"Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" is a 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 Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal languag ...

by the

IBM 704 The IBM 704 is a large digital mainframe computer introduced by IBM in 1954. It was the first mass-produced computer with hardware for floating-point arithmetic. The IBM 704 ''Manual of operation'' states: The type 704 Electronic Data-Pro ...

in 1961, a feat that was referenced in the film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968). Also referenced in the movie '' Robots'' (2005) by

Blue Sky Studios Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American computer animation studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was founded on February 22, 1987 by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their e ...

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 Daniel William Quinn (November 1860 – November 7, 1938) was one of the first American singers to become popular in the new medium of recorded music. Quinn was a very successful recording artist whose career spanned from 1892 to 1918. Quinn ...

in 1893.

In technology and culture

Computing and technology

* In 1961, an

at Bell Labs was programmed to sing "Daisy Bell" in the earliest demonstration of computer

. 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" (two-ear only) 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 1975, Steve Dompier, member of Homebrew Computer Club, programmed an Altair 8800 computer to play Daisy as AM radio interference. * In 1985, Christopher C. Capon created a

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

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. * Microsoft's personal assistant,

Cortana Cortana may refer to: * ''Cortana'' (gastropod), a gastropod genus * Cortana (''Halo''), character in the ''Halo'' franchise *Cortana (virtual assistant), virtual assistant from Microsoft *Cortana, or Curtana, a ceremonial sword used in the coronat ...

, may sing the first line of Daisy when asked to sing a song.

Films

* Science-fiction author

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

witnessed the IBM 704 demonstration during a trip to Bell Labs in 1962 and referred to it in the 1968 novel and film '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', in which the HAL 9000 computer sings "Daisy Bell" during its gradual deactivation. * Oliver Reed sings the song "Daisy Bell" in the 1972 film '' The Triple Echo''. * In '' Robots'' (2005), when Rodney fixes Bigweld during the slide scene, Bigweld sings "Daisy Bell", the first song sung by a computer. * In ''

The Time Traveler's Wife ''The Time Traveler's Wife'' is the debut novel by American author Audrey Niffenegger, published in 2003. It is a love story about Henry, a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about Clare, his wife, a ...

'' (2009), Alba and her father Henry sing the song "Daisy Bell" in an attempt to stop him from traveling through time while he is still using a wheelchair from a recent accident.

TV

A student choir sings "Daisy Bell" (with minor lyric changes) at the beginning of a bicycle race in the

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the '' Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series (created by Caroline Graham), and broadcast on two channels of I ...

Series 12 episode, "The Glitch" (2009). American Horror Story . Season 8, Episode 10. (2018). Ms Mead (recreated as an android by tech wizards Mutt and Jeff) explodes during the final confrontation between the Witches and Michael Langdon. Ms Mead’s severed head, sings “Daisy Bell” in a slurred and distorted voice.

Musical recordings

produced a wax cylinder recording of "Daisy Bell" in 1893, the first recorded rendition of the song. * Singer Dinah Shore recorded a version of the song for Bluebird Records in 1941. * Singer Nat King Cole produced the most well-known recording of "Daisy Bell" as part of his '' Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer'' LP for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

in 1961. * On May 3, 2014, an album was released composed entirely of covers of "Daisy Bell" entitled ''The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell'', in conjunction with

Mark Ryden Mark Ryden (born January 20, 1963) is an American painter who is considered to be part of the Lowbrow (or Pop Surrealist) art movement.Ken Johnson"Mark Ryden: ‘The Gay 90s: Old Tyme Art Show" ''The New York Times'', May 6, 2010. Retrieved 2013 ...

's exhibit "The Gay 90s". The album features covers of "Daisy Bell" by

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Known for her influence on modern pop music and her Camp (style), campy style, she has been ...

, Tyler, the Creator,

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

, Kirk Hammett of

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, Mark Mothersbaugh of

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

, Wall of Voodoo's

Stan Ridgway Stanard "Stan" Ridgway (born April 5, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and film and television composer known for his distinctive voice, dramatic lyrical narratives, and eclectic solo albums. He was the original le ...

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

, and others. Profits from the album went to the nonprofit

Little Kids Rock Music Will, formerly known as Little Kids Rock (LKR), is a nonprofit charity based in Montclair, New Jersey, that encourages and enables children to play popular music. It provides free music instruction and instruments to public school districts ...

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.

References

External links

*
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 (see last track on side 2 labeled "Synthesized computer speech demonstration (1963)") {{Authority control 1892 songs British songs English children's songs Songs about bicycles Songs about marriage Songs about socialites Blur (band) songs Katy Perry songs Nick Cave songs Tyler, the Creator songs "Weird Al" Yankovic songs Articles containing video clips