Why HAL 9000 sang ‘Daisy’
We could argue about this all day, but for my money, Kubrick movies don’t get much better than 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Every time I see it, I have to pinch myself and be reminded that it was made in 1968, a year before man walked on the moon and almost a decade before STAR WARS dazzled audiences.
The film is packed with iconic characters and sequences, including the scene in which HAL 9000 is deactivated by Dave, all the while singing the lyrics to ‘Daisy Bell,” a classic American song from 1892. Up until now, I figured Kubrick chose the song because it’s creepy as hell. In fact, the real reason is a lot more interesting.
The first computer to sing “Daisy Bell” was actually the IBM 704 at Bell Labs in 1962. The synthetic speech experiment was created by John L. Kelly and was later heard by Arthur C. Clark. It inspired him to used it in the book and screenplay, which he co-wrote with Stanley Kubrick. The rest, as they say, is history. To hear what a singing computer sounded like in 1962 (the video says it happened in ‘61, but the Bell Labs site says ‘62) check out the video below. It’s actually a bit creeper than HAL’s version.
Source Switched
Commenting Rules: Comments are intended to open up the discussion to our readers about the topics at hand, and as such should be offered with a positive and constructive attitude. If your comment is not relative to the above post or is disrespectful to the authors and readers, we reserve the right to delete it. Continued abuse of our good nature will result in banishment of the offender. Additionally, if you have any burning issues to point out to the GATW crew - typos, corrections, suggestions, or straight-up criticism - please email us instead of commenting here.