Darwinian Playlist Winner

Results are in! Elyse and I have listened, made notes, compared notes and finally picked the winner of this month’s contest.  It took us a good long while, since all the entries were top notch, but we bit the bullet and here are the results.

Runner-ups (complete with comments from submitter):

Tarrkid’s Playlist:

The Minnow and the Trout – A Fine Frenzy (the chorus is blatantly pro-evolution)
Big Bang Theory Theme – Barenaked Ladies (duh)
Survival – Yes
Apeman – The Kinks
Dear God – XTC (veering a little away from evolution, but you can’t deny this song’s stance and power)
Shock the Monkey – Peter Gabriel
What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
Also Sprach Zarathustra – Richard Strauss (mostly because of where it was used, but also it’s backstory)
Why Does The Sun Shine? – They Might Be Giants
Think For Yourself – The Beatles

Zbfelt’s Playlist:

1. Evolve – Ani DiFranco (duh)
2. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger – Daft Punk (Survival of the fittest)
3. Ornithology – Charlie Parker (Study of birds)
4. Changes – David Bowie  (I’ve never realized that this song was about evolution before! After all what is evolution if not changes in gene frequency.)
5. I Will Survive – Aretha Franklin (Obvious survival of the fittest reference)
6. Organic Coast – Hawksley Workman (On the Galapagos)
7. The Adoration of Earth – Igor Stravinsky (If there is one thing that Darwin has taught me, it is to have an adoration of the Earth and everything on it.)
8. Pithecanthropus Erectus – Charles Mingus (One of the first known specimens of Homo erectus. “Upright ape-man”)
9. I Could Write a Book – Rodgers/Hart (And boy did he ever)
10. Respect – Aretha Franklin (Darwin should be given the utmost of this song title. “Cdesign propentists” upset me.)

And the winner!

Ashley.Ele {insert confetti and nosiemakers here}

1. Gourds – Fossil Contender

“Well, I got a knuckle, honey, and you got the fin
But we don’t even know if this thing used to walk or swim.”

2. Dirty Dozen Brass Band – The Monkey

“Now, three monkeys sat in a coconut tree
Discussing things that are said to be
Said one to the other, ‘Now listen you two
There’s a sick rumor that can’t be true
That man descended from our noble race
Why the very idea is a big disgrace
Why no monkey ever deserted his wife
Starved her baby and ruined her life.’”

–Later covered by Elvis Costello & The Imposters as “Monkey To Man”

3. New York Dolls – Dance Like A Monkey

“Your design’s so intelligent
Ain’t no way that was an accident
Come on shake your monkey hips
My pretty little creationist …
Evolution is so obsolete
Gotta stomp your hands and clap your feet
You gotta dance like a monkey, dance like a monkey!”

4. Pearl Jam – Do The Evolution

“I’m ahead, I’m a man
I’m the first mammal to wear pants, yeah
I’m at peace with my lust
I can kill ’cause in God I trust, yeah
It’s evolution, baby.”

5a. Bad Religion – The World Won’t Stop

“You’re only as elegant as your actions let you be
A piece of chaos related phylogenetically
To every living organ system, we’re siblings, don’t you see?
The world rotates and will revolve without you constantly
Two billion years thus far, now mister here you are
An element in a sea of enthalpic organic compounds
The world won’t stop without you.”

5b. Bad Religion – Part IV (The Index Fossil)

“When the human clock stops and the world stops ticking
We’ll be an index fossil buried in our own debris.”

5c. Bad Religion – Modern Man

“Modern man, evolutionary betrayer
Modern man, ecosystem destroyer
Modern man, destroy yourself in shame
Modern man, pathetic example of earth’s organic heritage
Just a sample of carbon-based wastage
Just a fucking tragic epic of you and I.”

–Combining the 3 songs into 1 slot since none of the songs are specifically about evolution, but all reference evolution in some way.

6. Minutemen – History Lesson

“100,000 years ago
Homo sapiens stood erect
Mind empty, mind fresh
Created love and hate
Created God and anti-God
Human slaughtered human for power.”

7. Louis Prima – I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)
–from The Jungle Book

“I wanna be like you
I wanna walk like you
Talk like you, too
You’ll see it’s true
An ape like me
Can learn to be human, too.”

8. Devo – Jocko Homo

“God made man
But he used the monkey to do it
Apes in the plan
Were all here to prove it
I can walk like an ape
Talk like an ape
I can do what a monkey can do
God made man
But a monkey supplied the glue.”

9. Bruce Springsteen – Part Man, Part Monkey

“They prosecuted some poor sucker in these United States
For teaching that man descended from the apes
They could’ve settled that case without a fuss or fight
If they’d seen me chasin’ you, sugar, through the jungle last night
They’d of called in that jury and a 1-2-3 said
Part man, part monkey, definitely.”

10. Johnny Clegg & Savuka – Scatterlings Of Africa

“Ancient bones from Olduvai
Echoes of the very first cry
‘Who made me, here and why?
Beneath this copper sun.’
My very first beginnings
Beneath the copper sky
Lie deeply buried
In the dust of Olduvai.”

Hurray for Ashley.Ele! Thanks for your wicked entry. Please fill out the contact form with your mailing information and Elyse or I (depending on where you live) will send you your awesome present of candy and love!

Thanks to everyone who participated!