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# 2025-03-05 - Don't Copy That Floppy By MC Hart | |
As a high school student, my computer science teacher made us watch a | |
music video titled Don't Copy That Floppy. Little did he know that i | |
would eventually become a dreaded... | |
Linux User | |
Here are the lyrics and a link to the music video itself, performed | |
by MC Hart and written by MC Hart and Ilene Rosenthal. | |
* * * | |
Did I hear you right, did I hear you sayin' | |
That you're gonna make a copy of a game without payin'? | |
Come on, guys, I thought you knew better don't copy that floppy! | |
[Don't don't don't don't...] | |
(Wait a minute. Who are you, anyway? | |
Yeah. And what are you doing on my computer?) | |
I'm your MC Double Def DP | |
That's the Disk Protector for you and the posse | |
That's your artists, writers, designers and pro-grammers | |
They pump up the images for games and gramma's that lets you learn, | |
but also play | |
The games you came here for today | |
Now I know you love the game and that's alright to do | |
Because the posse who make them, they love them too | |
But if you start stealing, there's no more they can do | |
(But I just wanted to make one copy!) | |
You say 'I'll just make a copy, for me and a friend' | |
Then he'll make one and she'll make one and where will it end? | |
One leads to another then ten, then more, | |
And no one buys anything from the store | |
So no one gets paid and they can't make more | |
The posse breaks up and they close the door | |
Don't copy! Don't copy that floppy! | |
So let me break this down for you | |
D-D-Do-Do-Don't | |
No Carmen Sandiego, no more Oregon Trail | |
Tetris and the others, they're all gonna fail | |
Not because we want it but because you're just takin' it | |
Dis-res-pec-tin' all the folks who are ma-kin' it | |
The more you take, the less there will be | |
The disks become fewer, the games fall away | |
The screen starts to tweak, and then it will fade | |
Programs fall through a black hole in space | |
The computer world becomes bleak and stark | |
Loses its life and the screen goes dark | |
[Welcome to the end of the computer age... mwahahahaha..] | |
But I'm much too strong and you're much too smart | |
To let that happen to your chances to explore | |
Parts of the new age just behind the door of your minds | |
You're the posse of the future and you hold in your brains what's | |
never thought before | |
And in time, you'll see just so much more | |
That's why I'm here and that's what I'm fighting for | |
Don't copy! Don't copy that floppy! | |
Now let me introduce you, to some of the teams | |
That will explain a little more about what I mean! | |
[D-D-Do-Do-Don't...Don't copy that floppy!] | |
You see, on these disks we have frozen in time | |
The creativity of someone's mind | |
Do you think, that because, with a flick of a key | |
You can copy that game, that the work is free | |
This creativity, we protect it by law | |
We value so highly, what the mind's eye saw | |
Don't copy! Don't copy that floppy! | |
[D-D-Do-Do-Don't...Don't copy.. Don't copy that floppy!] | |
To do the right thing, it's really simple for you | |
The copyright law, it will tell you what to do | |
Buy one, for every computer you use | |
Anything else is like going to the store | |
Taking the disk, and walking out the door | |
It's called thiefin', stealin', taking what's not yours | |
Is that really where you want your life to go? | |
Think about it, I don't think so. | |
Don't copy! Don't copy that floppy! | |
Now you see a game you like and you really want to try it | |
Don't copy that floppy, just go to the store and buy it | |
Think of it this way, okay? | |
When you're buy a disk, you're sayin' to the team | |
You respect what you do and what you're workin' for | |
We'll keep up our support so you can make up some more | |
We'll do the right thing and the future will be clear | |
There will be new programs here at the end | |
Don't copy! Don't copy that floppy! | |
Now you know how the games and the programs are made | |
And what you do to make sure that they're not gonna fade | |
The bottom line is it's all up to you | |
There's nothing more that I can do | |
The goals in your court, dribble, shoot, or pass | |
I'm sure you'll make your decision with class | |
[Don't copy that floppy] | |
See ya, I'm outta here. | |
* * * | |
Lyrics Source | |
Original Music Video | |
tags: retrocomputing,song | |
# Tags | |
retrocomputing | |
song |