# First song to mention computers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 12, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967 "2017-03-12T00:51:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967/42 "2023-01-26T20:35:18Z")
Another song from 1973: “Miss Clarke and the Computer” from Roy Wood’s _Boulders_. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967/43 "2023-01-26T22:57:25Z")
From the very first reply: > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > This’ll get us started. > > Stones, 1967, **2000 Man** > \* > “Well my wife still respects me > I really misused her > I am having an affair > With a random computer”\* Without more context, it’s hard to tell if this qualifies. Before the term was used for an electronic device, “computer” meant a human, usually a woman, who did tedious calculations for some (almost always male) scientist or engineer, because the scientist’s or engineer’s time was too valuable for that. And regardless of how true it was, there was a long-running cliche of said tech men having affairs with their computers. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967/44 "2023-01-26T23:13:01Z")
Judging from Jagger’s famous reputation as a horndog, I suspect he meant a human computer. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967/45 "2023-01-26T23:45:05Z")
I doubt that. By 1967 the use of “computer” to refer to a machine was very common and well-known even in popular culture. The older use of it to refer to a person was quite obsolete by that time. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2023, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967/46 "2023-01-26T23:58:22Z")
Ok, I believe you, I was born a year after the song came out and couldn’t really judge the meaning. Maybe human computers were still in living memory and Jagger intended it to be a double entendre? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967/47 "2023-01-27T00:16:07Z")
I was in college (studying computer science) just after the song came out, and it being 2,000 Man, he meant the current meaning of computer, I’m sure. I think it is one of the best predictions from rock, given that a man spending time watching porn on his computer could be thought of as having an affair with it. In 1971, on War Movie on Bark, Jefferson Airplane talked about computer killers. That was back when computers were all in glass houses (all except minis, of course.) In Bozos from Firesign Theatre much of the computer stuff comes from DEC-10 console messages (5 jobs, 2 detached.) DEC 10s were used a lot in AI research, at the MIT AI Lab for instance. Not surprising they saw one once. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967/48 "2023-01-27T00:45:21Z")
Connie Francis recorded “Robot Man” in 1960. It was a hit in England and Australia. Computer or no, you decide. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2023, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967/49 "2023-01-27T05:53:52Z")
1969 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/i1dDQdqv6ds/maxresdefault.jpg "The Electric Tennis Shoes – "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" (1969)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1dDQdqv6ds) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-song-to-mention-computers/781967.md?page=2)