Evolution Rocks has been featured in Skeptic Magazine's Newsletter
Lyrics
Sometimes it’s dangerous to think outside the box
To be different, to be unorthodox
Just like Isaac Newton beneath an apple tree
And the Theory of Relativity
Charles Darwin was a naturalist
He had some funky new ideas about how we exist
He thought a lot about what makes living things the same
Natural selection, evolutionary change
*Now Pre-Darwinian science was influenced heavily by theology. It was believed
that all organisms were created simultaneously by God, and all life-forms were
unchanging from the moment of their creation. Darwin thought-this can’t be!*
It was 1831 when the Beagle sailed the sea
On the voyage that sowed the seeds for Darwin’s place in history
They docked at Tortoise Island near some cactus by the shore
Surrounded by Galapagos creatures they had never seen before
The finches’ beaks weren’t all the same
Darwin gave the birds different names
Back to England with news for the king
The origin of species is a traceable thing
*And thus Darwinian science was developed. Evolution does occur. Evolutionary
change is gradual and driven by natural selection. Every species alive today arose
from a single original life form. Everything we have believed to this point is wrong!*
On the Origin of Species, Victorians be damned
Favorable adaptation, to live is to adapt
Competing for survival yields offspring of the strong
The weak don’t eat, I guess they don’t belong
Evolution is natural
It’s theorized and factual
To think that all the birds we see, playing in the brush
Once were feathered little dinosaurs, they’ve grown up so much
*Initially there was much opposition to Darwin from religious thinkers and some scientists. But it was soon overcome. Evolution was accepted by the middle classes. From so simple a beginning, one of the most important and unifying theories in the history of scientific thought had opened the door to an understanding of the world around us…and beyond!*
So for four billion years now, the tree of life grows on
Ninety-nine percent of species have come and now they’re gone
A simile to the affinities, we’re all made up of dust
It’s ok to think this way, you're God won't mind that much
Sometimes it’s dangerous to stay inside the box
Keeping that in mind I think evolution rocks
Keeping that in mind, I think evolution rocks
Song Information
From Aaron:
"It was 10PM on the eve of my last day of biology class at Columbia College. At 9:30 the following morning I was to show up to class with a presentation that counted for half of our overall grade, one that we had been working on for 6 weeks. The fact was, at 10PM on that Sunday night, I had been working on my final project for no more than 45 minutes. I had decided the subject of my presentation would be evolution and had managed to throw together a very average PowerPoint presentation; meh. In what proved to be a very good decision, I decided audible to a high risk/high reward plan and write a song about evolution and play it for my class.
I stayed up all night researching, writing, singing and testing different phrasings until the song seemed presentable. I labored until 8AM, when I had to drive to class and printed out lyrics for all my classmates, adding these rarely seen endnotes to elaborate on some of the lyrics.
I got to class and wasn't sure if people would love it or if it would be obvious that I had written "My Evolution Song" over the course of the last 12 hours. I was nervous. I got through the song without any major flubs and was relieved to see Professor Elaine Ross stand up and cheer loudly, smiling from cheek to cheek. Phew, I thought, I think I passed!
Sometimes procrastination pays off."
