Daisy Bell
"Daisy Bell " is a popular song, written in 1892 by British songwriter Harry Dacre, with the well-known chorus, "Daisy, Daisy / Give me your answer, do. / I'm half crazy / all for the love of you", ending with the words, "a bicycle built for two".
The song is said to have been inspired by Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, one of the many mistresses of King Edward VII.
It is the earliest song sung using computer speech synthesis by the IBM 7094 in 1961, a feat which was referenced in the film .
History
"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre in 1892. As David Ewen writes in American Popular Songs:The song was originally recorded and released by Dan W. Quinn in 1893.
Parody
Even in its original form, this light-hearted song contains several puns, and almost from the beginning the song lent itself to parody and satire, with a great number of additional verses having been penned, ranging from the mildly humorous to the outright obscene. For example, the same year the song was published, an "answer" chorus appeared:Sometimes the songwriter's name—"Harry"—was used instead of "Michael" in this chorus.
Lyrics
In technology and culture
Computing and technology
- In 1961, an IBM 704 at Bell Labs was programmed to sing "Daisy Bell" in the earliest demonstration of computer speech synthesis. This recording has been included in the United States National Recording Registry.
- In 1974, auditory researchers used the melody of "Daisy Bell" for the first demonstration of "pure dichotic" perception: they encoded the melody in a stereophonic signal in such a way that it could be perceived when listening with both ears but not with either ear alone.
- In 1985, Christopher C. Capon created a Commodore 64 program named "Sing Song Serenade", which caused the Commodore 1541 floppy disk drive to emit the tune of "Daisy Bell" directly from its hardware by rapidly moving the read/write head.
- In 1999, a piece of computer software called BonziBuddy sang Daisy Bell if the user asked it to sing. The green parrot later became a purple gorilla in version 3.0.
- Microsoft's personal assistant, Cortana, may sing the first line of Daisy when asked to sing a song.
Films
- Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke witnessed the IBM 704 demonstration during a trip to Bell Labs in 1962 and referred to it in the 1968 novel and film , in which the HAL 9000 computer sings "Daisy Bell" during its gradual deactivation.
- In the 1986 film The Hitcher, the character John Ryder hums the song while being transported on the prison bus.
- It is the IBM 704 connection to which the song most likely owes its appearance in the film The Theory of Everything, a drama about the life of the world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, whereupon the fictionalized Hawking types out part of the song's lyric, in order to have the words subsequently "spoken", utilising his iconic text-to-synthesised-speech device.
- In the 2005 animated film Robots, the character Bigweld sings "Daisy Bell" briefly while Rodney repairs him.
Musical recordings
- Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album Join Bing and Sing Along
- Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for a 1961 episode of The Alvin Show and their album The Chipmunk Songbook.
- Nat King Cole sang a cover for his album Those Lazy-Crazy-Hazy Days of Summer.
- Blur covered the song as a B-side on their single "Sunday Sunday".
- Tin Hat recorded a rendition of the song for their album The Sad Machinery of Spring, with the same lyrics but different music.
- Jimmy Urine and Chantal Claret did a Hip-Hop rendition of the song for the YouTube series Pancake Mountain.
- The Nursery Rhymes Collections Volume 2 covered a version of the song.
- On May 3, 2014, an album composed entirely of covers of "Daisy Bell" entitled The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell was released in conjunction with pop artist Mark Ryden's exhibit "The Gay 90s". The album features covers of "Daisy Bell" by Katy Perry, Tyler, the Creator, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Nick Cave, Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, Wall of Voodoo's Stan Ridgway, Danny Elfman and others. Profits from the album went to the nonprofit Little Kids Rock.
- Dreadzone used the IBM 7094 sample at the end of song, "Moving on"
Radio
- The tune was played as the lead-in to Aunt Daisy's radio broadcasts in New Zealand, which ran from 1930 until her death in 1963.
Television
- In the Doctor Who episode "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" it is sung by the onstage performer.
- In the This Is America, Charlie Brown episode The NASA Space Station it is sung by Peppermint Patty while demonstrating an exercise bike on the station.
- In the Doctor Who episode "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship", Solomon's robots sing the first line of the song when deactivated by the Doctor.
- In the second season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. it is featured a few times as a hint to Skye’s real name and tie to her parents. It is first heard in the background of Daisy’s nightmare in episode 9, “...Ye Who Enter Here”, and Cal later hums it to her in episode 10, “What They Become”. Lastly, in the first half of the season finale, “S.O.S. Part 1”, Cal wears headphones and sings along to it.
- In the 2015 TV series Scream, the song is sung by a serial killer.
- In the Sonic Boom episode, "Dude, Where's my Eggman", Cubot sings this song in order to gain money. However, he is unsuccessful.
- In season 12 of Midsomer Murders, episode 4, "The Glitch", features this song, although the final line of the chorus is changed to be "a bicycle made for two" rather than "built for two".
- In the Supernatural episode "Thin Lizzie", the song plays on an old record player during the murder of a couple at the beginning of the episode.
- In 2016, model Daisy Lowe and her professional partner Aljaz Skorjanec danced a Viennese Waltz to "Daisy Bell" on the fourteenth series of the BBC hit show Strictly Come Dancing, earning Lowe her highest score in the competition.
- In season four, episode 11 of Futurama, titled "Love and Rocket," Bender sings the song over a montage featuring a romance he had with the Planet Express Ship. The episode is inspired by the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- In season 2, episode 8 of Class of 3000, titled "Big Robot on Campus", B.R.O.C, a robot created by Philly Phil sings the song as he deactivates after falling off a biplane.
- In The Alienist episode, "A Fruitful Partnership", a boy prostitute sings this song at Paresis Hall.
- In the Yu-Gi-Oh!_Duel_Monsters abridged series episode "Fanservice", Solomon & Kaiba sing a duet parody of this song when sealed into cards by Pegasus.
- In the finale of , Ms. Mead's robotic head sings the song as it shuts down, after Cordelia causes her body to explode.
- In season 2 episode 10 of ‘’Future Man’’, a holographic conscious upload of Stu sings this song while are making an attempt to shut him down.
- In season 5 episode 8 of Z Nation, Charlie, a half-dead man, gives his brains to eat to talkers. As his head goes empty, he sings the song. The talkers who ate is brain suddenly sing with him.
- In the Stranger Things episode "The Mall Rats," the tune appears on a kiddie ride in Starcourt Mall.
- In the Rugrats episode, Music, Phil and Lil parody this song as "A Trike That's Not For You".
Literature
- The character Navy Navidson sings Daisy Bell as he is falling in an endless void in the 2000 book House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.
- In the 2005 novel Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, one of the characters is named Daisy because her parents own and ride a tandem bicycle.
- The character Tasuku Kurosaki's father frequently hummed Daisy Bell in the 2007 manga Dengeki Daisy by Kyousuke Motomi.
Video Games
- In 2001's , the Joker sings the beginning of the song's chorus when attempting to spray Batman with acid from the flower on his lapel.
- In Mass Effect 2, the character Joker makes a reference to the AI system "EDI" singing "Daisy Bell".
- In We Happy Few, various characters in Lud's Holm sing "Daisy Bell".
- In 2010: the graphic action game for the ColecoVision, the song plays during the programming screen, possibly in reference to its use in the original 2001 film, whose sequel the game is based on.
- In Robo Recall, robots can be heard reciting part of the chorus of Daisy Bell upon death.
- In Thimbleweed Park, when one of the FBI agents uses the radio in the sheriff's office, one of the dialogue options lets him/her sing a few lines of the chorus.