Daisy Bell

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Daisy Bell

"Daisy Bell" is a popular song whose lyrics ("Daisy, Daisy/Give me your answer do/I'm half crazy/all for the love of you" as well as the line "...a bicycle built for two") are considerably better known than the song's actual title.

sy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre

Harry Dacre

Harry Dacre was an England songwriter.Dacre had a hit in 1892 with the song "Daisy Bell" , made famous by Katie Lawrence, and then in 1899 with the song "I'll be your Sweetheart"....
in 1892. As David Ewen writes in American Popular Songs: "When Dacre, an English popular composer, first came to the United States, he brought with him a bicycle, for which he was charged duty.

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History

"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre

Harry Dacre

William Jerome

William Jerome was a United States songwriter. He grew up in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, and worked with Jean Schwartz on many songs and shows in the 1900s and early 1910s....
) remarked lightly: 'It's lucky you didn't bring a bicycle built for two

Tandem bicycle

The tandem bicycle or twin is a form of bicycle designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement instead of the number of riders....
, otherwise you'd have to pay double duty.' Dacre was so taken with the phrase 'bicycle built for two' that he decided to use it in a song. That song, Daisy Bell, first became successful in a London music hall, in a performance by Katie Lawrence

Katie Lawrence

Katie Lawrence was an England music-hall singer, best known for Harry_Dacre 1890s hit "Daisy_Bell."...
. Tony Pastor was the first one to sing it in the United States. Its success in America began when Jennie Lindsay brought down the house with it at the Atlantic Gardens on the Bowery

Bowery, Manhattan

The Bowery is the name of a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood's boundaries are East 4th Street and the East Village, Manhattan to the north, Canal Street and Chinatown, Manhattan to the South, Allen Street and the Lower East Side, Manhattan to the east and B...
early in 1892."

It is said that a real Daisy inspired the song: "Daisy" the Countess of Warwick, Frances Evelyn Maynard, one of the wealthiest and most desirable English women of the period. In her lifetime, she became a vegetarian, championed women's education, and stood as a Labour

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the Left-wing politics in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently organised again....
(leftist/socialist) candidate. At one point, she was mistress of the Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales

Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom . The current Prince of Wales is Charles, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom....
(subsequently Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910....
, 1901–10).

Memorable performances

In 1961, the IBM 7094

IBM 7090

The IBM 7090 was a second-generation transistorized version of the earlier IBM 709 vacuum tube mainframe computers and was designed for "large-scale scientific and technological applications"....
became the first computer to sing, singing the song Daisy Bell

Daisy Bell

"Daisy Bell" is a popular song whose lyrics are considerably better known than the song's actual title....
. Vocals were programmed by John Kelly

John Larry Kelly, Jr

John Larry Kelly, Jr. , was a scientist who worked at Bell Labs. He is best known for formulating the Kelly criterion, an algorithm for maximally investing money....
and Carol Lockbaum and the accompaniment was programmed by Max Mathews

Max Mathews

Max Vernon Mathews is a pioneer in the world of computer music. He studied electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving a Sc.D....
. This performance was the inspiration for a similar scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey (film)

2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 in film science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. The film deals with thematic elements of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life, and is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering special effects, ambiguous and of...
.

A reference to HAL's solo of Daisy Bell was made in the 2005 movie Robots
Robots (film)

Robots is a 2005 in film United States CGI-animated comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox , and was released theatrically on March 11 2005 ....
while Rodney fixes Big Weld's brain during an escape. Big Weld begins to sing the song during the chase.

In April 1975, the Homebrew Computer Club held their fourth meeting at the Peninsula School in Menlo Park. Steve Dompier played "Fool on the Hill

The Fool on the Hill

"The Fool on the Hill" is a song by The Beatles. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and recorded in 1967 in music. It was included on the Magical Mystery Tour EP and album, and presented in the Magical Mystery Tour , with a promotional sequence shot near Nice, in France from 30 October-31 October 1967....
" and "Daisy Bell" using the Altair and a radio.

Another reference to HAL's solo appears in the Futurama

Futurama

Futurama is an Animated cartoon United States Situation comedy created by Matt Groening, and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company....
episode Love and Rocket

Love and Rocket

"Love and Rocket" is the third episode of Futurama's fourth season. It first aired on February 10, 2002....
. The song is ironically heard, sung by Bender

Bender

Bender may refer to:...
, over a montage depicting Bender and the Planet Express autopilot (which looks similar to HAL) falling in love.

Alma Rek wrote lyrics in Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands....
, as Isabella, recorded by Gösta Ekman

Gösta Ekman

G?sta Ekman d.y. , is a Sweden actor.One of Sweden's most appreciated, respected and popular actors; G?sta Ekman started his career in theatre but has also appeared in several Swedish films, including the J?nssonligan series....
who had a 1929 hit with this version of the song.

Revenge of the Nerds
Revenge of the Nerds

Revenge of the Nerds is a 1984 in film United States comedy film starring Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards, with Curtis Armstrong, Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, Brian Tochi, Larry B....
features the song, sung in Japanese, during the tricycle

Tricycle

A tricycle is a three-wheeled vehicle. The term may or may not include Three_wheeled_vehicle, depending on the law or local preference....
race scene.

In an episode of Red vs. Blue

Red vs. Blue

Red vs. Blue, often abbreviated as RvB, is a set of related machinima comic science fiction video series created by Rooster Teeth Productions and distributed primarily through the Internet and DVD....
, the tank sings "Daisy Bell" after being hit with an airstrike

Airstrike

An airstrike is a military strike by air forces on either a suspected or a confirmed enemy ground position. Airstrikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as bombers, ground attack aircraft, strike fighters, and helicopters....
.

Lyrics

There is a flower within my heart

Daisy, Daisy

Planted one day by a glancing dart

Planted by Daisy Bell

Whether she loves me or loves me not

Sometimes it's hard to tell

But there are those that would share the lot

Of beautiful Daisy Bell

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do

I'm half crazy all for the love of you

It won't be a stylish marriage

I can't afford a carriage

But you'll look sweet upon the seat

Of a bicycle built for two

We will go tandem

Tandem

Tandem is a Latin language adverb meaning "at length" or "finally." In English, the term was originally used for two or more draft horses harnessed one behind another as opposed to side-by-side....
as man and wife

Daisy, Daisy

Wheeling away down the road of life

I and my Daisy Bell

When the nights dark, we can both despise

Policemen and lamps as well

There are bright lights in the dazzling eyes

Of beautiful Daisy Bell

(Ending of the Edward M. Favor version)

I will stand by you in "wheel" or woe

Daisy, Daisy

You'll be the bell(e) which I'll ring you know

Sweet little Daisy Bell

You'll take the lead in each trip we take

Then if I don't do well

I will permit you to use the brake

My beautiful Daisy Bell.

External links

(compiled by Chris Komuves)
, including an