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Data Sea Shanty

from Hibbett's Superstore by MJ Hibbett

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about

I was asked by a Viral Marketing company to write a song to promote a new solid state drive being released by a Very Large Corporation (whose name I have cunningly removed from this version of the song). They suggested a history of data storage, based around 'spinning', but didn't like my addition of sea shanties.

lyrics

It was in 1725 Falcon and Bouchon
First used a perforatated loop to spin their loom
Then Thomas Edison devised
A phonograph that could transcribe
The spoken word onto a cylindrical tube

Invented by Pfleumer in 1928
The giant spinning wheel of magnetic tape
Which led to the Magnetic Drum
Eckert-Mauchly's UNIVAC 1
And many hours loading ZX Spectrum Games

Come let us spin spin spin Through data storage history
As we sing sing sing The Data Storage Sea Shanty

IBM's rotating 350 Hard Disk File
In 1952 could hold 5 Megabytes
Bubble Memory's spinning bits
Lost out to 8 inch floppy disks
Which shrunk to three to fit neatly in my A Drive

DAT was back to wheels of whirling 4mil tape
But come the 80's Compact Discs were all the rage
As Pyres of vinyl were all burnt
RPM fell to kiloherz
Because they worked better when spread with marmalade

Come let us spin spin spin Through data storage history
As we sing sing sing The Data Storage Sea Shanty

But like a wheel that slowly stops rotating
Or a satellite which eventually descends
The history of moving parts
Although it lives on in our hearts
Is today at last, coming to an end

So come let's bid farewell to punch cards and cassette tapes
Adieu HD-DVD and Blue-ray
Bye bye to all things that revolve
Now Data Storage has evolved
Into the SSD, the ******* ***** *****

A new chapter begins
In Data Storage History
As we sing sing sing
The Data Storage Sea Shanty

Come let us sing sing sing
Of the ******* SSD
An end to spinning in
The Data Storage Sea Shanty


Published by Wipe Out Music Publishing

credits

from Hibbett's Superstore, released October 18, 2010

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all rights reserved

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MJ Hibbett & The Validators London, UK

MJ Hibbett & The Validators have performed live on Radio One, had a Record Of The Year in Rolling Stone, an Album Of The Day on 6Music, released one of the first ever viral videos, toured the UK and Europe, featured in an Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, and recorded a science fiction rock opera, all while maintaining their complete independence from outside record labels. ... more

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