Songs about automation

[Andy Zaayenga]

Well, I'll start things off with my personal favorite song about automation:

AUTOMATION
(Alan Sherman)

It was automation, I know
That was what was making the factory go
It was IBM
It was Univac
It was all those gears going
Clickity clack, dear
I thought automation was keen
Till you were replaced by a ten-ton machine
It was a computer that tore us apart, dear
Automation broke my heart.
There's an RCA 5-0-3
Standing next to me, dear, where you used to be
Doesn't have your smile
Doesn't have your shape,
Just a bunch of punch cards and light bulbs and tape, dear
You're a girl who's soft, warm and sweet
But you're only human and that's obsolete
Though I'm very fond of that new 5-0-3, dear Automation's not for me.
It was automation, I'm told
That's why I got fired and I'm out in the cold
How could I have known
When the 5-0-3
Started in to blink it was winking at me, dear
I thought it was just some mishap
When it sidled over and sat on my lap
But when it said "l love you " and gave me a hug, dear
That's when I pulled out. . . its plug.

Copyright 1963 Curtain Call Productions
tune: Fascination

I grew up with the Alan Sherman record "My Son, The Nut" in heavy rotation. I still have the vinyl!