The Bloody Things

(To the tune of “(Coke®) It’s the Real Thing” / Recording by David Simmons

I’m gonna put some oxygens
beside my porphyrin rings
To nudge the irons up a notch
and yank on histidines
The globins’ shapes will change a bit,
oh what a sight to see
The way they bind to oxygen
co-op-er-AH-tive-ly

And as I exit from the lungs
to swim in the bloodstream
Metabolizing cells they all
express their needs to me

To them I give up oxygen
and change from R to T
While my amines, they hang onto
the protons readily

But that’s not all the tricks I know,
there’s more that’s up my sleeve
Like gaps between sub-U-nits that
hold 2,3-BPG
When near met-a-bo-LI-zing cells,
I bind things that diffuse
The protons and bicarbonates
from lowly cee oh twos

CHORUS
That’s the way it is
When your cells are at play
Go say hip hip hooray
For the bloody things

That’s the way it is
When your cells are at play
Go say hip hip hooray
For the bloody things