Swine Flu Songs Emerge

You had to figure a story about swine flu crisis would show up on this website at some point, since it seems to have infected the news everywhere else. Well, we're writing about it because a number of songs have surfaced about the disgusting bug.

Stephan Zielinski, a California blogger and programmer, has made a song about swine flu. He took the genetic sequence of a variant of hemagglutinin, which makes up the 'H' part of H1N1 swine flu virus, and created the song by making a computer algorithm, according to CNN.

The network reports Zielinski wrote the song at his computer over six hours on Tuesday by taking categories of amino acids from the protein and assigning them different types of instruments. He then created the melody by assigning notes to specific amino acids.

"The algorithm I used is a bit complicated, but just in case you're curious: since the gene is expressed as a surface protein antibodies can sense, it's considered as a string of amino acids," Zielinski wrote about the song on his blog. "Each beat corresponds to one amino acid, and the piece is in 3/4 time, so each six measures would correspond to five turns around the alpha structure. (I'm weaseling because I haven't the foggiest idea how the protein actually gets folded.)

"Amino acids with side chains that are neither aromatic not aliphatic control the piano and organ: the nine non-hydrophobics the piano, and the four hydrophobics the organ. The three amino acids with aliphatic side chains control the low synthesizer, while the four with aromatics control the percussion."

Not bad for a guy who has no training in biochemistry or music — he's a writer, photographer and computer programmer.

The ambient piece has been compared to Brian Eno. You can hear it on Zielinski's blog.

An Egyptian man has also written a song about swine flu in an effort to get health authorities to contain the possible pandemic.

The song by Shaaban Abdel Rahim reportedly contains lyrics like, "A new tragedy has been added to our tragedies and the situation is dire/I tell you and warn you that a dangerous disease for man is spreading in two countries, America and Mexico," according to the Andkronos International website.

Abdel Rahim is well known for his politcally-charged lyrics, and has written such controversial hits as "I Hate Israel (But Love Amr Moussa)" and "Don't Strike Iraq."

He told the website he thought the Egyptian government should kill off the country's pigs to prevent the spread of swine flu. Yet there's no evidence linking swine flu to the consumption of pork.

The majority of Egypt's population is Muslim and many Muslims do not eat pork because of dietary rules, but the country's Christian minority can eat and raise pigs. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak ordered all the country's pigs culled on Wednesday. Egypt has not yet reported any cases of swine flu.

In the meantime, check out this YouTube parody of the Jonas Brothers' "Lovebug":