Good morning John, it is Wednesday, November 3rd, "Song Wednesday", and this is a song that I wrote.
It's about Phineas Gage.
[music]
Oh Phineas Gage was 25 years old in 1848
And he liked his job working at the railroad but he had another fate.
He was blastin' rock when something distracted him
and he forgot to put the tamping sand in.
And he shoved the tamping rod into that little hole onto the blasting powder
and suddenly his entire left frontal lobe had been turned into clam chowderrrrrrrrr...
Oh this is the story of Phineas Gage who was stabbed in the brain
and once your frontal lobe has been destroyed you can never go home again.
A little while later Phineas Gage was sittin' on his bed
He told the doctor the tamping rod had shot straight through his head.
But the doctor could not believe what Phineas said
for if that were the case he surely would be dead.
But then Phineas had a coughing fit and a teacupful of brains fell out of his head
and that was more than the doctor could explain!
Oh this is the story of Phineas Gage who was stabbed in the brain
and once your frontal lobe has been destroyed you can never go home again
Well the doctor told the family to prepare for Gage's death
'cuz the one you take before your head gets stabbed is usually your last breath
And Phineas spent the next few months in bed
in and out of consciousness with a swelling in his head
But mere months after the accident he walked right down his stairs
as if having lost a quarter of his brain left him no worse for wear...
Oh this is the story of Phineas Gage who was stabbed in the brain
and once your frontal lobe has been destroyed you can never go home again
But, unfortunately for Phineas, our story won't end there
The reason we still know his name is the strangest part of this affair
After his brain was scrambled, his friends and family said
"This is no longer Phineas, there's a new man here instead"
And thus we know that operating on the brain need not cause death
And that what makes a person who he is is not the heart but the head...
Oh this is the story of Phineas Gage who was stabbed in the brain
and once your frontal lobe has been destroyed you can never go home again...
Oh Phineas Gage was 37 years old when he finally made his way back to his home and family
for he could tell the day of his death was finally creeping up on him
'cause he forgot to put the tamping sand in
and as is common in these cases of severe head trauma
seizures took their toll and put an end to this drama.
Thanks to Katherine and Lemon for helping me film that video; Lemon actually didn't help at all.
I'm sorry we didn't think to clean the lens beforehand...
Sorry that I have not addressed the somewhat pressing concern of whether or not you could be my Sing-a-ma-jig player;
that's simply because I am not entirely sure I know how to write for Sing-a-ma-jig.
Actually I think it's because I thought you were kidding.
But I now that I know that you're serious I'm going to do some research and figure out whether or not I can write for Sing-a-ma-jig.
John, I'll see you on Friday.
This is what happens when you're camera-manning and the dog is tied to you.
A tumbleweed just went over my Macbook.
I love Montana!