Submission 13,529

About

"Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" is a song written by Harry Dacre in 1892 that became the first song for a computer to sing in 1961. The song became referenced most famously in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey and later became a popular song to reference in video games and other films. Vocaloid variations of the song became used in cursed or creepy videos on YouTube in July 2020 due to its eerie sound.

Origin

In 1892, EnglishmanHArry Dacre composed "Daisy Bell." In 1961, the IBM 7094 became the first computer to sing and sung the song "Daisy Bell" programmed by John Kelly, Carol Lockbaum and Max Mathews. A video recording was uploaded to YouTube by Slaven Radovic and garnered over two million views in 12 years (shown below).

Spread

In 1968, the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was released and featured a scene in which the artificial intelligence Hal 9000 sings "Daisy Bell" (shown below). SyFy^[2] stated that the song choice was a reference to the IBM 7094.

Since the 60s, the song has been referenced in numerous video games like Mass Effect 2 in January 2010 (shown below, left). On July 8th, 2020, Redditor posted about the song and it's history to r/todayilearned^[1] and received over 50 points (92% upvoted). That month, some YouTubers began uploading cursed or creepy videos using vocaloid covers of "Daisy Bell." For example, on July 19th, YouTuber 0 0 0 uploaded "Daisy Bell cover" featuring a disturbing image (shown below, right). On August 5th, Redditor CarolineJohnson asked r/OutoftheLoop^[3] "What is going on with the Youtube videos of the creepy distorted face put to a robotic voice singing Daisy Bell?" which garnered over 50 points (76% upvoted) in a day.