Prof. Mary

This parody (written by Greg Crowther) is sung to the tune of "Proud Mary" (written by John Fogerty and performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival).

I wrote this -- and performed it with former labmate Amy Schmid -- as a tribute to our former adviser Mary Lidstrom for her 2022 birthday symposium on one-carbon metabolism, a primary theme of her laboratory research for the last several decades.

She left a good job in Pasadena --
She was already full Professor there.
She wanted to get back home
In the era of the genome,
And so she hitched a ride in the Jungers Chair!

Big flasks keep on churning;
Methanol keeps on burning,
And carbon is flowing (flowing), flowing (flowing)
Through pathways like a river!

She poured a lot of plates in Corvallis;
She assayed lots of enzymes out in Madison.
She added to her vita
A postdoc with Candida --
Ten months in Sheffield and her training was done!

Serine cycle keeps on turning;
"Hot" substrates keep on burning,
And carbon is flowing (flowing), flowing (flowing)
Through pathways like a river!

Flowing (flowing), flowing (flowing)
Through pathways like a river!

She's been a vice provost for research
And had a long tenure as associate dean
To implement improvements
For office work by humans,
But we will always know her as the microbe queen!

Big grants keep getting turned in;
Prof. Mary keeps on burning,
And carbon is flowing (flowing), flowing (flowing)
Through pathways like a river!
Flowing (flowing), flowing (flowing)
Through pathways like a river!
Flowing (flowing), flowing (flowing)
Through pathways like a river!
Flowing (flowing), flowing (flowing)
Through pathways like a river!