A Biologist's St. Patrick's Day Song

A 200-year-old Irish classic!

Lyrics:
In the year of our lord eighteen hundred and eleven
On March the seventeenth day
I will raise up a beer and I'll raise up a cheer
For Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Here's to brewers yeast, that humblest of all beast
Producing carbon gas reducing acetaldehyde
But my friends that isn't all -- it makes ethyl alcohol
That is what the yeast excretes and that's what we imbibe

Anaerobic respiration*
Also known as fermentation
NADH oxidation
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

My intestinal wall absorbs that ethanol
And soon it passes through my blood-brain barrier
There's a girl in the next seat who I didn't think that sweet
But after a few drinks I want to marry her
I guess it's not surprising, my dopamine is rising
And my glutamate receptors are all shot
I'd surely be bemoaning all the extra serotonin
But my judgement is impaired and my confidence is not

Allosteric modulation
No Long Term Potentiation
Hastens my inebriation
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

When ethanol is in me, some shows up in my kidneys
And inhibits vasopressin by degrees
A decrease in aquaporins hinders water re-absorption
And pretty soon I really have to pee
Well my liver breaks it down so my body can rebound
By my store of glycogen is soon depleted
And tomorrow when I'm sober I will also be hungover
Cause I flushed electrolytes that my nerves and muscles needed

Diuretic activation
Urination urination
Urination dehydration
Give me a beer

[CHORUS]

Happy St. Pat's

*Actually, this isn't true. While both anaerobic respiration and fermentation occur without the use of oxygen, anaerobic respiration utilizes the electron transport chain to generate ATP, while fermentation does not. My bad. I would have remembered that if I wasn't trying so hard to rhyme.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• st.
• patrick's
• day
• song
• cadamole
• beer
• science
• ethanol
• alcohol
• irish
• fermentation
• yeast
• brain

[lexinaut]

Great song with lovely chorus harmonies, but along with the shamrocks and oh so witty celebration, DON'T forget the DESIGNATED DRIVER (or just don't drive), should you be imbibing a bit. Along with the very informative biology, there is the old F=MA and 1/2 mv^2 that should NOT be forgotten. Not meanin' to preach, but I've seen the results of ignoring Mr. Newton's physics.

[cadamole]

@lexinaut amen!

[kingdelamare]

You were great in The Social Network

[TehNeek]

Put this song on ITUNES!

[TehNeek]

@Proskillz21 No, they are not.

[Proskillz21]

@TehNeek Yes they are.

[TehNeek]

@bergali Ears aren't an organ...... But I get your point ;D

[bergali]

Cmon folks, if you can play enough to read tab or chord diagrams can't you just look at the guitar and listen? You know, use the organ that music is enjoyed by anyway. Ears!

[greencheapsk8]

@MrSuednym Strange. Does the opposite for me!

[MrSuednym]

This really makes me not want to drink even more...

[kurtunconscious]

What is the chord progression you use during the verses?

[fractonis]

Wishing I could buy a copy of this song of this, be it itunes or elsewhere!