Gary sez: Tom Glazer died. Who
is Tom Glazer, you ask? He was a silly folk singer who wrote and recorded
the classic song "On Top of Spaghetti".
But he was so much more than that. He also performed on a series of (sadly
out of print) science records in the late 50s/early 60s that included
wonderful songs like "What Is The Milky Way", "What Is Gravity", "Kinetic
And Potential Energy", "How Clouds Are Formed", "Thumbnail Sketch Of Atomic
Energy" (my personal favorite) and the classic (popularized by They Might Be
Giants) "Why Does the Sun Shine?". These songs are probably the best, and
kitschiest, example of edutainment ever.
You can find MP3s of his work (written by Lou Singer and Hy Zaret) at
http://www.acme.com/jef/science_songs/.
Who can beat the simple beauty of:
The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where Hydrogen is built into Helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees
My kids can sing it.
Mourn Tom Glazer. He sang us through the nuclear age!
