Always searching for science-art-music combinations. Especially ones that focus on some aspect of science I work on, like microbes. And, well, though this recording is less than ideal, and you need to wait a minute and a half or so, once you get to the song it is worth it.
The song is “The Amoeba Hop” and the singer is the brilliant Christine Lavin.
I have had this song in my head on and off for years and wanted to post about it for a while. I finally remembered to Google it tonight after reading a tweet about combining music and biology. I used to listen to Lavin all the time in college and even went to a show of hers in 1989 in Ft. Collins, CO with my brother and my friend Saul Jacobson. As a side note – we saw Lavin at some music hall type of place the the night after seeing Killdozer at a VFW post. As a second side note – the Killdozer show was crazy (and I even found someone else who wrote about it here).
Anyway – not only did I find the video posted above but I discovered she wrote a book in 2002 based on the song – and the book even got a review in the New York Times. Gonna probably have to get that book at some point …
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Jonathan Eisen's Lab 
Hi! Christine Lavin here. Th anx 4 th. Kind words. Betsy Franco feeneyy illustrated AmoebaHooop n u can see th bk at puddlejumppress.com. My adddrs is teeny.lavin@gmail.com. betsy n i hava nu bk HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA about the big oil spill. Like Hop it is 4 kids n has 4 pages of real science.
Ciao!
Chris
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Hi! Betsy Franco Feeney here, Christine Lavin's collaborator on the book based on her song “Amoeba Hop”. Educators from elementary school to ninth grade biology teachers LOVE it. We recently published HOLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA, all about the environment, clean energy and wildlife rehabilitation. Please check them out at http://www.puddlejumppress.com!
Also, check out the video I made for a film festival at this year's Conference on the World's Oceans: http://youtu.be/NIMXTWpDWaM
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