How do it know?

[Intro]

(Background singers)
Ooooh…
Hot or cold…
Hot or cold…

(Lead)
I’ve been wonderin’ all my life…

(Background)
Tell us now!

(Lead)
How do it know?

[Verse 1]

When I was just a little boy,
Headin’ off to school,
Roy Rogers on my lunch box,
Thought that thing was cool.

Mama filled that little Thermos,
Sometimes soup, sometimes a drink,
I never gave it much attention,
Never stopped to stop and think.

(Background)
Hot soup!

(Lead)
Kept it hot.

(Background)
Cold drink!

(Lead)
Kept it cold.

(Lead)
Now somebody explain this mystery—

[Chorus]

How do it know?

(Background)
How do it know?

How do it know?

(Background)
We wanna know!

Keep the hot stuff hot,
Keep the cold stuff cold,
Nobody tells it what to do,
But somehow it knows.

No switch,
No dial,
No light to glow…

Everybody tell me—

HOW DO IT KNOW?

[Verse 2]

Now we roll on down to Costco,
Got insulated bags,
Chicken steaming in the cart,
Frozen meat stacked in the back.

Put the chicken in one bag—

(Background)
Keep it hot!

Frozen steaks into the other—

(Background)
Keep ’em cold!

Zip ’em up and head for home,
And once again I wanna know—

[Chorus]

How do it know?

(Background)
How do it know?

How do it know?

(Background)
We wanna know!

Keep the hot stuff hot,
Keep the cold stuff cold,
Nobody whispers in the zipper,
But somehow it knows.

No plug,
No screen,
No app on my phone…

Everybody tell me—

HOW DO IT KNOW?

[Verse 3]

But then one day I got to thinkin’,
What if we upset the plan?

Put the chicken with the ice cream,
Put the freezer food with ham.

Hot soup next to frozen peas,
Cold drinks by casserole,
Now that bag has got a problem—

Which direction does it go?

(Background)
Uh-oh!

(Lead)
Does the chicken cool the ice cream?

(Background)
No, no, no!

(Lead)
Does the ice cream heat the chicken?

(Background)
We don’t know!

(Lead)
Does everything meet in the middle,
Neither hot nor cold?

(Background)
Lukewarm!

(Lead)
Well now I’ve really got a question—

[Chorus]

How do it know?

(Background)
How do it know?

How do it know?

(Background)
Somebody tell him!

Keep the hot stuff hot,
Keep the cold stuff cold,
But when you mix ’em all together,
Which one does it hold?

Hot on the left,
Cold on the right,
Confusion everywhere in sight—

HOW DO IT KNOW?

[Bridge]

(Lead)
Richard says it’s heat transfer.

(Background)
Heat transfer!

(Lead)
Conduction and insulation.

(Background)
Insulation!

(Lead)
Temperature moves from high to low—

(Background)
Science, science, science!

(Lead)
I said that all sounds very nice,
But you still ain’t answered my question.

(Background)
What’s the question?

(Lead)
HOW DO IT KNOW?

[Breakdown]

Hot chicken!

(Background)
Hot!

Frozen meat!

(Background)
Cold!

Soup in the Thermos!

(Background)
Hot!

Lemonade!

(Background)
Cold!

Put ’em all together!

(Background)
WHOA!

Now what happens?

(Background)
Nobody knows!

[Final Chorus]

How do it know?

(Background)
How do it know?

How do it know?

(Background)
We STILL wanna know!

From my Roy Rogers lunch box
To that Costco run today,
Fifty years of modern science
And I’m asking anyway.

No brain,
No eyes,
No little thermostat below…

So until that bag explains itself—

HOW DO IT KNOW?

[Outro]

(Background)
Hot or cold…
Hot or cold…

(Lead)
Soup or soda…

(Background)
Hot or cold…

(Lead)
Chicken or ice cream…

(Background)
Hot or cold…

(Lead)
Somebody ask the Thermos.

(All)
HOW…
DO…
IT…
KNOW?