As premiered in yesterday's Singaround. Apologies for fluffing of lines.

SUMMERTOWN RENT
By: Dr M J Carter
Tune: Summertime Blues (Eddie Cochran)

Why do people think I'm bright,
       why do people say I'm clever?
Got my batchelor's
       on the academic never-never
I put down a deposit for my new home-from-home,
The bank says:
       No dice, kid, your overdraught's blown. [!]
How can I live here? My microgrant is spent
And there ain't no cap on the Summertown rent.

Well I don't know
       why ev'rybody else should think it's funny
That my acute housing problem's
       interfering with my studies
I asked for an advance on my demonstrator's wage
(he said)
       The day I see you here
       is the day you're getting paid. [!]
Sleep in my office? I haven't got a cent
Since I tried to cough up the Summertown rent.

After two weeks flat
       now I know where all my grant went
I'm gonna take my case
       to the Head of Department
I've gotta make some cash, stacking shelves through the night
(he said)
       I'd like to help but you've
       got a thesis to write. [!]
I'll catch the daily commuter train from Kent
Cos it's half the price of the Summertown rent.

This parody Copyright (c) 2011, 2023 Martin J Carter
Filkstamp: Sat Dec 3 2011

Footnotes:
* Summertown is a suburb of Oxford, full of small flats with astronomical rents. Searching for a billet in Oxford in 2005 caused me to have a flashback to 1979, when I was doing research for a PhD in househunting in Canterbury.

* The immediate trigger for the above parody was seeing the number 2D bus in Oxford, realising that it served Summertown, and joyously thinking "It's Flatland!" Spot the recreational mathematician, folks.