A hundred year old copy of "On The Origin of Species." Photo Credit: Flickr user Cradle of Humankind
2009 has been a big year for Charles Darwin as it marks his 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the release of On the Origin Of Species. He’s been getting a lot of attention in the science community this year and now a literary minded group of musicians have decided to pay tribute in their own creative way. Darwin’s work was the November book for the Bushwick Book Club, a Brooklyn-based group that meets monthly to play songs inspired by the chosen piece of literature.
Susan Hwang, the founder and organizer of the unconventional and quirky book club, contributed two songs to this month’s event, “Sexual Selection” and “Eukariots Do It” that give some new perspective on the dating game. “Eukariots Do It” explains sexual selection like this- “We’re all creations in an in-between stage, unwinding that helix to get that remix, to get that genetic exchange. You can stay home with your remote, if you’re dead or boring or a prokariot. Eurkariots do it”
Here are Susan Hwangs songs. Warning: The songs contain explicit language and, obviously, are of a sexual nature.
“Eukariots Do It” by Susan Hwang
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“Sexual Selection” by Susan Hwang
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Sweet Soubrette’s contribution, called “Humble Bee”, has two sources: Origin of Species and Darwin’s good friend Thomas Henry Huxley’s response to Origin of Species. Lead singer Ellia Bisker’s soft voice over the twangy sound of her ukulele and the bird-like bell sounds of Mike Dobson’s glockenspiel tells of the humble bees’ role in preserving the power of the British Empire. Darwin asserts that the clover and heartsease populations are dependent on the population of the humble bee (aka bumble bee), as the humble bee alone can fertilize them. The humble bee population is dependent on the field mice, which have an appetite for the humble bee’s honey and larvae. The field mice population is kept in check by the house cats that hunt them. Therefore, Darwin concluded, the population of house cats determines the population of certain flowers.
Darwin’s friend and champion of Origin of Species Thomas Henry Huxley furthered the societal ties somewhat playfully by bringing the old maids into the mix in his series of essays titled Darwiniana. He explains that since the old maids keep the cats which determine the number of red clovers, the old maids are actually responsible for the flower population. Many claim that Huxley extended the example even more by declaring that the old maids are responsible for the security of the British Empire. Here’s the somewhat silly reasoning- the red clovers feed cattle and the cattle feed the British soldiers. It is the soldiers who keep the British Empire intact, meaning that the old maids who keep the cats (who, according to Darwin keep the flower population up) are responsible for the continuation of Great Britain.
Ellia Bisker’s tune is so enjoyable because it explains the web of dependence succinctly and sums it all up so well in these lines- “There is nothing you can do that doesn’t pull another thread, it might be better not to move at all, and call in sick instead. You have to think of the outcome when you get out of bed.” Here it is:
“Humble Bee” by Sweet Soubrette
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I asked Hwang how Origins of Species, the club’s first non-fiction selection, stood up against the fiction they had been reading this year. She said it reads well and that she was “surprised by how much fodder for songs there was, but then not really, considering it’s about everything in the world and how it’s connected.” While none of the musicians finished reading the entire text, mostly due to time constraints, they were able to contribute a range of responses to Darwin’s work. Some of the songs are funny, political, or didactic; some tell a story about Darwin and his work and some are personal and emotional responses. “Love Letter to Darwin” by Anna Leuchtenberger is one of the funnier ones; a dramatic love song that declares love for the author of the book that “makes things bloom.” One of the darker, more emotional songs is “Everybody’s Going To Die” by Jonathan Vincent. Vincent decided to focus on some of the more negative social interpretations of Darwin’s work, namely Social Darwinism and all the forms that it takes. The song, described by Vincent as an “improvised spurt,” channels the social competition that some prescribe to society from Darwin’s work in a very raw way. This song and others are below. They are all musically enjoyable in their own way and rich in Darwin-love. Warning: Some of the songs contain explicit language.
“Love Letter to Darwin” by Anna Leuchtenberger
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“Everybody’s Going to Die” by Jonathan Vincent
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“Humans Aren’t Z: An Anti-Millennialist Chant” by Dave Novak
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“The Darwin Variations” by Maria Sonevytsky
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The Bushwick Book Club will be releasing a compilation CD in January of their first year of literary music. More information on the club can be found here.
