Parasite Fight Song
copyright 2001 by Tim Griffin

(to the tune of The Victors by Louis Elbel, more commonly known as the Michigan football fight song)

We are your parasites
Your ticks, leeches, fleas, and lice
And we find it very nice
To suck on your blood (Blood! Blood! Blood!)

We can live anywhere
Your skin, muscles, lungs or hair
But when people find us there
They start to curse and swear (How rude!)

Parasites can be germs
Bacteria, bugs, or worms
We penetrate your epidermis
Then we start to eat (Blood! Blood! Blood!)

I met a guy who had
A fifteen foot tapeworm
Growing in his intestine
From eating uncooked meat

If you want us for friends
Then please never wash your hands
Or hair so we can get in there
And ride you everywhere (Blood! Blood! Blood!)

And also when you eat
Please don’t fully cook your meat
Give us a break, we’re in your steak
You might kill us, for goodness’ sake!

We are your parasites
Mosquitos, hookworms, flies and skin mites
We’d like to take a little bite
Out of you (Blood! Blood! Blood!)

Some people say we’re vicious
But you are so delicious
That’s why with every bite
We’re proud to be your parasites!

Notes

Most curricular materials pretty much ignore parasites because they are so incredibly disgusting. So why do kids love learning about them? Same reason.

A small clarification is in order here: I was approached by a parasitologist after a show. He explained that technically, a mosquito is a micro-predator rather than a parasite. He urged me not to change the song though, as the difference is sufficiently hair-splitting that he considers the song right enough to leave it as is. So I’m not changing it. Still, it gets under my skin to find I was less than fully accurate.

Here are some standards from the NGSS and the NRC’s Framework for K-12 Science Education addressed by this song:

Third Grade:

• 3-LS1-1. Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
• 3-LS3-2. Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.
• LS4.C. For any particular environment, some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Fourth Grade:

• 4.LS1.1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
• LS1.A: Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

Fifth Grade:

• LS2.A. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life.

Middle School:

• MS-LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
• MS-LS2-2. Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
• MS-LS2-3. Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem. The transfer of energy can be tracked as energy flows through a natural system.

Chords:
D, G, A. Simple.