Songs That Teach Something

December 1, 2015 11:48 AM

I'm looking for songs along the theme of teaching -- the only example I can think of right now is "Do-Re-Mi" from The Sound of Music... Not finding Google helpful so far. There must be more! Any type of music is fair game.
posted by trillian to Media & Arts (24 answers total)

All the songs from School House rock? Fifty Nifty United States?
posted by Area Man at 11:53 AM on December 1, 2015 [6 favorites]

Schoolhouse Rock has lots of songs that teach you about grammar and American history.
posted by colfax at 11:53 AM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: Parts Of The Brain by Pinky and The Brain ?
posted by comealongpole at 11:59 AM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

The Alphabet Song (you know, to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star / Baa Baa Black Sheep) is an obvious one.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:01 PM on December 1, 2015

They Might Be Giants, on their kid's albums.
posted by artychoke at 12:05 PM on December 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

They Might Be Giants: Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) (and others).
posted by mama casserole at 12:07 PM on December 1, 2015

Response by poster: Aha, I should add that I'm looking for non-kids' music as well, like ... "Schadenfreude" from Avenue Q.
posted by trillian at 12:11 PM on December 1, 2015

My daughters both learned the days of the week and the months of the year from songs at daycare. The months of the year song was to the tune of "Ten Little Indians" and the days of the week to the tune of "Oh My Darling."
posted by SeedStitch at 12:12 PM on December 1, 2015

Best answer: The Elements Song (Tom Lehrer) and The Countries of the World (Animaniacs) are examples of songs that could conceivably teach something, but are really more impressive for the speed at which they're delivered.
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:14 PM on December 1, 2015

We sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Latin class, in Latin (caput, humeri, genua, digiti, genua, digiti - see? it worked.)

My Dog Has Fleas reminds me how to tune my ukulele, but disappointingly the words do not correlate to the strings being M, D, H, and F notes.
posted by Lou Stuells at 12:23 PM on December 1, 2015

Fifty Nifty United States!
posted by Stewriffic at 12:36 PM on December 1, 2015

It should be noted that Why Does the Sun Shine? contains inaccurate and out-of-date science, which TMBG corrected with their later song, Why Does the Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma)
posted by Ragged Richard at 12:51 PM on December 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

Aha, I should add that I'm looking for non-kids' music as well...

Hard 'n Phirm did a little anatomical primer on the subject of Holes. (NSFW)
posted by mammoth at 1:51 PM on December 1, 2015

I scored some extra points on exams in high school thanks to remembering lyrics from Mammal by They Might Be Giants and We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel.
posted by Jacqueline at 2:03 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

There was a whole series of Ballads for the Age of Science records from the late '50s/early '60s (where the TMBG song was originally from). Some of the science is probably outdated but some of it likely still holds up. They're not great songs, but they're catchy. All are available on Amazon (some through Prime) and iTunes.
posted by darksong at 3:05 PM on December 1, 2015

Luck of the Draw, from the musical Violet, will teach you the order of poker hands.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 3:17 PM on December 1, 2015

Not sure if it's what you're looking for but there are also songs on youtube that people have amended as learning aids. This is a Taylor Swift song about Newton's Laws
posted by kitten magic at 4:29 PM on December 1, 2015

Twinkle, twinkle, little star
I don't wonder what you are.
You're the cooling down of gasses
Turning into solid masses...
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:08 PM on December 1, 2015

Monty Python's Galaxy song!
posted by solotoro at 6:15 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not sure if it counts as useful information, but Tom Lehrer also sang the biography of Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel. (and - with even less usable information - Werner von Braun)

You could also do worse than singing along to the biography of Alexander Hamilton (not just this song, but the whole musical, honestly)

... which brings me to 1776, especially the song about The Triangle Trade (but most of the songs are informative and fun as well)
posted by Mchelly at 7:23 PM on December 1, 2015

"You put the Lime in the Coconut."
posted by quinndexter at 8:42 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

A couple from 7th grade:

"Helping verbs are all so right,
Being, been and must, may might,
Have, has, had and could, would, shall,
Helping verbs can be our pal."

(Yankee Doodle Dandy)
WITH, ON, FOR, AFTER, AT, BY, IN,
AGAINST, INSTEAD OF, NEAR, BETWEEN,
OFF, FROM, UNDER, DOWN, BELOW,
THROUGH, OVER, UP, ACCORDING TO.
ALONG, ACROSS, BEYOND, ABOUT, BEFORE, BEHIND, WITHIN, WITHOUT,
AMONG, AROUND, BENEATH, ABOVE, TOWARD, OFF, CONCERNING, INTO, OF.
BESIDE, ABOARD, DURING, UPON OUR PREPOSITIONS EVERYONE.

(This isn't the exact version I learned, but close enough.)
posted by bendy at 9:31 PM on December 1, 2015

My kids are forbidden to sing (or hum!) this earwig about the solar system where I can hear it. They do it on purpose.
posted by jacanj at 3:42 AM on December 2, 2015

Previous? Songs-like-Fifty-Nifty-United-States.
posted by paduasoy at 5:33 PM on December 3, 2015