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General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: mikeselectricstuff on July 08, 2013, 10:30:48 am

Title: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: mikeselectricstuff on July 08, 2013, 10:30:48 am
Just listening to Casino Nation by Jackson Browne & heard the lyric :

"Out beyond the ethernet the spectrum spreads DC to daylight"

Not quite a lyric but somewhere in the background of an Alan Parsons track (can't recall which) are the words "Programmable Interrupt controller"

Sort of related - Tom Waits "What's He building in there"

Any more...?

Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: deephaven on July 08, 2013, 10:43:37 am
There's always Kate Bush's 'PI' from her album 'Aerial' where she sings out the value of PI to 91 decimal places.
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: DenzilPenberthy on July 08, 2013, 11:10:47 am
'Entropy' by Bad Religion?

Bad Religion-Entropy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiNjHfGrY70#)
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: johnwa on July 08, 2013, 12:51:47 pm
"Television, The Drug Of The Nation" by Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy: "T.V. is it the reflector or the director?"

The Datsuns: "Harmonic Generator Intermodulator"

Kraftwerk: "Antenna", "Ohm Sweet Ohm", and probably others...

Of course, another topic again is music videos with electronics references. There are plenty with oscilloscopes/oscillograms ("Blow Up The Outside World" by Soundgarden (some sort of Tek by the looks of it), "Space Oddity" , etc ). Check out the dodgy kit construction and Funway 2 reference in Custard's "Girls Like That Don't Go For Guys Like Us".

There is an animated one in the style of the Silicon Chip cartoons, with desert scenes and cacti made out of resistors, though I can't remember the artist or title. Anyone? I don't know if this was actually done by BJ Ackhurst or not.

I am sure there are lots of others that I can't think of at the moment.
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: bilko on July 08, 2013, 12:53:59 pm
Todd Rundgren

And I hate my frickin ISP
He ain't got go bandwidth left for me
And I'll never get back
Never get back the time that I waste
That's what I hate

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/todd+rundgren/i+hate+my+frickin+isp_20138351.html (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/todd+rundgren/i+hate+my+frickin+isp_20138351.html)
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: free_electron on July 08, 2013, 01:26:32 pm
Jean michel jarre takes the cake :

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I0fUDtyOLnE (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=I0fUDtyOLnE)

Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: N2IXK on July 08, 2013, 02:42:23 pm
"Vital Signs" by Rush:

Quote
Unstable condition
A symptom of life
In mental and environmental change
Atmospheric disturbance
The feverish flux
Of human interface and interchange

The impulse is pure
Sometimes our circuits get shorted
By external interference
Signals get crossed
And the balance distorted
By internal incoherence

A tired mind become a shape-shifter
Everybody need a mood lifter
Everybody need reverse polarity
Everybody got mixed feelings
About the function and the form
Everybody got to deviate from the norm

An ounce of perception
A pound of obscure
Process information at half speed
Pause, rewind, replay
Warm memory chip
Random sample, hold the one you need

Leave out the fiction
The fact is, this friction
Will only be worn by persistence
Leave out conditions
Courageous convictions
Will drag the dream into existence

A tired mind become a shape-shifter
Everybody need a soft filter
Everybody need reverse polarity
Everybody got mixed feelings
About the function and the form
Everybody got to elevate from the norm...
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: AlfBaz on July 08, 2013, 03:10:35 pm
If we're talking Rush, their album "Signals" and songs "The Analog Kid" and "Digital Man"
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: MacAttak on July 08, 2013, 10:47:17 pm
Others that I know of:

Poe: "Hello?"

Quote
Hello, hello

Are you out there?
M.O.D. are you out there?
I can't see your face
But you left a trace on a data back-road
That I almost erased
Not even God takes this long to get back
So get back
'Cause I hit a fork in the road
I lost my way home
I'm cut off from out main line
Like a disconnected modem

Hello
Tap in the code
I'll reach you below
No one should brave the underworld alone
Hello, hello, hello
How do I reach you?

Word has it on the wire
That you don't who you are
Well if you could jack into my brain
You'd know exactly what you mean here
Mothers are trails on stars in the night
Fathers are black holes that suck up the light
That's the memory I filed on the fringe
Along with the memory of the pain you lived in
Hello

I don't have the password
But the path is chainlinked
So if you've got the time
Set up the tone to sync
Tap in the code
I'll reach you below

Hello, hello
Are you out there?


And my favorite (Del is awesome)...

Del the Funky Homosapien: "Virus"

Quote
"Global controls will have to be imposed
And a world governing body, will be created to enforce them
Crises, precipitate change.."

[Del]
Secretly.. plotting your demise

I wanna devise a virus
To bring dire straits to your environment
Crush your corporations with a mild touch
Trash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus
I want to make a super virus
Strong enough to cause blackouts in every single metropolis
Cause they dont wanna unify us
So f*ck it total anarchy and can't nobody stop us

You see late in the evening
F*cked up on my computer and my mind starts roaming
I create like a heathen
The first cycles of this virus I can send through a modem
Infiltration hits your station
No Microsoft or enhanced DOS will impede
Society thinks they're safe when
Bingo! Hard drive crashes from the rending
A lot of hackers tried viruses before
Vaporize your text like so much white out
I want it where a file replication is a chore
Lights out shut down entire White House
I don't want just a bug that could be corrected
I'm erecting immaculate design
Break the nation down section by section
Even to the greatest minds it's impossible to find

[Repeat 2X]
I wanna devise a virus
To bring dire straits to your environment
Crush your corporations with a mild touch
Trash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus

[Kid Koala scratching:]
"We have already planned.."
"The plan is programmed into every one of my thousand rrrobots.."
"We will not hesitate; we will destroy the" -- "Homosapien!"
"Please, stay where you are.."

(Psst ay, I'm makin some sh*t in my basement
Bout to do it to 'em, don't tell 'em though
Alright I love you, peace)

[Del]
I want to develop a super virus
Better by far than that old Y2K
This is 3030 the time of global unification
Break right through they.. terminals
Burn 'em all, slaves to silicon
Curupt politicians with leaders and their keywords
F.B.I and spys stealin' bombs
Decipitate their plans in their face and catch the fever
Everybody loot the stores get your canned goods
Even space stations are having a hard time
Peacekeepers seek to take our manhood
Which results in the form of global apartheid
Ghettos are trash dumps with gas pumps
Exploding and burnt out since before the great union
The last punks walk around like masked monks
Ready to manipulate the database or break through 'em
Human rights come in a hundreth place
Mass production has always been number one
New Earth has become a repugnant place
So it's time to spread the fear to thunder some

[Kid Koala scratching:]
"Too long have we tried
To extend our glorious empire out to the stars.."
"Only to be driven back.."

[Repeat 2X]
I wanna devise a virus
To bring dire straits to your environment
Crush your corporations with a mild touch
Trash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus
Title: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: ivan747 on July 08, 2013, 11:22:38 pm
Muse has a set of songs about the second law of thermodynamics. I don't like it as much as their other songs (Unsustainable is kinda like dubstep... Eww). The 2nd law: Unsustainable and Isolated system.

Unsustainable (contains the most lyrics):
Muse - The 2nd Law: Unsustainable (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF_xdvn52As#ws)

Quote
All natural and technological processes proceed in such a way that the availability of the remaining energy decreases.
In all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves an isolated system, the entropy of that system increases.

Energy continuously flows from being concentrated, to becoming dispersed, spread out, wasted and useless.
New energy cannot be created and high grade energy is being destroyed. An economy based on endless growth is...

Unsutainable
You're unsustainable

The fundamental laws of thermodynamics will place fixed limits on technological innovation and human advancement.
In an isolated system the entropy can only increase. A species set on endless growth is...

Unsutainable
You're unsustainable

Isolated system (the best one really):

Muse - The 2nd Law: Isolated System (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXPoJAyeF8k#ws)
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: marshallh on July 09, 2013, 12:05:23 am
BT - Love on Haight Street
(1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCMkjBk6_vo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCMkjBk6_vo)

Quote
For rap it's live and die as we hurl thru outer space
Witness the Omega theory in the lines of my face
Caught up in dead aim
Picky to ferris is startin' over
Checkin' for phat rhymes to help us start gold'n over
And replicate
Cowards better get this shit straight
Grand and Fiz done brought it to yo face some more then I play
Young stars push weight, bad brawls, who take the bait
Evolve, and lay low without constant marinate
Livin'... live for hip hop - two for Bicardi and women - three four
The legal hustle: cash money and women
'til the day I die, strive to be a corporate exec
Vocal graphics like Pentium II, 3Dfx
Grand and V I apply 'nuff pressure to snap yer neck
Keep it bouncin' like P R records and bad checks
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: Short Circuit on July 09, 2013, 01:28:59 am
Daft Punk, Technologic
Daft Punk - Technologic (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoPplpBPQxQ#)
Quote
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
 Trash it, change it, mail - upgrade it,
 Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
 Snap it, work it, quick - erase it,
 Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
 Load it, check it, quick - rewrite it,
 Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
 Drag and drop it, zip - unzip it,
 Lock it, fill it, call it, find it,
 View it, code it, jam - unlock it,
 Surf it, scroll it, pause it, click it,
 Cross it, crack it, switch - update it,
 Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
 Scan it, send it, fax - rename it,
 Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
 Turn it, leave it, start - format it.
 


Static X - Electric Pulse

Quote
It's time to throw the switch
It's time that you recieve
 
Electric
Electric pulse


VNV Nation - Industrial Love

Quote
Mechanical world
Numbers all around
Computer technology
That´s what it is all about
 
Count the seconds
Count the time
All this makes no sense
All this counterfeit intelligence
 
Industrial love
Is turning our hearts into stone
Industrial love
Is keeping the mankind alone
Mankind as machine
Money buys technology
Everything steril and clean
Voltage-power-energy


Coone & Da Tweekaz - Born In The 80's (Official Videoclip) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNNtc4akMY4#ws)
Quote
...
We played with Atari, Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis
We also believed that the internet was gonna be a free world
...
We didn't have 99 television stations, flatscreen tv's, surround-sound music systems, mp3s, Facebook or Twitter
 
But nevertheless
 We had a great f**king time!


apoptygma berzerk-electricity (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bq9uYYBgZs#)
Quote
Our one source of energy
The ultimate discovery
Electric blue for me
Never more to be free
Electricity
Nuclear and HEP
Carbon fuels from the sea
Wasted electricity
 
Our one source of energy
Electricity
All we need to live today
A gift for man to throw away
The chance to change has nearly gone
The alternative is only one
The final source of energy
Solar electricity
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: c4757p on July 09, 2013, 02:08:07 am
Daft Punk, Technologic

Cheater. ;)
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: free_electron on July 10, 2013, 01:06:54 am
The buggles video killed the radio star:

Playing the second sympony, rewritten by machine on new technology....

ELO Caling america
I'm talking to a satellite, 20000 miles up in the sky each nite.but all i get is -krssggg krr dingeloin-

Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: oPossum on July 10, 2013, 02:07:40 am
Not quite a lyric but somewhere in the background of an Alan Parsons track (can't recall which) are the words "Programmable Interrupt controller"

Stereotomy @ 7:15
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: mtdoc on July 10, 2013, 05:46:45 am
Not exactly obscure but ya can't miss Monty Python's

"The Universe Song" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWVshkVF0SY#)
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: free_electron on July 10, 2013, 07:04:15 am
nobody mentioned Mr Roboto form Styx.

MY blood is boiling,  My Brain IBM
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: dexters_lab on July 10, 2013, 07:48:20 am
I'm surprised i couldn't really find anything in my music collection other than Orbital's Input Out. Which is a skewed loop of the vocal  'Input output translation'

I wouldn't be surprised if Moby, or Radiohead might have something but dont know enough of their work.
Title: Re: Obscure technical stuff in song lyrics
Post by: rsjsouza on July 10, 2013, 12:00:27 pm
Although not necessarily obscure or part of lyrics: AC/DC's High Voltage song... :)
There is a Brazilian musician (Gilberto Gil) that has an entire song about the internet (maximize the screen to see the original and translated lyrics side-by-side)

Pela Internet                                          Via Internet

Criar meu web site                                     Create my web site                                 
Fazer minha home-page                                  Build my home page                                 
Com quantos gigabytes                                  How many gigabytes                                 
Se faz uma jangada                                     Can one do a jangada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jangada)                               
Um barco que veleje                                    A boat that sails                                   
                                                                                                           
Que veleje nesse infomar                               That sails in the info sea                         
Que aproveite a vazante da infomaré                    That benefits from the ebb of the info tide         
Que leve um oriki do meu velho orixá                   That takes an oriki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Or%C3%ADk%C3%AC) of my old orixá (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orisha)                 
Ao porto de um disquete de um micro em Taipé           To the port of a floppy disk of a computer in Taipei
                                                                                                           
Um barco que veleje nesse infomar                      A boat that sails in the info sea                   
Que aproveite a vazante da infomaré                    That benefits from the ebb of the info tide         
Que leve meu e-mail até Calcutá                        That takes my e-mail to Calcutta                   
Depois de um hot-link                                  After a hot link                                   
Num site de Helsinque                                  On a site of Helsinki                               
Para abastecer                                         To refuel                                           
                                                                                                           
Eu quero entrar na rede                                I want to be part of the net                       
Promover um debate                                     Promote a debate                                   
Juntar via Internet                                    Put together via Internet                           
Um grupo de tietes de Connecticut                      A group of fans of Connecticut                     
                                                                                                           
De Connecticut acessar                                 From Connecticut have access                       
O chefe da Macmilícia de Milão                         The boss of the "Mac"militia of Milan               
Um hacker mafioso acaba de soltar                      A mobster hacker just released                     
Um vírus pra atacar programas no Japão                 A virus to attack software in Japan                 
                                                                                                           
Eu quero entrar na rede pra contactar                  I want to get in the net to connect                 
Os lares do Nepal, os bares do Gabão                   The homes of Nepal, the bars of Gabon               
Que o chefe da polícia carioca avisa pelo celular      The carioca (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carioca) police chief tells via cellphone 
Que lá na praça Onze tem um videopôquer para se jogar  That in the Onze square there is a videopoker to be played