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Song Parodies -> "Mathmatical Pi"

Original Song Title:

"American Pie"

 (MP3)
Original Performer:

Don McLean

Parody Song Title:

"Mathmatical Pi"

Parody Written by:

Double E

The Lyrics

A long, long time ago
I can still remember
When the Bible told that pi was three
There was no value at that time
Like 3.14159
And 3 worked as pi's value for a while
But Archimedes, he did shiver.
And with each new value he'd deliver
Much better precision
Than anyone before him
He did not know what pi would be,
But his value was better than 3
So, he was smarter, can't you see
The day our lives were pied
So

My, my that's one large piece of pi
Not just 3.1415926535...
897932385 (actually 46, but it rounds)
Singing that we'll never learn all of pi
That we'll never learn all of pi

In the year 150 AD
There came this guy named Ptolemy
Who learned pi as 3.1416
And then the year 1430 came
al-Kashi had 14 digits to his name
But so many more were still to come.
Well, then in 1593
Romanus brought the total to 15
And just three years from then
Van Cuelen added digits: 10 + 10
At the end of the seventeenth century
Sharp added 36 more digits to be
But they all still need to see
The day our lives were pied
I started singing

My, my that's one large piece of pi
Not just 3.1415926535...
897932385
Singing that we'll never learn all of pi
That we'll never learn all of pi

And for six years pi hadn't grown
It was just sitting, like a stone
That's not the way it'd always be
When Machin came in 1706
This dormancy he sought out to fix
When he came with 100 numbers
Oh and the first one to make a mistake
Was de Lagny in 17-1-8
He had one hundred twelve
But 15 he had to shelve
To end this century with a roar
In 17 and 94
Von Vega added 24
Before our lives were pied
We were singing

My, my that's one large piece of pi
Not just 3.1415926535...
897932385
Singing that we'll never learn all of pi
That we'll never learn all of pi

Rutherford came in 1824,
He came up with much more than before
But he messed the last 56
He tried again in '53
And had right digits, 440
And they all were correct on this attempt
Now the next hundred years showed little work
When Shanks had just a tiny quirk
He had to the 700th place
But he miscalculated one case
So has last 200 were all wrong
And a positive gain took way too long
We're halfway through this really long song
The day we all were pied
We started singing

My, my that's one large piece of pi
Not just 3.1415926535...
897932385
Singing that we'll never learn all of pi
That we'll never learn all of pi

In 1946 Ferguson came and
Was the last man to calculate by hand
And computers entered in to play
Well, these computers, they worked quick
With Ferguson being to first to stick
Numbers in, and learn more of pi.
Well, that day he learned 710
Six months later he tried again
He got eight hundred eight
Cause people just can't wait
And in September 1999
The most digits that I could find
Were discovered by artificial mind
The day we all were pied
It was singing

My, my that's one large piece of pi
Not just 3.1415926535...
897932385
Singing that we'll never learn all of pi
That we'll never learn all of pi

The digits they discovered then,
They'll discover them and more again,
Were more than would fit in this song
Two hundred six billion and more
158 million and then four
Hundred thirty thousand digits, they do know
And in math class the students know
That pi will never end although
People keep on learning
Until the world stops turning
I hope you all enjoyed my song,
Though I admit it's way too long
If you know the words sing along
The day we are were pied.
And we were singing

My, my that's one large piece of pi
Not just 3.1415926535...
897932385
Singing that we'll never learn all of pi
That we'll never learn all of pi.

We were singing
My, my that's one large piece of pi
Not just 3.1415926535...
897932385
Singing that we'll never learn all of pi.

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 LittleLots
Matches Pace of
Original Song: 
How Funny: 
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Voting Results

 
Pacing: 4.0
How Funny: 4.2
Overall Rating: 4.2

Total Votes: 178

Voting Breakdown

The following represent how many people voted for each category.

    Pacing How Funny Overall Rating
 1   21
 19
 18
 
 2   4
 7
 7
 
 3   17
 6
 11
 
 4   55
 29
 22
 
 5   81
 117
 120
 

User Comments

Comments are subject to review, and can be removed by the administration of the site at any time and for any reason.

Royce Miller - January 31, 2003 - Report this comment
Wow!
x-a-x - January 31, 2003 - Report this comment
pure genius.
Royce Miller - January 31, 2003 - Report this comment
By the way, is there a specific place in the Bible that refers to pi?
Billy Florio - January 31, 2003 - Report this comment
its funny, pacings a bit off...now the question should be asked, how many parodies about Pi are there here? I think 4
Joe - January 31, 2003 - Report this comment
Here's the info I got A little known verse of the Bible reads: And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about. (I Kings 7, 23) The same verse can be found in II Chronicles 4, 2. It occurs in a list of specifications for the great temple of Solomon, built around 950 BC and its interest here is that it gives p = 3.
Thunderbolt - February 01, 2003 - Report this comment
All I can say is wow.
Michael Pacholek - February 02, 2003 - Report this comment
Talk about "fuzzy math." Only a total nerd would like this one. In other words, 64.215670834 percent of the people who post here! Myself included. I wonder if I should look forward to what you could do with "A Boy Named Sue" or "We Didn't Start the Fire."
Graham Lester - February 07, 2003 - Report this comment
Not only insane but also informative.
Rice Cube - February 07, 2003 - Report this comment
I laughed out loud :-D I can't believe you actually found the digits of pi that could rhyme...AND pace! Insane.
Little Lion - February 08, 2003 - Report this comment
AMAZING! I wanna send this to my math teacher!
Golden Pirana - February 11, 2003 - Report this comment
All I can say is: HOLY COW! Good work, Don!
SAM - February 12, 2003 - Report this comment
Mathematical Pi by Double E shows outstanding creativity as well as mathematical knowledge It is refreshing to see how much time and concentration went into a worthwhile endeavor. Double E is definitely going places!!
Jeff Reuben - February 13, 2003 - Report this comment
Something about PI songs on this site...never could have thought of that much to write about it. Good job!
Matthew - February 18, 2003 - Report this comment
Too bad your English skills aren't like your Maths skills. Exactly how do you spell mathmatical ? PS. Very clever song!
Double E - February 18, 2003 - Report this comment
My PSAT scores told me the same thing. I realized last week that I might have spelled it incorrectly, so I checked in a few places, and saw it spelled both ways. I finally checked a dictionary, and it is spelled 'mathematical.' Unfortunately, I couldn't spell my way into a paper bag...
Hawk of Sweden - March 06, 2003 - Report this comment
Uhhh, the parody was allright, I think... Here's some info... I heard that Pi was the first useful number in math, thought to be completely irregular.... I.e. there are absolutely no mathematical or logical order of the digits, whatsoever.... You have no idea of guessing which digit will come after the last one... Hope you could understand what I am trying to say here... English is my second language...
Michael Pacholek - March 07, 2003 - Report this comment
That's OK, Hawk, it's the second language of a lot of people in this country, including Georgie Bush.
Billy Florio - March 07, 2003 - Report this comment
thats a cheap shot Michael, at least you could have said its the second language of all the people in Florida that voted for Buchannion ;-) .....btw..how the hell do you spell Buchannion? lol
Helen - April 12, 2003 - Report this comment
*big grin* that was brilliant!
Eric Andrews - April 18, 2003 - Report this comment
Fabulous! Double E is a Weird Al in the making, I'm sure even he would be proud of this. It takes one person to write a song, but a whole other one to parody it. Double E has it!
Fellow Westlaker - May 27, 2003 - Report this comment
E- I didn't think you were serious until i saw this and your website. YOu should post your other songs on this site rock on
JoEllen - October 14, 2003 - Report this comment
This is a very funny, smart and just hilarious ... Very Creative.. How old was the person that wrote this song... Keep it up.. Remember, Einstein said it best... Creativity is more important than knowledge
Catherine Hauser - October 15, 2003 - Report this comment
Double E....you are going to win. You are amamzing, I wish you best of luck!
Double E - October 16, 2003 - Report this comment
The author was 16 at the time of authoring (there is a little back story to this, but I don't remember it... sorry). The author has had a birthday since writing this, however, making him a year older than he was at that time...
kreb*scout - November 05, 2003 - Report this comment
This is awesome! 3.141592653589793238462643383...umm... that's all i have memorized. I am such a math nerd haha.... my friend has like 100-some digits of pi memorized so i am not the nerdiest nerd...
AMIRIGHT AWARDS WINNER - November 13, 2003 - Report this comment
Best Parody of Feb-July 2003
RazorICE - February 04, 2004 - Report this comment
wow. i am 12 yrs old and i memorised pi to 20 decimals but this is just... wow. good job!
Luisa - March 01, 2004 - Report this comment
hee, hee... That's good!
Your Mom! - March 03, 2004 - Report this comment
TOTALLY AWESOME!!! pi day is on March 14, DON'T FORGET!!! I absolutely LOVE the paradoy!!
Subliminal messenger - May 28, 2004 - Report this comment
it's "genius" and come on, get a life. no one willingly looks up pi!
Chris Bodily TM - June 13, 2004 - Report this comment
This parody was hilaroius! I can't believe it's been up for more than a year and didn't know of it until today! This parody is Nobel Peace Prize-worthy! I award you my fives! This is true edutainment!
Ash - June 18, 2004 - Report this comment
wow dude are you behind or what? this guy Double E is like one of the funniest parodiers on AIR... he equals Higgins and Tong! If only there were more parodies, he'd be top of ALL the charts! and yes i do know him personally :-D
F@11 - November 07, 2004 - Report this comment
WOW, going places, can't wait for more, what a mind!!!
Jake A Ralphing (Luke Brattoni) - March 14, 2005 - Report this comment
AWESOME parody. I dropped out of Maths in Year 10, but would like to pose a question. If the number is infinite, can't we also assume that it repeats? (Stupidity copyright 2005 Luke Brattoni)
Ash - March 14, 2005 - Report this comment
Good luck going through all the numbers to find out...
Peter Andersson a.k.a K1chyd - March 19, 2005 - Report this comment
I could have sworn on all the digits of pi that I had commented and voted on this one before, but here's a late 555.
Poopie Longstocking - April 20, 2005 - Report this comment
This is a wonderful parody of one of my all-time favourite 70s songs! That's why I'm 5,5,5-ing it!
Tommy Turtle - January 29, 2006 - Report this comment
How about a parody as a comment? (It's only a fragment and needs to post here to have any relevance.) (tune of "Supercalifrag etc) 3-1-4-1-5-9-2-6-5-3-5-8-Ni-ine I think that twelve decimals will really do just fi-ine Even though it goes right on until the end of ti-ime Use 3-1-4-1-5-9-2-6-5-3-5-8-Ni-ine! Very thorough job, EE. -- T.T.
Tommy Turtle - January 29, 2006 - Report this comment
To: Jake A Ralphing (Luke Brattoni): No, we know it does not repeat. Any decimal that repeats, such as .142857142857142857...(etc.) can be expressed as a fraction (in this case, 1/7) and is called "rational". Pi (like most of the world today lol) is "irrational"; it cannot be expressed as a fraction, and therefore does not repeat.
Luke Brattoni - February 07, 2006 - Report this comment
Pi is irrational, but INFINITE. Hence it is inevitable that, due to the FINITE amount of repetitions that the numbers 0-9 can make, they inevitably repeat. Over and over and over and over, with infinite repetitions within repetitions of repetitions.
mamifierra - March 10, 2006 - Report this comment
hey if u still alive can u give me a poem about pi and thats rhymes
Joe - December 19, 2006 - Report this comment
Hey, get us a recording of it!
Robert Rasbaugh - March 06, 2007 - Report this comment
Wow, you really did your homework for this one. And any parody that can put that many numbers in it is simply amazing
Double E - March 15, 2007 - Report this comment
I was gonna try to record it in time for Pi Day (3.14) but didn't quite get around to it...
amanda houseberg - March 27, 2007 - Report this comment
that was crap
I HAVE NO NAME - December 20, 2007 - Report this comment
Wow. I mean, wow. That was the best American Pie parody ever! (other than "The Saga Begins", of course). How you actually got the pacing exactly right with all those numbers, and how you were able to show all that history in a way that fit the song is beyond me. You should definitely record this. Wow, I'm the first reviewer for this in a long time...
i dunno - March 12, 2008 - Report this comment
this is awesome!
(insertnamehere) - March 22, 2009 - Report this comment
Nice...loved it.
chfft9946 - May 27, 2009 - Report this comment
Bodacious adorments dude.
Rebecca - March 13, 2010 - Report this comment
we listened to this in math class for pi day in a couple days and it was sooo funny!! we all loved it ☺☺
Claude Prez - July 13, 2014 - Report this comment
Parody du jour -- one of the biggest hits in the site's history, as far as I know

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