Body as Machine

First Aired:
1979
Lyrics & Music by: Lynn Ahrens
Performed by: Bob Dorough
When you look down the street, what do you see?
The street is overflowing with a lot of machines.
Now I don't mean the buses, the trucks or cars.
I'm talking about the people,
Yeah, you know who they are.
I'm a machine, you're a machine.
Everybody that you know
You know, they are machines.
To keep your engine running you need energy
For your high-powered, revved-up body machine.
Your high-powered, revved-up body machine.
Now, I'd be a fool, if I said that the fuel that
We needed to burn was gasoline,
Because the fuel we use is the stuff called food,
And it puts out the power for our machine.
You make a stop at the filling station,
"Fill 'er up! One chicken sandwich to go!"
As you start to chew,
Your body does it. All systems go!
CHEF: Now that sandwich contains some very
important kinds of food energy for your body. The
chicken gives you protein; bread, carbohydrates;
mayonnaise, fat; and the lettuce has vitamins, plus
cellulose (or roughage). Together these things help
keep your body machine running smoothly.
First the saliva, kind of like a driver
"Move to the rear of the mouth!"
But what it's doing,
Along with teeth chewing,
Is taking food and breaking it down.
Down to the stomach,
The food is pushed, the esophagus does its stuff,
And the stomach starts,
Look at those moving parts,
As the body machine churns up
Gastric juices operate on proteins,
Fats and carbohydrates.
In the stomach they do what they do.
They take out the nutrition and use it for You.
And the cellulose, in those leaves You know,
Will control the traffic flow.
Helps the food to move along so the good stays In,
And the bad gets goin'.
I'm a machine, You're a machine.
Everybody that You know
You know they are machines.
To keep Your engine running You need energy
For Your high-powered, revved-up body machine.
Your high-powered, revved-up body machine.
Then the small intestine does most of Your digesting,
By sending all the nutrients
In through the villi,
Which look a little silli
But act as little vents
The blood stream passes; the nutrients it catches
And takes them to the cells You see,
You use what it delivers,
And it stores some in the liver
For future energv.
I'm a machine, You're a machine.
Everybody that You know,
You know, thev are machines.
To keep Vour engine running You need energv
For Your high-powered, revved-up body machine.
Your high-powered, revved-up body machine.
Your high-powered, revved-up body machine.
High-powered, revved-up, complicated tune-up,
Fascinating body machine.
Take care of that machine.
You got such a great model there, honey!
Give it the right fuel
High protein, low calorie
Take it out for a spin every day!