Tom Lehrer, the American musician and songwriter known for his humorous and satirical songs, brought a unique twist to learning chemistry with his “Periodic Table Song.” Set to the tune of the Major-General’s Song from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, this song lists all the chemical elements known at the time it was written, making memorizing the periodic table surprisingly catchy and entertaining.
Lehrer’s ingenious lyrics transform the often daunting list of chemical elements into a memorable musical piece. The rapid-fire delivery, mirroring the original Gilbert and Sullivan tune, challenges listeners to keep up while simultaneously embedding the names of elements into their minds. From “antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium” to “cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium,” the song covers a vast array of the periodic table.
The song isn’t just a list; it’s a clever performance that highlights Lehrer’s wit and musical talent. It has become a popular tool in education, proving that learning about science can be both informative and fun. Many teachers and students have embraced the “Periodic Table Song” as an engaging method to tackle the challenge of memorizing the elements.
Here are the complete lyrics to Tom Lehrer’s “The Elements,” perfect for singing along and learning:
**The Elements**
**(To be sung to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s *A Modern Major General*)**
by Tom Lehrer
There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,
Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium
And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium
And gold, protactinium and indium and gallium
And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.
There’s yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium
And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium
And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,
And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium and barium.
There’s holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium
And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium
And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,
Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and caesium
And lead, praseodymium, and platinum, plutonium,
Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,
and Tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,
And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.
There’s sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium
And also mendelevium, einsteinium and nobelium
And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium
And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, Tungsten, tin and sodium.
These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,
And there may be many others but they haven’t been discovered.Tom Lehrer’s “Periodic Table Song” remains a timeless classic, demonstrating the power of music to make even complex subjects like chemistry accessible and enjoyable. Whether you’re a student trying to memorize the elements or simply a fan of clever songwriting, this song is a brilliant example of education meeting entertainment. Explore the lyrics, listen to Lehrer’s performance, and discover a fun way to engage with the building blocks of our universe.
