The User

The User

lyrics by Ernest Adams
sung to the tune of "The Boxer" by Paul Simon

I am just a user, though my story's seldom told
I am squandering allocation to talk to a Consultant back in 105
This program's due, still the compiler reads what it wants to read
And barfs upon the rest...

When I left my dorm and the world outside
I was just a new user
In the company of wheels
In the class of CS 106, runnin' scared
Laying low, seeking out the weirder manuals where only wizards go
Picking up on things that only wizards know.

Asking only fifteen hours, I come looking for a bit
But I get no offers
Just a wink and some advice about a fake account.
I had to steal, sometimes I needed time so badly
That I went and bribed a wheel, lie lie lie lie lie lie lie...

Now I'm laying out my program code and wishing I was gone, going home
Where my errors and my Emacs aren't beeping me
Beeping me, going home.

Beep-da-feep, etc.

At a terminal sits a hacker, and a wheel by his prompt
And his screen shows the reminders
Of every bug that broke his code or HALTFed
Till he cried out, in his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, logout, killjob" but the hacker still remains...

Beep-da-feep...