This post is part of #chemsummer blog carnival (C&EN powered). What’s better than a good summer song? Probably more than 170 chemistry related songs, but that’s another story.

One of my favorite “lightheartedness” (does this word exists?) summer song is “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry. Whistling this song while biking to the university it’s amazing. And, come on, the upright bass, the blown bottle, the stereo sound, the 70s mustaches…. This song is simply perfect. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here the original song: (WARNING: it’s addictive)

And that’s the chemistry version of the song. Feel free to sing along (if you record it and put it on youtube it will be even more amazing):

In the summer time when the student are gone

You can stay in the lab

like an empty home

When the time is right

You got products, you got products on your mind

Have a solvent, have a hood

Go there and synthesize it pretty good

If there are more spots, purify it well

If there are no spots, you’ve lost I can feel

Speed along the lane

Do a ton or a ton and twenty-five

When the sun goes down

You can make it, you can make it, that’s your life

We’re not bad people, but we are dirty and we are on caffeine

We love every solvent even the nasty bad benzene

When the weather’s fine

We’re in the lab or we do some spectroscopy

We’re always tired

Life’s in the lab, yeah, that’s our philosophy

Synthesize along with us, dee dee dee dee dee

Da da da da da, year we’re che-mi-sts

Da da da dee da doo dee da dee da dee da da, yeah

Da da da da da, de da da dee da da

Alright

When winter’s here, yeah, it’s promotion time

Bring your booze, wear your clean labcoat ’cause it will be soon labtime

And we’ll start again

Synthesizing and purifying some other stuff

If it’s black, if it’s grey

I don’t care if it is good for an X-ray

In the summer time when the weather is hot

Most of your solvent bottles for the pressure will pop

When the weather’s right

You got data, you got data on your mind

Have a drink, have a chat

Check the data for any correlation you can find

If the data fit, write it down on your book

If the data is crap, back to lab and cook

Speed along the synthesis

Do a turn or return to step twenty-five

When the sun goes down

You can sleep, you can sleep in the lab

We’re not bad people, but we are dirty and we are on caffeine

We love every solvent even the nasty bad benzene

When the weather’s fine

We’re in the lab or we do some spectroscopy

We’re always tired

Life’s in the lab, yeah, that’s our philosophy

Synthesize along with us, dee dee dee dee dee

Da da da da da, year we’re che-mi-sts

Da da da dee da doo dee da dee da dee da da, yeah