Daisy Bell
| "Daisy Bell" | |
|---|---|
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| Song | |
| Released | 1892 |
| Composer | Harry Dacre |
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| Problems listening to this file? See media help. | |
"Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" is a popular song 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".
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History [edit]
"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre in 1892. As David Ewen writes in American Popular Songs:[1]
When Dacre, an English popular composer, first came to the United States, he brought with him a bicycle, for which he was charged import duty. His friend William Jerome, another songwriter, remarked lightly: "It's lucky you didn't bring a bicycle built for two, otherwise you'd have to pay double duty." Dacre was so taken with the phrase "bicycle built for two" that he soon used it in a song. That song, Daisy Bell, first became successful in a London music hall, in a performance by Katie Lawrence. Tony Pastor was the first 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 early in 1892.
Milestones in technology [edit]
In 1961 an IBM 704 became the first computer to sing, in a demonstration of Bell Labs' newly invented speech synthesis – and the song was "Daisy Bell".[2] Vocals were programmed by John Kelly and Carol Lochbaum and the accompaniment was programmed by Max Mathews.
In 1974 auditory researchers used the melody for the first demonstration of "pure dichotic" (two-ear only) or "pure cyclotean" (one "ear" in the mind that combines the two external ears) perception. They encoded the melody in a stereo signal that could be perceived in the brain only by noticing the phase differences between what each ear heard.[3]
In April 1975 at the Homebrew Computer Club's fourth meeting, in Menlo Park, California, Steve Dompier played "Fool on the Hill" and "Daisy Bell" using an Altair 8800 and a radio.[4]
In Popular Culture [edit]
- The song was featured in the 1984 movie Revenge of the Nerds where Toshiro Takeshi, a tri-Lambda and underdog, started winning the race because of precautions they took to avoid inebriation from alcohol. The song is sung in Japanese.
- In the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the intelligent HAL 9000 computer during its deactivation loses its mind and degenerates to singing "Daisy". The reason the computer reverted to singing this song, according to the film, was because it was one of the first things HAL learned when it was originally programmed. The author of the story, Arthur C. Clarke, had seen the 1961 demo.[5]
- The chorus of the song is sung at various points in the 1941 romantic comedy Design for Scandal.
- The song is mentioned in the popular Japanese manga Dengeki Daisy.
- The song is mentioned in the movie The Time Traveler's Wife (film)
- Bigweld starts to sing 'Daisy Daisy' as a sign of him malfunctioning in the Pixar film 'Robots as Rodney and him roll down the exterior of Bigweld Industries in an 'out-of-control' fashion
- In the 2012 Doctor Who episode Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and alluding to 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL 9000, two robots speak a line of the song.
- A Victorian music hall performer performs the song in the 1977 serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang.
- In a Rugrats episode, Phil and Lil sing a parody of the song called Trike That Is Not for You.
- In the 1999 Anna and the King (although the movie's story is set in 1862: 30 years before the song was written), King Mongkut's children perform the chorus of the song at a party for English visitors.
Lyrics [edit]
- 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,
- And yet I am longing to share the lot
- Of beautiful Daisy Bell.
Chorus:
- 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'd look sweet upon the seat
- Of a bicycle built for two.
- We will go tandem as man and wife,
- Daisy, Daisy,
- Ped'ling away down the road of life,
- I and my Daisy Bell.
- When the road's dark, we can both despise
- P'licemen and lamps as well.
- There are bright lights in the dazzling eyes
- Of beautiful Daisy Bell.
(Chorus)
- Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do...
- I will stand by you in weal or woe
- Daisy, Daisy,
- You'll be the bell which I'll ring, you know,
- Sweet little Daisy Bell.
- You'll take the lead on each trip we take.
- Then if I don't do well
- I will permit you to use the brake,
- beautiful Daisy Bell
(Chorus)
- Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do...
Variations and "Answer-songs" [edit]
The song has entered the folk tradition, giving rise to a number of "answer-song" versions consisting of only two choruses – the original, then another in which Daisy refuses her suitor. The rejected suitor's name varies but is often given as Harry – the name of the author of the original song.
The lyrics to the answer song are:
- Harry, Harry,
- Here is my answer true.
- I can't cycle, for I get black and blue.
- If you can't afford a carriage
- There won't be any marriage.
- For I'll be switched if I'll be hitched
- On a bicycle built for two.
Or:
- Harry, Harry,
- Here is my answer true.
- I'd be crazy if I were to marry you.
- If you can't afford a carriage
- You can't afford a marriage.
- And I'll be damned if I'll be crammed
- On a bicycle built for two.
Another variant is:
- Michael, Michael,
- Here is my answer true.
- I'm not crazy
- All for the love of you.
- If you cannot afford a carriage
- There won't be any marriage.
- 'Cause I'll be damned
- If I'll get crammed
- On a bicycle built for two!
and another one:
- Dear sir, Dear sir,
- Listen to my heart, do!
- I am crazy and deeply in love with you.
- I don't need a fancy carriage,
- only a formal marriage –
- Let us ride soon to the honeymoon
- In our bicycle built for two
Additional answer-song versions circulate, some of which are clearly more modern.[6]
(Below, ending of the Edward M. Favor version); This version, with music arranged for barbershop quartet, is available on the internet.[7]
- 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.
References [edit]
- ^ Ewen, David (1966). American Popular Songs. Random House. ISBN 0-394-41705-4.
- ^ National Recording Registry Adds 25 – The Library Today (Library of Congress)
- ^ Kubovy, M.; Cutting, J. E.; McGuire, R. M. . (1974). "Hearing with the Third Ear: Dichotic Perception of a Melody without Monaural Familiarity Cues". Science 186 (4160): 272–274. doi:10.1126/science.186.4160.272. PMID 4413641.
- ^ Ichbiah, Daniel; Knepper, Susan (1991). The Making of Microsoft: How Bill Gates and His Team Created the World's Most Successful Software Company. Prima Lifestyles. ISBN 1-55958-225-1.; cited in Polsson, Ken. "Chronology of Personal Computers". Retrieved 2008-09-30.
- ^ Background: Bell Labs Text-to-Speech Synthesis
- ^ Lyrics of a number of variant answer-song versions
- ^ Edward M. Favor version, lyrics and music arranged for barbershop quarted[dead link]
External links [edit]
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- Lyrics with .midi on National Institutes of Health website[dead link]
- "Daisy Bell. Song.". Levy Sheet Music Collection, Box 140, Item 090. Johns Hopkins University. March 30, 2007.
- The Daisy Bell Page (compiled by Chris Komuves)
- Works of Edward M. Favor, including an 1894 recording of "Daisy Bell" (MP3)
- Page featuring a recording of "Daisy Bell" sung and played by IBM computers at Bell Laboratories in the early 1960s
- The free score on www.traditional-songs.com
