Daisy Bell Covered By IBM 704

Posted over 4 years ago
This cover isn't a human cover, per sé, but it is historical in the history of computers being used to make music. ??Daisy Bell?? Sometimes known as ??Bicycle Built for Two?? this song was written by Henry Dacre in 1892. Here's the post modernism of the cover (as reported by wikipedia):
_Memorable performances of "Daisy Bell" have included an arrangement by Max Mathews programmed on an IBM 704 which inspired an a cappella solo by Douglas Rain as HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The background behind this inspired choice goes all the way back to 1962 when physicist John Larry Kelly, Jr created one of the most famous moments in the history of Bell Labs by using an IBM 704 computer to synthesize speech. Kelly's voice recorder synthesizer vocoder recreated the song "Daisy Bell", with Max Mathews providing the musical accompaniment. Arthur C. Clarke of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame was coincidentally visiting friend and colleague John Pierce at the Bell Labs Murray Hill facility at the time of this remarkable speech synthesis demonstration and was so impressed that he used it in the climactic scene of his novel and screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey,[1] where the HAL 9000 computer sings the same song as astronaut Dave Bowman disables its cognitive functions.[2] The HAL performance made the "Daisy, Daisy" lines a part of contemporary popular culture in America, although many people sung the song as children in the United Kingdom._Enjoy!

Comments (2)

  1. Jonh Ingham says I never knew the story behind the use of this in '2001' - good find.
    Permalink posted 07/22/2007
  2. The Serenity Vortex says Yep, we did indeed sing it over here! And damn I never new any of that about '2001' Thanks for the fix dude!
    Permalink posted 07/23/2007

Comment on this Post

Login using email and password below.

Forgot Password?

OR login using Facebook Connect

Connect

Don't have an account?
Join MOG. It's Free!

© 2006-2012 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved