Occasional Songs For The Periodic Table – by George Hrab

When I heard that George Hrab had turned the Periodic Table into a musical opportunity, I had mixed feelings. The mixed feelings were of excitement to hear what George had come up with, and those of fear of revisiting my science class woes. You see, I hated chemistry at school… and college. You can probably imagine my horror when my chemistry nemesis came back to haunt me in my Masters year of university (I’d avoided it expertly during my undergrad years); I’d have to learn the thing for a key spectroscopy course! Bugger…

Why did I hate chemistry so much? It’s probably the same reason why I hated mathematics. It was hard, and I had better things to do (such as play on my Nintendo 64 and watch sci-fi). This all leads to the biggest conundrum of my education; why did I pursue physics, when I despised mathematics and chemistry so much, especially as numbers and chemicals are quite important in physics? I’ve got no clue, but I suspect this guy knows.

However, I think I now have a tiny love for the Periodic Table after listening to George Hrab’s epic rendition of “Occasional Songs For The Periodic Table”. I might be a bit late (as George completed this project last year), but I enjoyed it so much, I thought I’d share.

Listen in to the Geologic Podcast #72 (3rd July 2008) featuring the song “Occasional Songs For The Periodic Table” »

I’ve mentioned George Hrab’s music before as he sings the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast theme tune with the uber-smash hit “FAR”. Apart from being a fantastic musician, George’s intelligent humour is what cracks me up the most. “Occasional Songs For The Periodic Table” is a stunning effort, in fact, it was so good that I actually stopped writing and did some listening for a change. I also lost track of time, which was good, as George lovingly performs a song for each element from Hydrogen to Ununoctium… 118 elements. Apparently, the project started out as a “little ditty” for each of the elements for the Geologic podcast, but as I’m a late Geo-starter, I missed them and just listened to the whole lot instead. In one sitting.

There’s pretty much every musical style in “Occasional…” and it is tough to pick out my favourite element, as they each have a different character, but for some reason, carbon, einsteinium and argon tickled me. Oh, and californium (and newyorkium).

If you’ve already heard the song, you’ll know what I mean, but if you haven’t heard it, you should. You might gain a new-found respect for the Periodic Table, as I have.

A special thanks to @MsInformation for getting the links to me, I doubt I would have found George’s “Occasional Songs For The Periodic Table” otherwise!