Hot Hot Hot

This parody (written by Greg Crowther) is sung to the tune of "Hot Hot Hot" (written by Alphonsus Cassell and performed by Buster Poindexter).

This song, based on the symptom of "feeling hot-hot-hot," was originally written for Biology 351 at UW-Bothell. I have performed this in the role of a "singing patient" who needs both attention and a diagnosis. To show that they are paying attention, students can echo the "hot hot hot" part, etc. The song is not intended to make light of patients' suffering, but rather is meant as a learning tool to help educate future care providers.

What am I getting?
I'm flushed and sweating,
And I'm hot hot hot!

My pulse is screaming;
It's like I'm dreaming,
But I'm not not not.

A bulging neck
And bulging eyes --
Yet my waist
Has shrunk in size.

Tell me how,
In middle age,
Can I be low
in TSH....

...But hyperthermic?
Yes, I'm hyperthermic?
Feeling hot hot hot?
Feeling hot hot hot?
Feeling hot hot hot!
Feeling hot hot hot!

• MP3 (demo)

• music video

• sheet music (with melody play-back)

Songs like this one can be used during class meetings and/or in homework assignments. Either way, the song will be most impactful if students DO something with it, as opposed to just listening.

An initial, simple follow-up activity could be to answer the study questions below. A more extensive interaction with the song might entail (A) learning to sing it, using an audio file and/or sheet music as a guide, and/or (B) illustrating it with pictures, bodily poses, and/or bodily movements. The latter activity could begin with students identifying the most important or most challenging content of the song, and deciding how to illustrate that particular content.

(1) Why does this patient have a "bulging neck"?

(2) What is TSH, and why are TSH levels low in this patient?

(3) What does "hyperthermic" mean?

(4) Would you expect this patient to have a metabolic rate that is normal, elevated, or depressed?

(5) Are this patient's symptoms consistent with Graves' Disease?

(6) What sorts of approaches would be suitable for helping this patient?

(7) Considering the specific content covered by this song, is there anything important that is missing, unclear, or misleading? If so, what?