When I Was a Boy
Words and music by Frank Hayes © 1997

C F C When I was a boy our Nintendo F C Was carved from an old Apple tree F C And we used garden hose to connect it D G To our steam-powered color TV C F C But it still beat that ancient Atari F C 'Cuz I almost went blind, don'tcha know F C Am Playing Breakout and Pong on a video game D G Hooked up to the radio. F C And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse F C Barefoot, uphill both ways F C Through blizzards in summer and winter D G Back in the good old days. F C Back when Fortran was not even Three-tran F C And the PC was only a toy F C Am And we did our computing by gaslight D G C When I was a boy. C F C When I was a boy all our networks F C Were for hauling in fish from the sea-- F C Our bawd rate was eight bits an hour (and she was worth it!) D G And our IP address was just 3. C F C And you kids who complain that the World Wide Web F C Is too slow oughtta cut out your bitchin' F C Am 'Cuz when I was a boy every packet D G Was delivered by carrier pigeon. F C And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse F C Barefoot, uphill both ways F C Through blizzards in summer and winter D G Back in the good old days. F C Back when Fortran was not even Two-tran F C And the mainframe was only a toy F C Am And we did our computing by torchlight D G C When I was a boy. C F C When I was a boy our IS shop F C Built relational tables from wood F C And we wrappered our data in oilcloth D G To preserve it the best that we could C F C And we carried our bits in a bucket F C And our mainframe weighed 900 tons F C Am And we programmed in ones and in zeros D G And sometimes we ran out of ones. F C And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse F C Barefoot, uphill both ways F C Through blizzards in summer and winter D G Back in the good old days. F C Back when Fortran was not even One-tran F C And the abacus? Only a toy! F C Am And we did our computing in primordial darkness D G C When I was a boy.