Sphingo

This parody (written by Greg Crowther) is sung to the tune of "Bingo" (traditional).

Sphingolipids, the topic of my undergraduate research, have long been ignored by most biologists. This song, an appendix to my undergraduate thesis, envisions a "revenge of the sphingolipidologist" in which a long-suffering scientist discovers that the long-chain bases he studies really are important after all. As it turns out, recent research has to some extent confirmed the prophecy of the song: mice that eat a sphingolipid-enriched diet are less likely to develop certain types of cancer than control mice.

There was a man who had some fat,
And Sphingo was its name-o.
S-P-H-I-N-G-O, S-P-H-I-N-G-O, S-P-H-I-N-G-O,
And Sphingo was its name-o.

Biologists from near and far
Thought his research was lame-o.
L-A-M-E-O, L-A-M-E-O, L-A-M-E-O,
Thought his research was lame-o.

But one day, to his great delight,
His lipids brought him fame-o.
F-A-M-E-O, F-A-M-E-O, F-A-M-E-O,
His lipids brought him fame-o.

"My bases cure all cancer cases!"
Thus did he exclaim-o.
E-X-C-L-A-I-M-O, E-X-C-L-A-I-M-O, E-X-C-L-A-I-M-O,
Thus did he exclaim-o.

Experiments in other labs
Soon verified his claim-o.
C-L-A-I-M-O, C-L-A-I-M-O, C-L-A-I-M-O,
Soon verified his claim-o.

So now the grants he gets are huge
And put the rest to shame-o.
S-H-A-M-E-O, S-H-A-M-E-O, S-H-A-M-E-O,
And put the rest to shame-o.

The sphingolipid research world
Will never be the same-o.
S-A-M-E-O, S-A-M-E-O, S-A-M-E-O,
Will never be the same-o.