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Song Parodies -> "Ytterby"

Original Song Title:

"Yesterday"

Original Performer:

The Beatles

Parody Song Title:

"Ytterby"

Parody Written by:

Phil Alexander

The Lyrics

OK, it's another educational parody... but interesting (I think, anyway). Ytterby is unique in that a small quarry in Sweden was where seven new elements were discovered, four of which are actually named after the place. The elements are (in order of ascending atomic number):

Y - Yttrium (39)
Gd - Gadolinium (64)
Tb - Terbium (65)
Ho - Holmium (67)
Er - Erbium (68)
Tm - Thulium (69)
Yb - Ytterbium (70)

...you might notice that apart from the first (which was the first discovered, too), they're all together - these are known as "rare earth" metals.

One minor pacing note: to get the line with the chemical symbols to scan, you need to sing the "Ho, Er" bit as though it had three syllables only (or pronounce Er as "er" rather than "Ee-ar"), but it was too close a match to miss.
Ytterby
What a fascinating place to be
Elementary discovery
They found a load in Ytterby

Yttrium
Gadolinium and Terbium
Also Holmium and Erbium
And Thulium, Ytterbium

Y, Gd, Tb, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb
Seven elements, all were found in Ytterby

Ytterby
Has a very rare geology
As Holmes says "elementary"
It's quite a place, is Ytterby



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Voting Results

 
Pacing: 4.8
How Funny: 4.8
Overall Rating: 4.8

Total Votes: 21

Voting Breakdown

The following represent how many people voted for each category.

    Pacing How Funny Overall Rating
 1   1
 1
 1
 
 2   0
 0
 0
 
 3   0
 0
 0
 
 4   1
 1
 1
 
 5   19
 19
 19
 

User Comments

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jack - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
your song is very nice but jhon is die
Olvan The Terrible - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
Brilliant! We need more element songs. Tom Lehrer was on to something there.
Dominic L. - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
Good parody, but the line with all the elements was confusing... took me a couple tries to get it right. 5's.
Kat - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
Not sure about funny, but very educational.
john ulvang - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
slick! Esoteric, but so is the word, "esoteric". Thanks for the explanation, I woulda thought you were making all those things up! Atomic weight = 555
Stuart McArthur - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
"Y, Gd, Tb, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb" is a great line, Phil! - and unlikely to be repeated - 555
alvin rhodes - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
very original concept...5s
Rick C - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
How, on earth, do you come up with this stuff? 555
Kristof Robertson - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
Oxygenius! Manganese-nificent! Sulfurrific! 555
Michael Pacholek - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
So should we GET READY for more RARE EARTH parodies? Will the TEMPTATION be strong enough?
Phil Alexander - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
Thanks everybody :-)
Rick - must admit that for this one I thought "I've had enough of doing humungous parodies like the American Pie/Nigerian Spam one, why not do a "Yesterday" parody as they're really short"... and (in a completely unconnected moment) I was trying to remember what the other elements found there were (apart from the ones named after the place- those are easy to remember). The rest came from about five minutes' googling.
Stuart - I couldn't believe that it fit that well: all you actually have to do is swallow a syllable in the Ho/Er bit
Olvan - I've done a few now... probably the most technical is this one: http://www.amiright.com/parody/70s/simonandgarfunkel13.shtml but there's also "Element the Eight", "He ain't heavy, He is helium" and possibly some more that I can't remember right now.
2Eagle - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
How does he come up with this stuff? He's smart and he reads. It was easy to imagine Tom Lehrer singing this. You're a genius.
martha - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
very interesting and clever stuff Phil!! reminds me of the olf Lehrere Classic .. he doesn't mention any of these ..must have been discovered after he wrote the song ....
Phil Alexander - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
Martha, I think you'll find that all the above are mentioned in "The Elements" - the second verse starts "There's Yttrium, Ytterbium, Actinium, Rubidium/And Boron, Gadolinium, Niobium, Iridium" - there's three straight off :-)
Thanks, 2Eagle (fx: head swells and has trouble fitting through the door...)
Patrick Yoness - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
I'm always up for a good Beatles parody.
Red Ant - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
Well, average funny until I choked a few times singing the symbols line, then I was laughing....at myself.
Johnny D - August 11, 2005 - Report this comment
Elementary, my dear Watson --- Brittyrbium is the mysterious isotope hidden in London's fish and chips...it can transmute a fish's name to "Wanda".
Jake A Ralphing (Luke Brattoni) - August 12, 2005 - Report this comment
Well then, call this one Wandafull! Short and sweet, Phil!
Peter Andersson - August 12, 2005 - Report this comment
Yesterday is a short song, but not that short, there's one more repetition at the end. Part from that this was a shocker, I didn't know this, and I'm from Sweden! OK, so I had almost 50 percent absence (mostly due to severe episodes of JRA (Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis)) in 8th grade where we went over the elements in both physics and chemistry, but anyway. Thanx for the enlightenment, I guess it's never to late to learn new things you already should know. (And never to late to be reminded that one should be happy have regained "normal" health).
PMS - August 14, 2005 - Report this comment
You never fail to educate and entertain.

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