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Top 10 software songs

James Thornton

James Thornton

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After I finally stopped laughing at Mashable’s round-up of the best songs about Facebook and Twitter, I’ve had time to compose my own list of the best software-related tunes. It’s amazing how many artists have felt compelled to write songs professing their love (or often their hatred) of applications and operating systems.  Here are the ten that moved me the most.

Free Software Song

The crowd at Richard Stillman’s impromptu ‘gig’ were left dumbstruck by his mesmerizing performance of his self-penned Free Software Song. Don’t expect the founder of the GNU Project and Free Software Foundation to be getting an six-album deal anytime soon, though.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BH7poMtPVU[/youtube]

Photoshop

Check out this extravagant performance of Spark’s Photoshop song, recorded on the band’s Creatures of the Deep tour. Russell, we would never want to Photoshop you out of our lives.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKAZGsVU-Fc[/youtube]

Mac or PC Rap

One of my personal favorites, this Flight Of the Conchords-style hip hop parody debates the nuances of the Windows and Mac OS interfaces.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkrn6ecxthM[/youtube]

Google Me

“Explorer, Safari you know where your girl be”. Teyana Taylor may not be great at grammar but she certainly loves surfing the Web. More to the point, she likes it when you come to her site.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMfy_2VLe1c[/youtube]

Windows 95 Sucks

Bill Rivers was clearly not a fan of Microsoft’s business model back in the mid-Nineties, as this track proves. Remember, ‘Start Me Up’ was the track used by MS to promote the OS.

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwb74UQPK3s[/youtube]

Firefox Firebug Extension Song

I can’t remember many tracks about Firefox add-ons making it onto the Billboard charts. However, this one by a developer turned musician from GraphicFusion has all the makings of a hit, though.

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN4iArLm7KA&feature=video_response[/youtube]

Free Software Song

Anything Richard Stillman can do Flat Eric can do better. This video from Mr Oizo’s sidekick features a more upbeat interpretation of the Free Software Song.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gci0N03aXZ4[/youtube]

Tócame El Windous

One for all you Europop fans out there, Brody seems a little too excited about Microsoft Windows. If you don’t understand the lyrics, at least you can enjoy the enthusiasm of the Spanish singer and his sexy colleagues.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKuTusNQIpU[/youtube]

Dreamweaver

Gary Wright is extremely passionate about web design as you can see in this emotional live tribute to his favorite HTML editor.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hdx9JjzDfo&feature[/youtube]

When I’m Cleaning Windows

When he wasn’t wooing babes with his ukulele, George Formby would spend all his time tinkering about with his Windows registry settings, running ScanDisk, and trashing temp files.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfmAeijj5cM[/youtube]

James Thornton

James Thornton

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