“Perhaps the only doo-wop song sung in Latin”

Let’s all lie down quietly on the floor with something cool draped over our eyes and listen to this for a while.

“”De Brevitate Vitae” (Latin: “On the Shortness of Life”), more commonly known as “Gaudeamus Igitur” (“So Let Us Rejoice”) or just “Gaudeamus,” is a popular academic commercium song in many Western countries, mainly sung or performed at university graduation ceremonies. Despite its use as a formal graduation hymn, it is a jocular, light-hearted composition that pokes fun at university life. The song is thought to originate in a Latin manuscript from 1287. It is in the tradition of carpe diem (“seize the day”) with its exhortations to enjoy life.”

Stressing the “jocular, light-hearted” aspect of the thing, and leaving out the reminders of mortality, of course. Just nice to have Latin doo-wop’d at one, every now and again.