Vive La Difference Engine

In a shed down by the docks
Lives a very clever box
And its children will
One day rule the world
Only one man knows
The potential that it shows
How its DNA will spread
Throughout the globe
He has tried but can’t explain
What it’s for and what’s its aim
As it clicks and clacks
Through algebra and sums
Though built with his own hands
He can’t truly understand
Its importance to the future,
To mankind
Vive la Difference Engine, Engine,
Lurking in a Limehouse
backstreet shed!
Future events are set in motion
Watch the machine’s
first faltering steps
It will analyse statistics
Whilst you have your tea and biscuits
Predict probable outcomes
Of events
Deep inside it knows
Its calculations show
That its descendants will attain sentience
And when Mr Babbage dies
His caretaker will try
To hide the box from spies
From overseas
If it falls in the wrong hands
It could threaten England
Its existence must remain
A mystery
Vive la Difference Engine, Engine,
Lurking in a Limehouse
backstreet shed!
Future events are set in motion
Watch the machine’s first faltering steps
Vive la Difference Engine, Engine,
Lurking in a Limehouse
backstreet shed!
Future events are set in motion
Watch the machine’s first faltering steps