"It's a Longer Way from Amphioxus"
lyrics by Rachel Kaufman and Benjamin Newman
ttto: "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" by Jack Judge and Harry Williams
	after "It's a Long Way from Amphioxus" by Philip H. Pope

/ G - C - / D7 - C D / 1st / D7 - D G /

A little fish appeared among the annelids one day,
But then he took a closer look at his own DNA;
He realized that phylogeny had taken quite a turn,
And if anything was certain, he was neither fish nor worm!

	/ G - C G / - - A7 D7 / G - C B7 / G CG - DG /

	It's a longer way from Amphioxus, much longer than we thought;
	We assumed we were his descendants, but it turns out that we're not.
	'Cause we've got mouths and noses, and also eyes and ears.
	It's a long, long way from Amphioxus, and that way don't lead here!

A dorsal nerve and notochord are features that I share
With a creature called a tunicate, to whom I may compare;
But don't call me a tunicate or I'll feel rather hurt
For I know when he's grown up he is nothing but a squirt!

	It's a longer way from Amphioxus...

You with your fancy neural crests, you think you're mighty grand,
'Cause with your brains and limbs and such you've conquered all the land.
But I'm not sad or troubled, I'm not bothered by your jeers,
'Cause I haven't had to change much in five hundred million years!

	It's a longer way from Amphioxus...