Songs about, or which reference, research..?

The Wolfhounds - Cruelty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq8pqVN4ITk

"well he's a scientist in research..."

Guided By Voices - I am A Scientist

"...I seek to understand me."

Dr Heckyl & Mr Jive by Men At Work totally fits the bill, and it has the greatest/oddest chorus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoqlJsV6Bsc

husker du "books about ufos"

walking down a sunny street to the library
checking out the latest books about outer space
going to the fruit stand to buy a dozen oranges
then she and the books and the oranges go back to her place
she's telling the same old story to everyone that she knows
she's just sitting in her room reading books about ufos

Joan was quizzical
Studied pataphysical
science in the home
Late nights alone with a test tube,
Oh, oh oh oh

John K. Samson - "When I Write My Master's Thesis"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S5UpGx6470

peter Gabriel, shock the monkey, regarding animal research

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lefMGj7-NM

charlemagne palestine - 7 organism study

rush - manhattan project
mogwai - atomic ost
can - quantum physics

Hermann Love Pauline by SFA is about Gruff picking up those little pocket history books in service stations whilst on tour iirc.

Semisonic - All About Chemistry, in the reference/metaphor category. Whole song.

Also surely a fair number of 50s/60s novelty songs about mad scientists and the like, which tend to have at least the suggestion of a research/laboratory setting, e.g. Jimmy Troy's wonderful "The Brain."

What's that one Flaming Lips song, "Search For The Prize"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwbhVjUcono

Sorry, "Race For The Prize."

Hermann Love Pauline by SFA is about Gruff picking up those little pocket history books in service stations whilst on tour iirc.

every breath you take - the police

Can, "Below This Level (Patient's Song)"

"This time the experiment you’ve made
Has turned to some kind of lemonade"

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" - "Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical science in the home."

Submitted for your approval, the mysterious second verse of Brian Eno's Fat Lady of Limbourg. She appears to be a human CSI lab.

The Fat Lady of Limbourg
Looked at the samples that we sent
And furrowed her brow.
You would never believe that
She'd tasted royalty and fame
If you saw her now.
But her sense of taste is such that she'll distinguish with her tongue
The subtleties a spectrograph would miss,
And announce her decision,
While demanding her reward:
The jellyfish kiss.

Oh geez, someone beat me to Fat Lady of Limbourg. Sorry home organ, I searched by "eno"

more about *not* doing research, but:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4csr6pLZLg