[Instrumental intro]

[Verse 1]
His name was Richard, often prone to disagree
Playing bongos under the stars made him feel free
But he was called to Los Alamos at twenty-four
To work on a project he quickly learned to abhor

[Verse 2]
Years later he was a legend at Caltech
But that position never kept him in check
Strip clubs were his favorite place to work out math
And Richard didn’t care about the Dean’s wrath

[Chorus 1]
Ohh Richard how could we expect
Someday you’d hold the world’s respect
Quantum physics, a Nobel Prize
That spark of mischief in your eyes

[Instrumental break]

[Verse 3]
Reaching the end of his life he was very ill
Yet he was called again with a job to fulfill
After a space shuttle exploded in the sky
An esteemed Panel was gathered to find out why

[Verse 4]
Richard skipped rules, noticed launch day was freezing
And figured out how this cold could affect things
The Panel Chair called him “a pain in the ass”
Richard dropped an O-ring in an ice-cold glass
That O-ring lost its shape, yeah he solved the blast

He saved our future crews with a simple act

[Chorus 2]
Ohh Richard how could we expect
Someday you’d hold the world’s respect
Quantum physics, a Nobel Prize
That spark of mischief in your eyes…

[Instrumental break, long]

[Outro, spoken word, no instruments]
Richard wrote a report and the top brass were schooled:

“Reality must take precedence over public relations”
“For nature cannot be fooled"

[Instrumental outro]