Technologic: totally obvious irony
So tonight the lady and I were arguing about Daft Punk’s Technologic. I was saying how ironic it was that Apple is obsessed with the track and plays it at their events. She says, “it could be about anything” in terms of tech, but I’m totally convinced it’s a song about fair use. Look at it: it’s an electronic song about all the things you can do to and with fair, free, open files. Even if you want to argue the hardware angle, it’s still in advocacy of a free, open hardware model vs. “DRMed hardware” (i.e. trusted computing). Maybe I just think about this crap too much.
[Image taken from Cam R.'s awesome Engadget Halloween costume]
Technologic - Daft Punk
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail- upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick- erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick- rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag it, drop it, zip- unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, curl it, find it,
View it, coat it, jam- unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, twitch- update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax- rename it,
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, start- format it.
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail- upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick- erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick- rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag it, drop it, zip- unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, curl it, find it,
View it, coat it, jam- unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, twitch- update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax- rename it,
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, stop- format it.
technologic. (x4)
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail- upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick- erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick- rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag it, drop it, zip- unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, curl it, find it,
View it, coat it, jam- unlock it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax- rename it,
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, stop- format it.
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail- upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick- erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick- rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, start- format it.
touch it, scroll it, pose it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, twitch- update it,
Lock it, fill it, curl it, find it,
View it, coat it, jam- unlock it,
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail- upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick- erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick- rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag it, drop it, zip- unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, curl it, find it,
View it, coat it, jam- unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, twitch- update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax- rename it,
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, stop- format it.
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail- upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick- erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick- rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, twitch- update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax- rename it,
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, stop- format it.
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail- upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick- erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick- rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, twitch- update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax- rename it,
Buy it, use it, break it, fix it,
Trash it, change it, mail- upgrade it,
Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it,
Snap it, work it, quick- erase it,
Write it, cut it, paste it, save it,
Load it, check it, quick- rewrite it,
Plug it, play it, burn it, rip it,
Drag it, drop it, zip- unzip it,
Lock it, fill it, curl it, find it,
View it, coat it, jam- unlock it,
Surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it,
Cross it, crack it, twitch- update it,
Name it, rate it, tune it, print it,
Scan it, send it, fax- rename it,
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it,
Turn it, leave it, stop- format it.
To me it sounds like a commentary on the monotony of using technology. Basically, the song is saying “stop using your computer, it’s just buttons and plastic. Get out and live your life in the real world”. Or maybe that’s just me wishing that I was still on holiday ;-).
Comment by Conrad — Thursday, August 31, 2006 @ 1:44 pm
I look at it as a working song - You have one file no matter what format it is and you can do a million things with it. So in that the lyrics are just about working with little human interaction. And by using the vocoder on the vocals it only reiterates that robot mentallity. It’s post modern, it’s a place where robots talk to each other and humans are having everything done for them… Look at Automator on OS X, (I bet this is Otto’s theme song)… while he thinks about over throwing the human race…
Comment by James — Thursday, August 31, 2006 @ 2:26 pm
So what you’re all saying is… I’m right? Booyah!
Comment by Veronica — Thursday, August 31, 2006 @ 7:50 pm
Veronica, if you believe “it could be about anything” in terms of tech, and Ryan’s hypothesis is related to technology, then by your own definition Ryan is right too.
Comment by Conrad — Friday, September 1, 2006 @ 7:01 am
As a huge Daft Punk fan, I’ve never seen it, but it makes a helluva a lot of sense.
Comment by mrkaiser — Monday, September 4, 2006 @ 1:58 am