All this brand-new American West
TJ thought should be put to the test
Meriwether’d embark
With his buddy Will Clark
To attempt this great land to digest

Event: Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Pittsburgh
Year: 1803
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition

My Mom, though educated, was wrong
Showed us nine, but one didn’t belong
Pluto’s fate had been sealed
It sadly left the field
It was too small, so we said, “So long”

Event: The International Astronomical Union redefines the term “planet,” leading to Pluto’s “demotion” to dwarf planet status
Year: 2006
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_definition_of_planet

Jazz is all about trying things new
The album would be modal, all through
Now the critics attest
That this one was the best
So he cannot have felt all that blue

Event: Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, the best-selling jazz record of all time, is released
Year: 1959
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue

Their collections are second to none
The Hope Diamond and the Bell X-1
Plus old Honest Abe’s hat
They display all of that
By the will of a man named Smithson

Event: Smithsonian Institution established by act of congress
Year: 1846
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution

His great journey was a real hard sell
(Though the roundness of Earth was known well)
All his figures were wrong
The route was far too long
But he got to Ferd and Isabell

Event: Christopher Columbus sets sail from Spain, bound (he thinks) for the East Indies
Year: 1492
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

No opponent that he cannot mock
No hunter’s gun he cannot block
Don’t want to get hit hard?
You’d best be on your guard
When you hear him ask, “Eh . . . what’s up, doc?”

Event: The character known today as Bugs Bunny makes his first “official” appearance in the animated short “A Wild Hare”
Year: 1940
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugs_Bunny

That our small human world had expanded
That no longer on Earth were we stranded
Watching with great intent
Did we know what it meant
When we heard that the Eagle had landed?

Event: Apollo 11 lands on the moon
Year: 1969
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

Much to Pompey’s and Cato’s dismay
He marched on Rome; so they ran away
The man who conquered Gaul
Wanted to rule it all
But he ended with, “Et tu, Brute?”

Event: Birth of Gaius Julius Caesar
Year: 100 BC
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar

At Comiskey Park it did begin
Neither team’s lineup could be called thin
But the best of the lot
Was the Sultan of Swat
He hit one out and kept one more in

Event: The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played
Year: 1933
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Major_League_Baseball_All-Star_Game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_All-Star_Game

Realism is all well and good
But at times it’s a “can,” not a “should”
Cannons, used for their sound
Also burned to the ground
The Globe Theatre; it was made of wood

Event: A theatre cannon misfires, causing the Globe Theatre to burn down during a production of Henry VIII
Year: 1613
Learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_theatre