The Elements
Tom Lehrer
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There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium, And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium, And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium, And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium, And gold, protactinium and indium and gallium, And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium. There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium, And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium, There's strontium and silicon and silver and samarium, And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium. There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium, And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium, And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium, Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium. And lead, praseodymium and platinum, plutonium, Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium. There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium, And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium, 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, And there may be many others but they haven't been discovered.
The easy, fast & fun way to learn how to sing: 30DaySinger.com
Written by: DANIEL TENAGLIA
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
13 facts about this song
Composition"The Elements" is a song written by American mathematician, pianist, and singer-songwriter, Tom Lehrer, which refers to the names of the chemical elements.
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InspirationThe song was inspired by the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, wherein Lehrer sings the names of the first 102 elements discovered at that time.
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Musical AdaptationThe tune of the song was adopted from a popular song called "Major-General’s Song" from The Pirates of Penzance, an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan.
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Release DateIt was initially released in 1959 on Lehrer’s album called "More of Tom Lehrer" and later included in the album, "An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer" in the same year.
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PerformanceLehrer often performed the song breathlessly, without a pause, to amaze his audience with the rapid-fire delivery of the elements' names.
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Updated VersionLehrer released an updated version of the song in 1992, which included newly discovered elements up to No. 104, Rutherfordium.
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Popular Culture"The Elements" has made its way into various media, often to demonstrate the intellect of characters who can remember all the elements in order.
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Educational UseSome biology and chemistry teachers have been known to use this song as a mnemonic tool to help students learn the names of the elements on the periodic table.
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AnimationIn 2011, an animated video illustrating the elements as Lehrer sings them was used as promotional material by the University of Nottingham's Periodic Table of Videos project.
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Live PerformancesTom Lehrer once introduced the song in performance by saying, "If, after hearing this song, you remember even one new scientific term, I will be satisfactorily rewarded for my efforts."
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Cultural ImpactThe song holds an iconic status in the field of educational songs because it effectively combines humor and learning. This has influenced other educators and entertainers to create similar educational content.
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Famous RecitalsMicrosoft founder Bill Gates, and Actor Daniel Radcliffe, best known for his role as Harry Potter, are among famous personalities who’ve successfully recited this song.
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Linguistic NoteThis is one of Tom Lehrer's few songs not to include any rhymes, because it is primarily a list song.
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