What are some good “educational” songs? I don’t only mean things like Schoolhouse Rock, but also songs thet inadvertently feed you useful information. For example, when someone asks me what Istanbul used to be called, I can very smugly answer that it was Constantinople, and I can add that New York used to be called New Amsterdam. (from the song “Istanbul (not Constantinople”). So, what do you know?
(Please list titles along with artists)
Well, there was Tom Lehrer’s “Elements SOng” butIth ink a few have been discovered since then. 
Well, there was Tom Lehrer’s “Elements SOng” but I think a few have been discovered since then.
From Cheers, and sung to “When the Saints go Marching in”
Albaniaaaa,
Albaniaaaa,
You border on the Adriatic!
Your land is mostly mountainous,
and your chief export is chrome!
My chorus once did a great song called the Geographic Fugue. It was chanted rather than sung and was mostly just placenames. One line was “the Popocatepetl is not in Canada, rather in Mexico Mexico Mexico.” Years later someone asked me where the Popocateptl was, and I was able to answer instantly.
Oh you so stole my post!
Smokin’ ain’t allowed in school.
The US States and Their Capitals by Wacko Warner (to the tune of Turkey in the Straw):
Baton Rouge, Louisianna
Indianapolis, Indiana
And Toledo is the capital of O-Hi-O
There’s Montgomery, Alabama
Under Helena, Montana
Then there’s Denver, Colorado next to Boise, Idaho.
TMBG is a vast resource… their song James K. Polk is all about our 11th president.
A small sample of the highly educational lyrics (its kind of hard to believe this can be put to music, but it can):
In 1844, the Democrats were split
The three nominees for the presidential candidate
Were Martin Van Buren, a former president and an abolitionist
James Buchanan, a moderate
Louis Cass, a general and expansionist
And Yakko’s “All the Countries of the World”
United States, Canada
Mexico, Panama
Haiti, Jamaica, Peru…
(Max Carnage, I thought it was ‘Columbus is the capital of O-hi-o’
That song is sometimes the only reason I know a state’s capital.)
The Animaniacs have a few other comeducational songs, like the Planet song, naming all the planets in our solar system.
Here’s a site dedicated to a series of LP’s from the 60’s devoted to all things scientific. Lots of MP3’s. Very cool, in a retro sort of way.
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England (Puritan)
Born in 1599 and died in 1658 (September)…
Dont tug on Supermans cape,
Dont spit into the wind, Dont pull the mask off the Old Lone Ranger,
And above all - Don`t mess around with Jim.
Just pull on the Pullem,
and push on the Pushem,
and the pickles go into the jar.
Hello – I used “James K. Polk” as a PRIMARY RESOURCE on a paper I wrote in college. The paper was to find a historical speech, and write about the history of the speech (political climate, situation in which the speech was delivered, etc.), and about the speaker. Thank GOD that the Johns included
“Austere, severe, he held few people dear.
His oratory filled his foes with fear.”
what about that monty pyton song.
we’re on a plant thats revolving…
in a universe thats revolving…
Warren Zevon’s Run Straight Down has a chant going through it, in which zevon sings the chemical compound names for various nasty substances.
This is how it starts:
I’d just like to say that I got a question on an Astronomy exam right because of “Why Does The Sun Shine?” in my freshman year of college. It was something about hydrogen being built into helium.
Sung in Marine Corps marching cadence (Note: this is stolen from an episode of Major Dad):
Here’s a fact that’s gonna thrill ya’
The capital of Brazil is Brasillia