It’s been brought to my attention that I’ve missed a Canadian musical icon: the sweet dulcet tones of Stompin’ Tom Connors! Most may know him for his Hockey Song, but when he’s not singing about sports or condiments, he’s paying an homage to those pesky bugs.
Stompin’ Tom really is one of the great lyricists, with some truly fantastic songs. The Bug Song is right up there, and bound to buzz around your head for another day or two at least, despite the rather negative tone towards our six-legged friends!
It’s that time of the week again, and I’m keeping it short and sweet as I work on a couple of other posts (I promise, they’ll be out soon… seriously this time). Today’s piece has seen some love in pop culture, being featured on the TV shows such as Gossip Girl and Big Love, and on the big screen during Life As We Know It. Of course they’ve hit the real big time with a feature here on Tuesday Tunes!
Alright, they also win points for one of the most random videos featured, and that’s saying quite a bit… How come I never find tomatoes or carrots suspended from trees while I’m collecting in the summer? Wrong neck of the woods I suppose. Well, that’s it for this week, but join me next week as we continue to explore the musical landscape in search of sweet insect songs! Fleacrest, out!
Well, this week I don’t have anything witty or pressing to pass along. Busy time of year, and a new major Diptera paper was just published which I’ll be going over soon! Until then enjoy Dragonflies by Red House Painters.
It’s party time down in The Big Easy, with eusocial gatherings in the streets, plenty of ethanol being wasted (i.e. not being used for insect preservation) and females displaying mammary glands for petroleum-based jewelery (or so I’ve heard). In celebration, here’s the Dukes of Dixieland playing the entomological fight song, “When the Ants go Marching In”!
Wait, you mean it’s actually about SAINTS, not ants? And it’s a traditional funeral song? Shit. Well, in that case, enjoy EL-P featuring New Orleans resident (and Academy Award Winner) Trent Reznor – Flyentology (I think I might start referring to myself as a Flyentologist now…)
There are a lot of insect songs out there, but as you may have noticed, the videos that go along with those songs don’t always feature their namesakes. The music video for today’s song however, goes above and beyond, and makes the insect the star of the show!
In fact, because this insect is so heavily featured, get ready to compete for some BioPoints! The first person to correctly identify the family (5 pts) and provide an educated guess on the genus (5 pts) of the insect in question will score some points towards a framed photo from the Biodiversity in Focus library! Also, if you know what species of insect is illustrated on the lead singer at the end of the video, another 5 pts is yours!
I find tattoos fascinating works of art, and there are some pretty spectacular biology tattoos out there! Entomological tattoos however seem to be much scarcer (other than the much loved butterflies which everyone likes). So, if you can provide proof of an entomologically-related tattoo (throw a link in the comments section), I’ll give you 25 Biopts for your dedication!
UPDATE: To get BioPoints for the tattoos, the tattoo needs to be on your body. Googling “bug tattoos” won’t work (2 pts to Don J. for trying it though and making me modify the rules).
Welcome to a special Valentine’s-Day-Hangover Tuesday Tunes! You know the Valentine’s Hangover: the sugar crash from too many cinnamon hearts and boxed chocolates, itchy eyes and throat from all that unseasonal flower pollen, and don’t forget the sore back from sleeping on the couch because you innocently thought your significant other was lusting for another insect net! Everyone knows the best cure for a regular hangover is to keep on drinking*, so today I bring you the Valentine’s day equivalent: sickly-sweet pop music!
Some may consider the Jonas Brothers a plague upon their ears, but today’s musical selection is equally annoying for those living in the southern USA. That’s right, the springtime scourge of motorists, the Lovebug! Not truly a “bug” in the entomological sense, Lovebugs (Plecia nearctica) are in fact flies in the family Bibionidae. These flies emerge on mass in the spring and late summer, immediately begin swarming looking for a mate, and can remain in copula for hours when they find that special someone (hence, the common name). These swarms can reach overwhelming proportions, obscuring windshields, clogging air intakes, and their acidic bodies can ruin vintage car body work if their dead bodies are left to dry. There’s even an urban legend that University of Florida researchers created these “pests” and unleashed them on the public (note this isn’t much different from the origins of the Jonas Brothers…)
That song certainly contains more cheese than last night’s fondue, but I think we’re all over our Valentine’s Day hangover!
I can’t say I planned on featuring both of Disney’s poster children in the first few weeks of this series, so I think the next few weeks will be devoted to some music that will rock the sickly sweet detox program! Fleacrest, out!
There’s one more major insect order left to cover on this first round of Tuesday Tunes, and there’s no lack of songs to choose from! The butterflies are certainly the most easily recognized insects, and probably the most loved overall by the public, leading to a lot of artists aiming to capitalize on their popularity. Watch for quite a number of lepidopteran features in the future!
Tonight we start with the most recognized piece from Puccini’s 1904 opera Madame Butterfly, Un Bel Dì Vedremo. Although this piece is not explicitly entomological, it’s sung by the title character of the opera, and that’s close enough!
Fun fact: the opening notes of this aria send our cat into hiding. Apparently she’s not one for Puccini! Fleacrest, out!
It’s not often an artist manages to fill their song with as many insect references as today’s song does! In fact, let’s just take a look at the first verse as an example:
Entomology is a science, and like all sciences, experimentation is the heart and soul that keeps the hemolymph cycling! Whether its a taxonomist testing their species concepts with a new specimen recovered on their latest excursion, or an IPM specialist running field trials against the latest threat to our farms, anyone who takes the time to observe an insect soon finds themselves asking questions and searching for answers.
But all in life is not science, and for as long as the curious have pursued answers, there have been those that have experimented with style, art, and of course, music. There are artists out there blurring the lines between science and art, and likewise, there are those which experiment with music, taking listeners to places they may not normally tread. Today I hope you’ll take the chance to broaden your horizons a little, and enjoy the music of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.
Besides the eccentric band name, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum started off right with the arthropod crowd by performing their first set for a banana slug! That trend is continued with Cockroach, an ode to an insect reviled by most.
It may not be for everyone, but I hope this song will spring to mind the next time you see that cockroach dash for the shadows, and maybe cause a pause before the stomp! Fleacrest, out!
What’s the sound of POP (other than the most unfortunate of insects underfoot)? None other than the Queen of Teen, Miley Cyrus! Although the screams of adoring preteen fans may confuse passing cicadas, this week we’re sharing a song with the most noble of insects in a position that many of those preteens would love to be: Fly On The Wall.
Who wouldn’t want to have the ability to latch onto a wall with their tarsal claws and empodia like a fly? Who needs a seat at the rock show when you can attach to the stage itself, providing a unique vantage point right in the midst of the show? Of course many flies wouldn’t be able to actually hear the music (lacking a timpanic organ and all), but that’s beside the point! While I’d personally prefer not to be a fly on the wall of a Miley Cyrus concert, I salute her for bringing some Diptera love to the next generation of entomologists!
Thanks for tuning in, and if you’ve got a favourite ento-song, drop a request in the comments! Fleacrest, out!
It’s been brought to my attention that I’ve missed a Canadian musical icon: the sweet dulcet tones of Stompin’ Tom Connors! Most may know him for his Hockey Song, but when he’s not singing about sports or condiments, he’s paying an homage to those pesky bugs.