Fermentation!
(To the tune of "Oh Susannah!")
Copyright 2008 Tony Rianprakaisang
I am very pleased that Mr. David Simmons has made a professional recording of this song (complete song downloadable HERE) and others can be downloaded HERE. You will need to unzip the file to release the MP3. I am providing all songs for free download, but hope you will support this effort by purchasing my Metabolic Melody albums or calendar at the URLs at the bottom of the lyrics to this song.

Oh, late last night I went to jog
when everything was still
I came upon a gravel road
a-windin’ up the hill

I don’t know why I did it but
I played a game with death
Ran up that hill in double time
And held in all my breath

Fermentation!
I need some NAD+
my cells are lackin’ oxygen
But using ATP

‘bout half way up I felt the burn
My hip down to my knee
if only I had stayed awake
In biochemistry

Then I’d have had a warning, but
regrets were just too late
I stood in pain - my body was
reducing pyruvate!

Fermentation!
I need some NAD+
my cells are lackin’ oxygen
But using ATP

Well up came my professor who
was trailin’ close behind
he told me how fermenting was
a process most unkind

Oh ATP is energy
It’s keeping you alive
It’s mostly made by protons mov-
ing through the complex five

Fermentation!
I need some NAD+
my cells are lackin’ oxygen
But using ATP

In making ATP a pro-
ton gradient is key
to ADP’s phosphoryla-
tion, oxidatively

Electrons pass through complex four
And oxygen, you know
picks up four more electrons and
makes double H2O

Fermentation!
I need some NAD+
my cells are lackin’ oxygen
But using ATP

I hope that you can clearly see
Exactly what I meant
That oxygen is needed for
The proton gra-di-ent

your muscles work in overdrive
And use up ATP
you might be breathin’ hard but lack
sufficient energy

Fermentation!
I need some NAD+
my cells are lackin’ oxygen
But using ATP

You’re in a heap o’ trouble and
this breath may be your last
if you can’t make some ATP
and NAD+ real fast

It’s lactate dehydrogenase
To save the day, you see
Turn pyruvate to lactate and
Produce more NAD+!

Fermentation!
I need some NAD+
my cells are lackin’ oxygen
But using ATP

The NAD+’s important, Are
You gettin’ all of this?
it gets fed back into the path-
way of glycolysis”

it hit my ear, it was so clear
and all made sense to me
Athough I had no oxygen
I still made ATP

Fermentation!
I need some NAD+
my cells are lackin’ oxygen
But using ATP

For all he’d done I took my prof
to sit down for a drink
admitting that his lesson ear-
lier had made me think

I took a swig of ale
And grinning wide, I said with glee
Oh, fermentation hurts but all in all
It’s fine by me

Fermentation!
I need some NAD+
my cells are lackin’ oxygen
But using ATP

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