Engelbart

About Doug:
Douglas Engelbart never worked at PARC but was funded by Bob Taylor (in his prior job at NASA). His research at the Stanford Institute’s Augmentation Research Center (ARC) was seminal in the world of interactive computing and the work at PARC. The 1968 demo of his research attended by many young scientists at the time was the brainchild of Bob Taylor (at ARPA) who also funded the event. The demonstration of Engelbart’s work became known as the Mother of al Demos and met with a standing ovation.
As Bob Taylor liked to say – Tang was not the only thing for civilian use to come out of NASA.

Context:
Song from XEROX PARC musical (Scene 4) – Butler Lampson and Chuck Thacker decide to build an “Interim Dynabook”, which becomes the ALTO personal computer. They were influenced by the work of Douglas C. Engelbart and his “mother of all demos”, who inspired this song.

Music & Lyrics by Terry Crystal, Piano & Arrangement by Eric J Chen (aka Yiqin), Vocals by Max Weinberg and Mayron Piccolo.

Butler
DOUGLAS C ENGELBART
HOW WE KNEW FROM THE START
THAT YOU HAD SOMETHING SO SPECIAL TO GIVE

DOUGLAS C ENGELBART
HOW WE KNEW FROM THE START
THAT YOU HAVE SO GREAT A REASON TO LIVE

YOU HAVE SEEN FAR INTO THE FUTURE
YOU HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM THE PAST
YOU HAVE SHARED YOUR GIFT WITH US

Chuck:
BARED YOUR SOUL TO US
 
Butler:
NOW IT’S TIME THAT WE ASK
HOW WE BUILD ON YOUR GREAT RESEARCH
HOW WE MOVE YOUR IDEAS TO THE FORE
HOW WE SHARE WHAT YOU’VE DONE
AND MOVE IT ALONG
WE CONTINUE YOUR SONG

(music speeds up/Rock)

YOU’RE A ROCK STAR, ENGELBART
BUT WE KNEW THAT FROM THE START
WHEN YOU WALKED UP TO THE STAGE
YOU BECAME THEN ALL THE RAGE
WITH YOUR HEAD ALL AGLOW
YOU PUT ON QUITE A SHOW
YOU COULD SAY WE WERE ALL BLOWN AWAY

YOU’RE A ROCK STAR, ENGELBART
BUT WE KNEW THAT FROM THE START
WHEN YOU STARTED TO SING
THE INVENTIVENESS YOU BRING
YOU HAVE BUILT A MACHINE
LIKE WE NEVER HAVE SEEN
AND WE STAND ON OUR FEET AND APPLAUD

Chuck:
WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF MANY CHALLENGES
THAT POSE A THREAT TO HUMANKIND
AND SO TO MEET THE MANY CHALLENGES
YOU WANT TO AUGMENT THE HUMAN MIND

Butler:
YOU’RE A ROCK STAR, ENGELBART
HOW YOU SUFFERED FOR YOUR ART
HOW YOU KNEW ALL ALONG
WE WOULD SOMEDAY SING YOUR SONG
YOU TOOK BARBS FOR YOUR TEAM
NEVER RAN OUT OF STEAM
YOU KEPT ON WITH YOUR WORK, AND WE SAY

Butler and Chuck:
THANK YOU FOR SHARING
THANKS FOR PERSEVERING
THANK YOU FOR BEING ENGELBART