Saturday, October 24, 2009

An Ode to Charles Darwin in this 150th year since "The Origin of Species" hit the streets.

BIRTHDAY ODE TO DARWIN


(to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic")

words © 2008 R. L. Smith



Mine eyes have seen the glory of Charles Darwin, born today.

(He is buried in the Abbey of Westminster, by the way,)

He was greeted by the fundamentalists with much dismay,

His theory marches on!



REFRAIN:
Glory, glory evolution!

Darwin's elegant solution!

This is Darwin's contribution,

His theory marches on!



On the poop deck of the Beagle, Charles was borne across the sea,

And he found in the Galapagos, a new discovery.

The finches helped Charles Darwin have a new epiphany,

His theory marches on!



REFRAIN



He started out at Edinburgh, and then to Cambridge, too,

Then his "natural selection" was a theory that was new.

"The Origin of Species" can explain both me and you,

His theory marches on!



REFRAIN



*A change within the White House now that we can toast with drink,

Just because we have a President who actually can think.

The previous inhabitant was just a missing link.

And Darwin marches on!


REFRAIN



*Note: Consistent with evolutionary process, the last verse of this song is 
meant to be periodically re-written to evolve to fit a changing world.



*Original 2008 verse: 


George Bush is now the President, 
whom we should not malign,

Also, now we know he has a 
purpose practically divine:

The Ultimate in proof 
against "intelligent design"!

And Darwin marches on!



9 comments:

Robin Edgar said...

"He was greeted by the fundamentalists with much dismay,
"

Well with the exception of fundamentalist atheists like evolutionary biologist professor Richard Dawkins of course. . .

I do enjoy a good song parody though. ;-)

Lilylou said...

Very true, Robin!

Lilylou said...

PS. I loved the "Atheist Supremacist" parody you linked to. You've created a real beaut!

Robin Edgar said...

Thanks Ms. Kitty. I am quite pleased with it myself. I particularly like the fact that I was able to preserve a few of the original lines completely intact and have them work in the New Atheist context. I would like to see a church choir singing 'The Atheist Supremacist's Song' one day.

Lilylou said...

I hope your wish comes true, Robin!

Joel said...

The previous inhabitant was just a missing link.


Yeah, a guy who overcomes dyslexia to earn an MBA at Yale, then works his way up to be the most powerful man in the world - twice - despite the active hostility of every news outlet in the country... boy, what an imbecile! And the first one to be fluent in our country's second language. But then, that was just sort of a performing-bear sort of thing. He couldn't really have two brain cells to rub together.

BTW, how many languages is his successor fluent in?

(Robin, don't even get me started on Dawkins. He's a classic example of the phrase "educated beyond his intelligence.")

Robin Edgar said...

It's probably not a good idea to get me started on Richard Dawkins either Joel.

I must say I have quite a bit of fun with the fellow though! :-)

Believe it or not the WVC for this comment is - banters

Robin Edgar said...

Thanks for the wish Ms. Kitty. Maybe I should try and talk the Mormon Tabernacle Choir into singing The Atheist Supremacist Song one day. I would actually like to get a video of a church choir singing it onto YouTube. It might be a hit!

Believe it, or not one of my own YouTube videos shot in 720p HD on my Nikon D90 DSLR (nothing to do with U*Us BTW) just passed the 40,000 views mark this week. Not bad for a video I shot 5 months ago.

Lilylou said...

Nice work, Robin!