Mammals of the Ocean: The Water Ape Hypothesis Set to Music

This is a song written and sung by T.H. Culhane when he was a science and multi-media teacher at Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles. It was produced and recorded with Byron DeLear at Ogden House Studios in Hollywood around 1995. David Grober, president of Motion Picture Marine, is also in the recording and took DeLear and Culhane and his students from the D.E.M.M.O. Productions program on the Motion Picture Marine Boat into the Ocean to video tape marine mammals and expose the inner city students to the marine environment for the first time. Unfortunately we don't have any of that early footage. Now T.H. brings his melodic-mnemonics songs around the world (Palestine and Israel are featured here) and teaches students the lessons by having them illustrate the lyrics with web images that they select. The first step is to create what is essentially a powerpoint presentation or video slide show of relevant images. The process of selecting and assembling the images reinforces the concepts and vocabulary. Different student teams will create different takes on the same songs. Advanced students continue by writing their own environmental songs in their own languages and illustrating with their own images and footage.


Lyrics:

Good morning class!
and welcome to D.E.M.M.O. Productions' Melodic-Mnemonics Education thru Music Video! Today we're going to study about Evolution... you know all about that stuff. But we've got an
alternative hypothesis to the one you've been learning! Ever come and think you might have come from the ocean?

(Mammals of the Ocean, Mammals of the Ocean)

Let's go!

In some ways we're more like the whale then we are like the ape
Maybe Charles Darwin he make him a big mistake
the natural selection always she operate
in a harsh new environment 'cause baby now that's what it takes

coming down from the trees was not enough, no, no, no, no...
to make us what you see things had to be tough (real tough!)
He threw us into the water to sink or swim
the adaptations we have make us...
Far more like... HIM!?

More like the
Mammals of the Ocean
Look at the hairless skin, woah-oh
Mammals of the Ocean
Look at the fat we've got within
(you mean the blubber, beneath the cover)
Mammals of the Ocean
Look at the downward pointing noise
(keeps out the water, when we go under)
Mammals of the Ocean
Look at the finger-webbing and the paddle like toes...

Why do we build our fine houses out down by the sea
If we came straight from the ape we would build in the trees!
We hang around in the bathtub long after we're clean...
When God said we're born from the water, baby
just what did he mean?
Unless we're...

Mammals of the Ocean
Why so much hair stacked only on top of the head?
Unless we're...
Mammals of the Ocean
While bobbing and breathing the sunstroke would have killed us... dead!
Unless we're
Mammals of the Ocean
What's with the eyebrows where all other monkeys are bare?
So water won't drop in our eyes as it drips from our hair...
Mammals of the Ocean

Na na na na na, yeah-eh, yeah-eh-eh,
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee yeah... yeah.... uh, uh-uh...

Our upright anatomy, more like the Manatee
Even the way we make love...
is more like the dolphin
who rescues us often
reminding us all where we're from...

Face down in cold water an ape really oughta
be drowned in a minute or two
but our reflex for diving keeps us humans thriving
when hunting like sea lions do...

(Key change)

Why else is sea food considered a delicacy?
Most other primates would rather eat fruit from the trees!
Why else do swimming pools signal high society?
Maybe Atlantis and Little Mermaids aren't just fantasy....

Mammals of the Ocean
I'm talking mammals, not fish...
We're Mammals of the Ocean...
I think that they ALL made a big mistake.
Mammals of the Ocean...
We're talking about YO' MAMMAL, man!
(Hey, don't be talking about my mamma that way, dig?)
(Just pullin' your fin, man...
of course we're doing it with a porpoise...)
Mammals of the Ocean
(my lips are sealed... and you fell for that hook, line and sinker...)
Mammals of the Ocean
Having a whale of a time here in Biology Class this time...
Now come on class, open your books up to page 377
and let's jam, come on, let's boogie down!!

I love Biology!!

Mammals of the Ocean.