Dinosaurs Weally Wock

Before my passion for paleontology was reinvigorated, I had dreams of being a rock star. I was constantly playing my guitar and writing songs, but if I had only rediscovered dinosaurs during this time maybe I could have written a hit! That's what happened for Frankie Orrico, a seven-year-old songwriter whose "hard wock" song (his word usage) about dinosaurs on the next Thaddeus Rex (T. rex, get it?) album.

Thaddeus Rex is a performer who writes educational songs for children, and every now and then he holds a contest in which kids send in their lyrics or poems and the winner will have their work turned into a song. This year the winner was Frankie, who was inspired to write about dinosaurs after reading a dinosaur book. ""I was reading a book, and mommy said 'Write something based on the book,'" reported the Southtown Star, "and then I just wrote the song on dinosaurs."

The completed song has yet to be released, but here's a taste of the lyrics: "Brynosaurus, stegosaurs, T-Rex too! They're coming for us, they won't ignore us, what do we do?"

I can only imagine that "Brynosaurus" is a typo of "Brontosaurus" (unless Frankie found a "Brynosaurus" in his backyard which will hopefully be published in the peer-reviewed literature), but it sounds like it could be an infectious tune. Frankie's success also makes me wonder if I should pick up the guitar and try to write a dino-tune, too. It couldn't be worse than "Mesozoic Mind," right?

Riley Black | | READ MORE

Riley Black is the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and many other books. She is a science correspondent for Smithsonian magazine covering fossils and natural history, and she writes about the prehistoric past for a variety of publications.