Lyrics

[Verse 1] When I was a boy, our Nintendo Was carved from an old apple tree And we used garden hose to connect it To our steam-powered color TV [Verse 2] But it still beat that ancient Atari And I nearly went blind, don'tcha know Playing Break-Out and Pong on a video game Hooked up to the radio [Chorus] And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse Barefoot and uphill both ways Through blizzards and summer and winter Back in the good ole days Back when FORTRAN was not even THREE-TRAN And the PC was only a toy And we did our computing by gas-light When I (I) Was a boy [Verse 3] When I was a boy, all our networks Were for haulin' in fish from thе sea Our code rate was еight bits an hour (It was worth it!) And our IP address was three [Verse 4] And you kids that complain that your data connection's too slow Better knock off your bitchin'! 'Cause when I was a boy, every packet Was delivered by carrier pigeon! [Chorus] And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse Barefoot and uphill both ways Through blizzards and summer and winter Back in the good ole days Back when FORTRAN was not even TWO-TRAN And the mainframe was only a toy And we did our computing by torch-light When I (I) Was a boy [Instrumental] [Verse 5] When I was a boy, our IT shop Built relational tables from wood And we wrappered our data in oilcloth To preserve it the best that we could [Verse 6] And we carried our bits In a bucket And our mainframe weighed 900 tons And we programmed in ones and in zeros And sometimes we ran out of ones! [Chorus] And we walked twenty miles to the schoolhouse Barefoot and uphill both ways Through blizzards and summer and winter Back in the good ole days Back when FORTRAN was not even ONE-TRAN And the abacus, only a toy And we did our computing by gas-light We did our computing by torch-light We did our computing in primordial darkness When I (I) Was a boy (Yep!)