You Can Call Me HAL

Words by Joseph Abbott
Music: “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon

A bus flies ‘cross the moon
They say “What is that spot in that crater, now?
What is that spot in that crater?
Does the chest of that food include ham?
We need a cordon of security
We need to keep off attention
Don’t want to start up a space war
In a Cold War vanguard
Moondiggers, moondiggers
Slab in the spotlights
But sentinel is sunlit now
What’s that ear-rending gear sending
How do you turn the volume down?
And just who the hell is it signaling, anyhow?”

And if you’ll be my astronaut
I can be your AI pal
I can call you David
And David when you call me
You can call me HAL

A ship flies out in space
They say “What is our secret mission?
Got a huge secret on this here mission
And oh, our crew’s slept so long
What about our AE-35
What if I die here?
What will control systems
Now that control systems are down, down”
He undid all the memory
Hearing “Daisy, Daisy” slowing to a crawl
All along, long
There were trigger states and monoliths
There were orders and contingencies

And if you’ll be my astronaut
I can be your AI pal
I can call you David
And David when you call me,
You can call me HAL
You can call me —

I can’t do that
I can’t do that
I can’t do that
I can’t do that

Pod, pod — pod bay
Pod, pod — pod bay

A man flies through the gate
It’s a gate to a strange world
Maybe it’s their home world
Maybe it’s the space-time that jars
Doesn’t have the language
Barely has sanity
He is an alien
He is surrounded
By the stars, the stars
Light show on his visor
An old man eating lonely meal
Then he’s a Star Child
Spinning in infinity
He doesn’t know what he’ll do
But he’s sure he’ll think of something

If you’ll be my astronaut
I can be your AI pal
I can call you David
And David when you call me
You can call me HAL

If you’ll be my astronaut

I can call you Daisy

If you’ll be my astronaut

I can call you David
You can call me HAL