My Name is LUCA

As written by Howard Landman, and originally posted at Catalogue of Organisms, I give you the most awesome science song ever:

Sung to the tune of "My Name is Luca."

My name is LUCA,
I lived on the ocean floor
near some hydrothermal vent
or maybe in a tidepool by the shore.
And everything that's now alive
is my descendant that survived.
All the others went away (x3)

I'm not the first life, no,
That was way before my time.
Things were so much simpler then,
the start of evolution's climb.
Born in a world of RNA,
or some say protein, some say clay.
No one knows just what it was (x3)

Now if you feel inclined
to explore your family tree,
you're gonna have a real hard time
tracing your way back down to me
'cause horizontal gene transfer
has left the path a tangled blur.
Still, it wouldn't hurt to try (x3)

(repeat first verse)

Must...learn...guitar!