THE SCIENCE OF LOVE SONG

I am the very model of a brain in which new LUST was sown,
Driven mainly by sex hormones estrogen and testosterone,
In this love stage, sex, not emotional connection, is the aim,
Estrogen sets female longing for physical closeness aflame!

High testosterone results in both men and women craving sex,
And increased desire, openness, seductiveness are its effects!
Testosterone rises in girls and can boost sexual aggression,
But in guys testosterone falls, for emotional connection!

CHOIR:
But in guys testosterone falls, for emotional connection!
But in guys testosterone falls, for emotional connection!
But in guys testosterone falls, for emotional connection!

Phenylethylamine results in roving imagination,
Stimulating the CNS, it causes infatuation!
Abbreviated PEA, it starts to make you fall in love,
Your thoughts about your newfound crush result from all of the above!

CHOIR:
In this first stage of love, it’s sex, not your emotions, that’s the aim,
But now we can move onto the final two stages of this game!

Next is ROMANTIC ATTRACTION, also called the honeymoon phase,
It can last a few months or less, in which love is a happy haze,
Your pleasure hormone dopamine, turns love into an addiction,
So spending as much time with them as possible is your mission!

During this stage you will also have a norepinephrine flood,
Norepinephrine makes the brain release ACTH to blood,
Which reaches your adrenal glands, causing adrenaline release,
Making you sweat and your cheeks flush, and causing your heart rate increase!

CHOIR:
Making you sweat and your cheeks flush, and causing your heart rate increase!
Making you sweat and your cheeks flush, and causing your heart rate increase!
Making you sweat and your cheeks flush, and causing your heart rate increase!

While these neurotransmitters rise, there’s another whose levels fall,
Serotonin, which affects mood, reward, cognition, and recall,
This drop in serotonin lasts for the course of your love’s first year,
But later rises, and then you will spot each other's flaws severe.

CHOIR:
This drop in serotonin lasts for the course of your love’s first year,
But later rises, and then you will spot each other's flaws severe.

In ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT, I’m a brain with oxytocin high,
Released from your pituitary gland in copious supply,
It surges during orgasm it helps bond couples during sex,
During romantic attachment, strong bonding is its great effect!

Vasopressin is released directly in the brain after sex;
It is the “commitment hormone” only when used in this context.
It brings desire to stay together when released into the brain!
And thus increases the chances that together you will remain!

CHOIR:
And thus increases the chances that together you will remain!
And thus increases the chances that together you will remain!
And thus increases the chances that together you will remain!

Skin-to-skin touch with each other makes you calm, secure, and content,
Dopamine and oxytocin released from touch your bond cement!
During romantic attachment, you are secure, want to protect,
There’s comfort in each other’s arms, pair bonding makes you two connect!

CHOIR:
During romantic attachment, you are secure, want to protect,
There’s comfort in each other’s arms, pair bonding makes you two connect!


MUSIC FROM "Major-General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 opera The Pirates of Penzance - arrangement by Neural Academy