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3000 Years Ago
The setting for "3000 Years Ago" is a recreation
of the photograph of Halsted, Osler, and Kelly
known as "3 Fates." The cherub from the Broedel
drawing is present as well for good measure.
Notice the resemblance to the following 2 photographs:
Samples of the Pithotomy song "3000 Years Ago" are available here.
Even with a rapid internet connection, it may take a couple of minutes to download,
so be patient. Be warned that this is not a professional quality recording,
and certainly not a professional quality performance. These
audio files were provided by Dr. William H. Jarrett, II and were recorded at the
1958 Show. These are the few verses that can be played in mixed company.
This is the opening of the song: (click here)
This little song of woe-begone
Bespeaks a parable
Everyone will now admit
Comes from the depths of Hell
3000 Years Ago
3000 Years Ago
We are the singers of the past
When Cleopatra reigned
No one knows how many men
That wench did drive insane
Boom ti-dee boom boom
ti-dee boom boom
3000 Years Ago
This verse is from the medical student perspective: (click here)
Urine, red count, white count, smear
Platelet count and stool
We grind out useless data
Yet we pay to go to school
The student is a busy man
At grinding out the pee
MacBeth's 3 witches were as good
At doctoring as he
This verse is written for Dr. Blalock imitating his Southern accent and
implied intellectual inferiority to Helen Taussig: (click here)
Now I'm not sure, but I believe
That this h're child is blue.
Oh, Helen, won't you help me, cuz
I don't know what to do.
Another sample: (click here)
Patients come to Hopkins
To get cured of many ills.
They hope to get some treatment
Or at least a few pink pills.
Instead they get a Wasserman,
A chest plate, and a Frei,
The motto is "Get all the tests
Before you let them die."
As performed at the end of the Pithotomy Show, "3000 Years Ago" contained countless verses,
most of which consisted of profane characterizations of faculty members.
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