2006 HLS Parody, Act 1, Song 1: "Book of Tribe"

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
PARODY 2006
"FINDING BLACHMAN CONTRIBUTORILY NEGLIGENT"

Act 1, Song 1
"Book of Tribe"

(Based on The Monotones' "Book of Love") (Youtube)

Setting: Austin Hall, October 5, 2004, Dean’s Forum on the Supreme Court term, featuring among others Professor Laurence Tribe, and held shortly after the publication of a Weekly Standard article suggesting much of Tribe’s 1985 book on the Supreme Court was ghostwritten by a first-year law student, Ronald A. Klain. During the question-and-answer period, one of Tribe’s current research assistants, 3L Dan Richenthal (who is in the process of writing a letter to the Harvard Crimson defending Tribe, with help from six others on a letter which will ultimately span 12 sentences) steps up to the microphone. Despite his great admiration for Tribe, which is widely known throughout the school, Richenthal cannot help but wonder about the Weekly Standard’s charge. He asks his hero to address it. The audience, just as interested as Richenthal in an answer, provides the backup singing.

Jeremy Blachman, narrator:

"A second main reason last year's Parody was so disappointing, of course, was our underplaying of the Dershowitz-Ogletree-Tribe plagiarism scandals which had been a main topic of conversation at the Law School for months prior to our staging of the Parody. That's chiefly why I've been sentenced to narrate this entire 2006 Parody, and why we're devoting the entire Parody to the various ghostwriting/plagiarism scandals that have plagued Harvard in recent years. For example, I sure wish I'd thought of including this scene inspired by Professor Tribe's first public appearance at the Law School (he was not teaching that semester) after the plagiarism story on him broke on the Weekly Standard's website on September 24, 2004. This failure of imagination does tend to suggest contributory negligence on my part in the writing of the 2005 Parody. Imagine how totally excellent that scene could have been ...."

"Book of Tribe"
(Sung by Daniel Richenthal) 

(Here is a MIDI file in case you want to sing it!) 

I wonder, wonder who
[Who wrote the Book of Tribe]

Tell me, tell me, tell me
Oh, who wrote the Book of Tribe
I've got to know the answer
Was it really a 1L?

[Oh I wonder, wonder, who, mmbadoo-ooh, who]
[Who wrote the Book of Tribe?]

I love you Larry
Larry you know I do
But I've got to see your manuscript
And find out if you're true

[Oh I wonder, wonder, who, mmbadoo-ooh, who]
[Who wrote the Book of Tribe?]

[Chapter one has an intro]
[You say what you're gonna say]

[Chapter two, you tell them]
[What's really, really really]
[Close to your heart]

[In Chapter three you copy]
[From Abraham, all right]

[In Chapter Four you forget]
[To give him just one little cite]

[Oh I wonder, wonder, who, mmbadoo-ooh, who]
[Who wrote the Book of Tribe?]

Larry, Larry, Larry
I love you, yes I do
Well I'll say so in the Crimson, yeah
Mine is a love that's true

[Oh I wonder, wonder, who, mmbadoo-ooh, who]
[Who wrote the Book of Tribe?]

[Chapter one has an intro]
[You say what you're gonna say]

[Chapter two, you tell them]
[What's really, really really]
[Close to your heart]

[In Chapter three you copy]
[From Abraham, all right]

[In Chapter Four you forget]
[To give him just one little cite]

[Oh I wonder, wonder, who, mmbadoo-ooh, who]
[Who wrote the Book of Tribe?]

Larry, Larry, Larry
I love you, yes I do
Well I'll say so in the Crimson, yeah
Mine is a love that's true

Oh I wonder, wonder who, mmbadoo-ooh, who
Who wrote the Book of Tribe
I wonder who [yeah]
Who wrote the Book of Tribe