Hello 3Doug

How about this one:

IF I HAD A HAMMER (The Hammer Song)
words and music by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger

If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a bell
I'd ring it in the morning
I'd ring it in the evening
All over this land
I'd ring out danger
I'd ring out a warning
I'd ring out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

If I had a song
I'd sing it in the morning
I'd sing it in the evening
All over this land
I'd sing out danger
I'd sing out a warning
I'd sing out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

Well I've got a hammer
And I've got a bell
And I've got a song to sing
All over this land
It's the hammer of justice
It's the bell of freedom
It's the song about love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land

©1958, 1962 (renewed), 1986 (renewed)

TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)

I must admit that was the first song which came to mind

Now I'm not sure what that says about my thought processes.

Kind Regards....

sing to I'd like to teach the world to sing

I'd like to teach the world to do

Thermo Chemistry

Take T times S from Delta H

And you get Delta G

Its the Gibbs free energy

That we are hopeing to find

When we are otta our minds

Gibbs free energy......

I'd go for Woody Guthrie's Grand Coulee Dam just because it includes (implied) references to Kaiser Aluminum and Boeing Aircraft.

Hello again, 3Doug

How about the Original Country & Western "Casey Jones".

1.

Come all you rounders if you wanna hear the story about a brave engineer

Casey Jones was the roller's name,

on a 68 wheeler course he won his fame.

Caller called Casey bout half past four,

he kissed his wife at the station door.

He climbed in the cabin with his orders in his hand,

Said this is the trip to the Promised Land.

Casey Jones climbed in the cabin, Casey Jones orders in his hand,

Casey Jones leanin' out the window, taking a trip to the Promised Land.

2.

Through South Memphis Yards on a fly,

rain been a fallin' and the water was high.

Everybody knew by the engine's moan,

that the man at the throttle was Casey Jones.

Well Jones said fireman now don't you fret,

Sam Webb said we ain't a givin' up yet.

We're eight hours late with the southbound mail,

We'll be on time or we're leavin' the rails.

Casey Jones climbed in the cabin, Casey Jones orders in his hand

Casey Jones leanin' out the window, taking a trip to the Promised Land.

3.

Dead on the rail was a passenger train,

blood was a boilin' in Casey's brain.

Casey said hey now look out ahead,

jump Sam jump or we'll all be dead.

With a hand on a whistle and a hand on a brake,

north Mississippi was wide awake.

I see railroad official said,

he's a good engineer to be a laying dead.

Casey Jones climbed in the cabin,

Casey Jones orders in his hand.

Casey Jones leanin' out the window,

taking a trip to the Promised Land.

4.

Headaches and heartaches and all kinds of pain,

all the part of a railroad train.

Sweat and toil the good and the grand,

part of the life of a railroad man.

Casey Jones climbed in the cabin,

Casey Jones orders in his hand.

Casey Jones leanin' out the window,

taking a trip to the Promised Land.

It took me a while to locate the above original Lyrics, which I have reformatted for ease in singing the song.

Kind Regards....

Or the sequel by the "Grateful Dead" where Casey seems to have a drug issue whilst still driving that train!

How about: "I've been workin' on the railroad".

how about that old chestnut...

'math and science that inseparable alliance'?

or worse yet...

'neutron dance'

Why Does the Sun Shine by They Might Be Giants:

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where Hydrogen is built into Helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

The sun is hot, the sun is not
A place where we could live
But here on Earth there'd be no life
Without the light it gives

We need its light, we need its heat
The sun light that we seek
The sun light comes from our own sun's
Atomic energy

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where Hydrogen is built into Helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

The sun is hot...

The sun is so hot that everything on it is a gas
Aluminum, Copper, Iron, and many others

The sun is large...

If the sun were hollow, a million Earth's would fit inside
And yet, it is only a middle size star

The sun is far away...

About 93,000,000 miles away
And that's why it looks so small

But even when it's out of sight
The sun shines night and day

We need its heat, we need its light
The sun light that we seek
The sun light comes from our own sun's
Atomic energy

Scientists have found that the sun is a huge atom smashing machine
The heat and light of the sun are caused by nuclear reactions between
Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Carbon, and Helium

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where Hydrogen is built into Helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees

Also check out this thread where we talked about the top science songs!

Well, before this goes much further, I need to point out that I am not appointing myself the arbiter on this issue. For one thing, I am primarily a drafter, and at most, an amateur engineer. I mainly wanted to start the discussion and get some input. If no one objects, after this thread dies down, I will be willing to look at the nominations, and compile a list for everyone to vote on. Otherwise I will comment on the nominations, with the disclaimer that my opinions are only my opinions, and do not carry any weight beyond that. I guess you could say I'm approaching this more as an editor than as an arbiter.

Now, for an observation: I see 2 types of engineers. The first are design engineers that develop products. The others are operating engineers that run things, and sometimes they repair what they run. What both types have in common is that they make things work. This is what I will keep in mind when commenting on songs.

With this in mind, the Casey Jones song qualifies for an engineers' theme song. The Hammer Song doesn't, it is a social commentary song more than anything. It does express some idealistic sentiments, but engineers and engineering deal with more practical concerns. That's not to say that engineering can't serve higher purposes, it's just that the words of The Hammer Song don't evoke images of engineers for me.

I will look over the other songs mentioned and add comments later. Also, if anyone wishes to comment on any song, you are free to do so. Just one request: KEEP IT CIVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Comment on the song itself and not on the person suggesting it as an engineering theme song, or the artist, or the type of music.

One last thought for this post: Another thread that factors into this endeavor is the one on engineers working on their image. Maybe engineers would be considered cooler by the general public if we had a theme song.

How about "I Can't Get No Satisfaction"? That probably addresses a large part of many engineers' life experience.

"I cant get no respect either" would have to be added as the second line.

You are on the right track, "Start me up I never stop". I think quantifies an Engineer.

Why stop before the solution has been found.

Hello Arbiter 3Doug

Excuse me, but I have often used large hammers as an Engineer, and also seen others who have used the same persuader.

Meanwhile, now the goalposts have been moved, I shall put on my thinking cap, to see what else turns up.

Kind Regards, as always, from Zealandia.

As we used to say in the Army, "Never use force, just get a bigger hammer."

Sparkie, What about the 'Micron hammer' for those fine adjustments of tool-posts etc? And I also hope that you are putting on a hard thinking cap! Remember the rules and regs please!

My entry for the Engineers song would be:-

Men at work (or was it Men without (hard) hats?)(Or maybe neither of the two!): Crushed by the wheels of industry

Or Sam Cooke's Chain Gang?

I am surprised that nobody has suggested 'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life'.

Al

Hello Nigh

What can I say, except: WOW !

Kind Regards....

How about "Whip It" by Devo?

How about "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones. Describes my engineering career.

Nigh's song is an MIT (and sometimes RPI) Fight song called "Lady Godiva". There are literally hundereds of verses made up over the years.

The RPI pep band belts out this little gem at the hockey games (the teams name is the engineers):

e to the x dy/dx,
e to the x dx,
Cosine, secant, tangent, sine
3.14159
Square root, cube root, log of pi,
Dis-integrate them RPI!

Quite right (although I don't know what RPI is), the song has been around for years. There is a Lady Godiva site with lots more verses.

I do believe RPI is Reneslaer Polytechnic Institute in New York...

Red Barchetta, one of my favorite songs by RUSH.

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge...

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside

"Red Barchetta" is a song by rock band Rush from their album Moving Pictures.

The song describes a dystopian future in which modern sports cars are prohibited by "the Motor Law." The narrator's uncle has kept one of these illicit vehicles (the red barchetta in pristine condition for some "fifty-odd years" and keeps it hidden on his farm. During one of his weekly drives, the narrator encounters two "alloy air cars." The Barchetta and the much larger aircars race down the road until the narrator eludes them by driving across a one-lane bridge that is too narrow for the "giants." The song ends with the narrator returning to the farm, "to dream with [his] uncle at the fireside."

The song was inspired by the futuristic short story "A Nice Morning Drive", written by Richard Foster and published in the November, 1973 issue of the magazine Road and Track. The story describes a similar future in which increasingly-stringent safety regulations have forced cars to evolve into massive "Modern Safety Vehicles" (MSVs), capable of withstanding a 50-mile-per-hour impact without injury to the driver. Consequently, drivers of MSVs have become less safety-conscious and more aggressive, and "bouncing" (intentionally ramming) the older, smaller cars is a common sport among some.

Rush lyricist Neil Peart made several attempts to contact Foster while working on the album, but Road and Track did not have an up-to-date address, and Rush were forced to settle for a brief "Inspired by" note in the lyric sheet mentioning the story. In July of 2007, Foster and Peart finally made contact with one another; Foster later posted an online account of their journey by motorcycle through the backwoods of West Virginia between stops on Rush's Snakes and Arrows tour.

In the original album version, Geddy Lee mispronounces "Barchetta" -- the correct pronunciation sounds like "Barketta" but Lee pronounces the "ch" like that in "cheese", not the proper Italian pronunciation.

I remember when I first started this stuff. I was 12 years old and I use to help this guy "my old dad Doug" haul TV's and clean his shop while he taught me Electronics. I worked for him tell I was 19 By then I was fixing the TV's and such...But every time we moved a TV he sang this song. So now...Everytime I sit down to start a new project. I think about this song.

Just my two cents...

(But I have to admit the hammer song is problem best! God knows I need a bigger hammer!)

Sixteen Tons

(Merle Travis)

I was born one morning' when the sun didn't shine
Picked up a shovel and I walked to the mine
I hauled Sixteen Tons of number 9 coal
And the straw-boss said, "Well, bless my soul"

(Chorus:)

You haul Sixteen Tons, whadaya get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

Repeat Chorus

Born one morning it was drizzle and rain
Fightin' and Trouble are my middle name
I was raised in a canebrake by an old mama lion
And no high-toned woman make me walk the line

Repeat Chorus

See me comin' better step aside
A lot of men didn't and a lot of men died
I got one fist of iron and the other of steel
And if the right one don't get ya, the left one will

Repeat Chorus

Born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
Picked up a shovel and I walked to the mine
I hauled Sixteen Tons of number 9 coal
And the straw-boss said, "Well, bless my soul"

Repeat Chorus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joo90ZWrUkU&feature=related

Sixteen Tons is a great song, but I always preferred the Jimmy Dean version. Too bad it's not on YouTube. I did find it here. Even though it's more about the working miner, and not the mine engineer, it captures the spirit and attitude of engineers.

I've Been Working on the Railroad is another example of that. But the tune is used for The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You and the theme to the old Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy radio show.

Jimmy Dean is better known for another mining song that captures the spirit and attitude of engineers, Big Bad John.

Apparently, you haven't ever really heard the "real" version by Tennessee Ernie Ford, bless your pea-pickin' little heart...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOtoujYOWw0

the knack

I am afraid that, for too many of us, the most appropriate song was already recorded, with great success..., by "Tennessee" Ernie Ford, entitled "Sixteen Tons..."

Hello 3Doug and other Readers.

What about this one:

The Crazy Engineer

The black smokestack was barking
The steam made them pistons groan
And behind that screaming whistle
You could hear that engine moan
The train was reeling and rocking
The passengers were screaming with fear
For the train was being driven
By a crazy engineer
I'm driving this engine up to the moon
He laughed as the train sped on
Then from the lips of the madman
Came a crazy railroad song

Then out from a blind crept hobo Bill
He was stealing a ride that day
I've rode the blinds on many a train
They ain't ever travelled this way
He climbed over the bend into the engine cab
Those passengers' lives to save
Then, while he fought with the madman
His weary life he gave
Poor bill spoke in a whisper
This was all they could hear
I've rode my last railroad ride
With a crazy engineer

Hank Snow: The Crazy Engineer Lyrics

Songwriters: N/A

Kind Regards....

Hello 3Doug and others,

Here is another, once again the Train Theme:

Monkey and the Engineer

Once upon a time there was an engineer.
Drove a locomotive both far and near.
Accompanied by a monkey that would sit on a stool
Watching everything the engineer would move

One day the engineer wanted a bite to eat,
He left the monkey sitting on the driver's seat,
The monkey pulled the throttle, the locomotive jumped the gun
And did 90 miles an hour down the mainline run.

Big locomotive right on time, big locomotive coming down the line.
Big locomotive No. 99, left the engineer with a worried mind.

The engineer called up the dispatcher on the phone,
To tell him all about his locomotive was gone.
Get on the wire, switch operator to write,
Cause the monkey's got the main line sewed up tight.

The switch operator got the message on time,
Said there's a Northbound limited on the same main line,
Open up the switch I'm gonna let him through the hole,
Cause the monkey's got the locomotive under control.

Big locomotive right on time, big locomotive coming down the line.
Big locomotive No. 99, left the engineer with a worried mind.

"The Grateful Dead" (whoever they were)

Kind Regards....

Try this one folks, do you know the tune? I have never heard this song.

THE MINING ENGINEER

1.

I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three hundred pounds,

The college bell to mix it in and clapper to stir it round.

Like every honest fellow, I take my whisky clear,

I'm a rambling wreck from Golden Tech, a helluva engineer.

Chorus

A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva engineer,

A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva engineer,

Like every honest fellow, I take my whisky clear,

I'm a rambling wreck from Golden Tech, a helluva engineer.

2.

And if I had a daughter, I'd dress her up in green,

I'd send her up to Boulder to coach the football team.

But if I had a son, sir, I'll tell you what he'd do,

He'd yell "To hell with Boulder," like his daddy used to do.

Chorus

He'd yell "To hell with Boulder," like his daddy used to do.

He'd yell "To hell with Boulder," like his daddy used to do.

But if I had a son, sir, I'll tell you what he'd do,

He'd yell "To hell with Boulder," like his daddy used to do.

3.

Now here we have the mining man, in either hand a gun.

He's not afraid of anything, and he's never known to run.

He dearly loves his whisky, and he dearly loves his beer,

He's a shooting, fighting, dynamiting mining engineer.

Chorus

He's a shooting, fighting, dynamiting mining engineer.

He's a shooting, fighting, dynamiting mining engineer.

He dearly loves his whisky, and he dearly loves his beer,

He's a shooting, fighting, dynamiting mining engineer.

4.

If you want to gear the planets that revolve around the sun,

We'll do the job up nicely, and we'll only call it fun,

And if you want a bridge to Mars, or a ten-foot shaft to hell,

We're the engineers of a thousand years, and we'll do the job right well.

Chorus

The engineers of a thousand years, and we'll do the job right well.

The engineers of a thousand years, and we'll do the job right well.

And if you want a bridge to Mars, or a ten-foot shaft to hell,

We're the engineers of a thousand years, and we'll do the job right well.

The Chorus lines are somewhat repetitive, but I did not write them.

From: http://www.mines.edu/stu_life/activities/Brunton/Mining%20Engineer%20Lyrics.doc - sorry, link no longer available

Kind Regards....

Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO - Orediggers fight song! Love it!!!

http://www.mines.edu/index_js.shtml

OBTW, Boulder is just up the road a bit and has the rival University of Colorado.

Hi all,

I've enjoyed all of the posts thus far. I love music and alot of the songs bring great memories. I tend to lean toward the lighter side of goofy so:

Here's Monty Python's "The Universe" for the all of the astrological folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWVshkVF0SY

And though not a song yet, a little poem about being "in the trenches" as it were.

THE CONDEMNED

When the earth was created, the powers above

gave each man a job to work at and love.

He made doctors and lawyers and plumbers and then

he made carpenters, singers and confidence men.

And when each had a job to work as he should,

He looked them all over and saw it was good.

He then sat down to rest for a day,

when a horrible groan chanced to come in his way.

The Lord then looked down and his eyes opened wide,

for a motley collection of bums stood outside.

"Oh What can they want"? The Creator asked then

"Help us", they cried out, "A job for us men"!

"

We have no profession", they cried in dismay,

"and even the jails have turned us away".

Said the Lord, "I've seen many things without worth,

but here I find gathered the scum of the earth"!!!

The Lord was perplexed.........then he was mad,

for of all the jobs, there were none to be had.

He then spoke aloud, in a deep angry tone...:

"Forever and ever ye mongrels shall roam.

Ye shall work on equipment that's dirty and old,

Ye shall be called on at break-time and eat food that is cold.

Ye shall lose skin on your knuckles from wrenches that slip,

Ye shall work under deadline so that product can ship.

Ye shall solve problems; improve systems, though you are thought without worth

and be blamed for ALL downtime that occurs on the earth.

Ye shall call out for help, but no one will listen,

Ye shall forever be cursed and be called

Elec/Mech Technicians.

How about Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me (With Science)" from the album "The Golden Age of Wireless"?

It's poetry in motion
And when she turned her eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
She blinded me with science
And failed me in geometry

When she's dancing next to me
(Blinding me with science)
(Science)
Science
I can hear machinery
(Blinding me with science)
(Science)
Science

It's poetry in motion
And now she's making love to me
The spheres are in commotion
The elements in harmony
She blinded me with science
She blinded me with science
And hit me with technology

When I'm dancing close to her
Science
I can smell the chemicals
(Blinding me with science)
(Science)
Science

It's poetry in motion
And now she's making love to me
The spheres are in commotion
The elements in harmony
She blinded me with science
She blinded me with science
And hit me with technology

Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto
You're beautiful

I, I don't believe it
There she goes again
She's tidied up and I can't find anything
All my tubes and wires
And careful notes
And antiquated notions
But, it's poetry in motion
And when she turned her eyes to me
As deep as any ocean
As sweet as any harmony
Mmm, but she blinded me with science
She blinded me with science
She blinded me with

Wow, I envy all this songs. I never heard a similar Spanish song, so my two cents have to be for the opposite: The non engineer song (or the ignorant song) → Sam Cooke's "Wonderful world"

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took
But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be
Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for
But I know that one and one is two
And if this one could be with you
What a wonderful world this would be

Kind regards

Just press the button! It's a peach that I hope you all enjoy!!

Well, how many engineers can relate to this? Or this? Or even this?

Hello 3Doug

I Clicked once on each link, and the 3 opened simultaneously and started playing.

Quite an experience, I assure you.

Kind Regards....