scout Merit Badge Song"]</ref> and the 2012 webcomic ''[[xkcd]]'' pastiche "Every Major's Terrible", which lists the faults associated with various undergraduate majors.<ref>Munroe, Randall. [http://xkcd.com/1052/ "Every Major's Terrible"], Xkcd, 7 May 2012</ref> [[Daniel Radcliffe]] sang "The Elements" on ''[[The Graham Norton Show]]'' in 2010.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSAaiYKF0cs "Daniel Radcliffe sings The Elements Song on The Graham Norton Show"]. youtube.com, broadcast November 12, 2010</ref>
thers antimony aresenic alluminium seleniu and hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
Cover recordings include:
* The rapper [[Jesse Dangerously]] on his album ''[[How to Express Your Dissenting Political Viewpoint Through Origami]]'', where the song is titled "Tom Lehrer's The Elements".<ref>[http://www.discogs.com/release/327567 "Tom Lehrer's The Elements" at Discogs.com]</ref>
*The [[Gas House Gang (quartet)|Gas House Gang]] song on their first album.<ref>[http://gashousegang.com/rough.php Gas House Gang - Their Rough and Tumble Best]</ref>
*[[Theodore Gray]]'s [[iPad]] app "The Elements." For the Japanese edition, a translated [[J-Pop]] version was created.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://boingboing.net/2010/10/08/the-elements-tom-leh.html | title = The Elements Song (Tom Lehrer tune), Super Cute Japanese Version | first = Xeni | last = Jardin | author = | authorlink = Xeni Jardin | date = 2010-10-08 | work = Boing Boing | accessdate = 2010-12-26}}
</ref>

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* ''Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer'', 1981, has sheet music for many of Lehrer's songs, including ''The Elements''.

== External links ==
* [http://www.archive.org/details/elements_0 Tom Lehrer's "The Elements" performed by Lehrer. Community Audio]
* [http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/elements.htm Lyrics to the song]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGM-wSKFBpo Animation of the song]
* [http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html Another animation by Mike Stanfill]

{{Tom Lehrer}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elements}}
[[Category:1959 songs]]
[[Category:Songs with lyrics by Tom Lehrer]]
[[Category:Adaptations of works by Gilbert and Sullivan]]
[[Category:Novelty songs]]
[[Category:Songs about science]]
[[Category:List songs]]
[[Category:Periodic table in popular culture]]

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[[zh:元素 (歌曲)]]

Wikipedia - User contributions [en]

The Elements (song)