Jane
Liner notes
This was written for the maths/music group, and written in a huge hurry after I realised I hadn't contributed anything again. I wanted to come up with something about computer pioneers, and the challenges and opportunities they faced. I'm not sure it's 100 per cent finished -- I'd like a bit more about the machines themselves.There's no-one in the building but the janitors and Jane
The best time to do maintenance, she patiently explains
But under fluorescent lighting, she reads the wiring plan
There's more to these machines than crunching numbers on command
She enters the laboratory as the morning shift arrives
With their slide rules and their cigarettes and their simple nine-to-five
Each day she runs the gauntlet on her route across the room
Notes on her appearance, her demeanour, her perfume
Patronised and catcalled, and patronised again
She ducks pathetic come-ons from pathetic married men
But once she's in the basement, she's the queen of her domain
It would take a foolish scientist to make things hot for Jane
Now there's no-one in the building but the janitors and Jane
The best time to do maintenance, she patiently explains
She's got every right to be here, there's nothing underhand
But there's more to these machines than crunching numbers on command
Her colleagues range from sweethearts to obstreperous and vile
She sorts them into archetypes and changes up her style
Who want to get an answer, who wants it to be right
Who's looking for an insight and who's looking for a fight
The smarter ones have realised that Jane's the one to ask
To look for subtle errors and for ways to make it fast
It wouldn't work without her, but the most that they'll concede
Is a sentence of acknowledgement that nobody will read
There's no-one in the building but the janitors and Jane
The best time to do maintenance, she patiently explains
She's talked to the professors, they don't seem to understand
There's more to these machines than crunching numbers on command
You could draw a picture on them, you could play a game
You could send a message to Australia or Spain
Maybe it could play back tunes or learn to drive a train
Maybe it could talk back like a superficial brain
There's no-one in the building but the janitors and Jane
The best time to do maintenance, she patiently explains
She picks a pack of punch-cards and removes the rubber band
There's more to these machines than crunching numbers on command