IBM Song book

[Alfred Falk]

Cleaning up my basement, I came up a copy of the "IBM Song book".
This was handed out, almost 50 years ago, for our entertainment and
edification in a graduate school Comp Sci class. The prof had once worked
at IBM where came upon this little item, and took a copy and subsequently
made copies for his students.
Another student, with some experience in IBM shops said "Oh! this isn't
real. It doesn't have a form number."
"Oh yeah? Look at the last page."
30-8798-0-8-32-12-53-P

In addition to a few familiar songs, it has
March on with IBM by Tappe and Giannini
IBM school song
Ever Onward! (IBM rally song)
Hail to the IBM by Tappe and Giannini

[Dallas]

Post by Alfred Falk
Cleaning up my basement, I came up a copy of the "IBM Song book".
This was handed out, almost 50 years ago, for our entertainment and
edification in a graduate school Comp Sci class. The prof had once worked
at IBM where came upon this little item, and took a copy and subsequently
made copies for his students.
Another student, with some experience in IBM shops said "Oh! this isn't
real. It doesn't have a form number."
"Oh yeah? Look at the last page."
30-8798-0-8-32-12-53-P
In addition to a few familiar songs, it has
March on with IBM by Tappe and Giannini
IBM school song
Ever Onward! (IBM rally song)
Hail to the IBM by Tappe and Giannini

Lots of history of that book is online
https://www.google.com/search?q=IBM+song+book+songbook

http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ibmsongbook.html

also

https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/music/pdf/SB1.pdf

[Alfred Falk]

Post by Dallas

Post by Alfred Falk
Cleaning up my basement, I came up a copy of the "IBM Song book".
This was handed out, almost 50 years ago, for our entertainment and
edification in a graduate school Comp Sci class. The prof had once
worked at IBM where came upon this little item, and took a copy and
subsequently made copies for his students.
Another student, with some experience in IBM shops said "Oh! this
isn't real. It doesn't have a form number."
"Oh yeah? Look at the last page." 30-8798-0-8-32-12-53-P
In addition to a few familiar songs, it has
March on with IBM by Tappe and Giannini
IBM school song
Ever Onward! (IBM rally song)
Hail to the IBM by Tappe and Giannini

Lots of history of that book is online
https://www.google.com/search?q=IBM+song+book+songbook
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ibmsongbook.html
also
https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/music/pdf/SB1.pdf

Interesting. Thanks for those links.
The one I have a poor quality photocopy of is shown at
https://www.hcamag.com/us/news/general/lighter-side-ibms-corporate-
songbook-revealed/156213
The lengthy footnote on the left side references Watson's business trip to
Germany in 1938, so this edition is later that. It is just 12 pages. The
earlier editions were longer.

[Quadibloc]

Post by Dallas

Post by Alfred Falk
Cleaning up my basement, I came up a copy of the "IBM Song book".
This was handed out, almost 50 years ago, for our entertainment and
edification in a graduate school Comp Sci class. The prof had once worked
at IBM where came upon this little item, and took a copy and subsequently
made copies for his students.
Another student, with some experience in IBM shops said "Oh! this isn't
real. It doesn't have a form number."
"Oh yeah? Look at the last page."
30-8798-0-8-32-12-53-P
In addition to a few familiar songs, it has
March on with IBM by Tappe and Giannini
IBM school song
Ever Onward! (IBM rally song)
Hail to the IBM by Tappe and Giannini

Lots of history of that book is online
https://www.google.com/search?q=IBM+song+book+songbook
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ibmsongbook.html
also
https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/music/pdf/SB1.pdf

This thread piqued my curiosity, so I looked around for more information.

One of the things I found was where T. J. Watson Jr. noted that he abolished
this type of singing as out of date, and also that it had gone out of hand - his
father, in 1936, had comissioned a symphony in honor of IBM.

Well, I couldn't resist hunting it up...

Also, I found more information online:

https://www.therestisnoise.com/2015/08/oddity-vittorio-gianninis-ibm-symphony.html

Apparently, what it was comissioned _for_ was the opening, in 1938, of the IBM
World Trade headquarters.

John Savard

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Alfred Falk
Cleaning up my basement, I came up a copy of the "IBM Song book".
This was handed out, almost 50 years ago, for our entertainment and
edification in a graduate school Comp Sci class. The prof had once worked
at IBM where came upon this little item, and took a copy and subsequently
made copies for his students.
Another student, with some experience in IBM shops said "Oh! this isn't
real. It doesn't have a form number."
"Oh yeah? Look at the last page."
30-8798-0-8-32-12-53-P

According to Watson Jr's memoir, the songbooks were
part of the cult of personality his father created.
Back in the 1920s that wasn't so unusual in corporate
America. It was out of style by the 1950s. When
Watson Jr took over his abolished that and other
archaic customs. However, the men had a great
deal of loyalty to his father and he proceeded
slowly.

Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

[Quadibloc]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

It's right there in the name of the company.

NCR was nation-wide in scope, "National".

IBM was world-wide in scope, "International".

NCR sold cash registers.

IBM sold every kind of business machine, not just cash registers, but also time
clocks, weighing scales, typewriters, and punched card tabulating equipment!

John Savard

[Scott Lurndal]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

Watson _worked_ for NCR before going to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording company.

Post by Quadibloc
It's right there in the name of the company.
NCR was nation-wide in scope, "National".
IBM was world-wide in scope, "International".
NCR sold cash registers.

And built fuses (military), aircraft instrumentation,
airplane engines, bomb sights, code-breaking machines
(including the American Bombe), and post WWII, computers
and cryptoanalytic equipment.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Scott Lurndal

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

Watson _worked_ for NCR before going to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording company.

Yes, and he was fired by NCR's fickle CEO. He also got into
legal trouble for some of his sales tactics.

Post by Scott Lurndal

Post by Quadibloc
It's right there in the name of the company.
NCR was nation-wide in scope, "National".
IBM was world-wide in scope, "International".
NCR sold cash registers.

And built fuses (military), aircraft instrumentation,
airplane engines, bomb sights, code-breaking machines
(including the American Bombe), and post WWII, computers
and cryptoanalytic equipment.

Was that a major product line, or just some ancillary
defense business in WW II? Lots of companies
contributed such products during wartime. IBM
made rifles. Lionel's tiny electric motors found
defense use.

In the E-D mags just posted, there are a lot of ads
for "military spec" devices and projects. In my
opinion, during and after WW II, defense contracts
paid for a heck of a lot of electronic and computer
R&D.

[Quadibloc]

Post by Scott Lurndal

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

Watson _worked_ for NCR before going to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording company.

Post by Quadibloc
It's right there in the name of the company.
NCR was nation-wide in scope, "National".
IBM was world-wide in scope, "International".
NCR sold cash registers.

And built fuses (military), aircraft instrumentation,
airplane engines, bomb sights, code-breaking machines
(including the American Bombe), and post WWII, computers
and cryptoanalytic equipment.

When Watson was working for NCR, it mainly sold cash registers.

So I don't think that my point was invalidated: the very *name* of IBM reflected
(and transparently so) Tom Watson Sr.'s desire to show that his company was
bigger and better than NCR in every way.

John Savard

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Scott Lurndal

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

Watson _worked_ for NCR before going to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording company.

Post by Quadibloc
It's right there in the name of the company.
NCR was nation-wide in scope, "National".
IBM was world-wide in scope, "International".
NCR sold cash registers.

And built fuses (military), aircraft instrumentation,
airplane engines, bomb sights, code-breaking machines
(including the American Bombe), and post WWII, computers
and cryptoanalytic equipment.

When Watson was working for NCR, it mainly sold cash registers.
So I don't think that my point was invalidated: the very *name* of IBM reflected
(and transparently so) Tom Watson Sr.'s desire to show that his company was
bigger and better than NCR in every way.

Yes. In its early advertising, they didn't refer to themselves
as IBM, but rather "International", as in "The International
time recorder is better..."

Also, Watson changed its name from C-T-R to IBM.

Though in fairness, Watson Sr spent a lot of time overseas
seeking foreign business. World Trade was a big part
of IBM by the time Jr took over.

Dick Watson was running World Trade and did well with it.
But Tom Jr reorg things and screwed it all up. Sad.

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by Scott Lurndal

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

Watson _worked_ for NCR before going to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording company.

Post by Quadibloc
It's right there in the name of the company.
NCR was nation-wide in scope, "National".
IBM was world-wide in scope, "International".
NCR sold cash registers.

And built fuses (military), aircraft instrumentation,
airplane engines, bomb sights, code-breaking machines
(including the American Bombe), and post WWII, computers
and cryptoanalytic equipment.

When Watson was working for NCR, it mainly sold cash registers.
So I don't think that my point was invalidated: the very *name* of IBM reflected
(and transparently so) Tom Watson Sr.'s desire to show that his company was
bigger and better than NCR in every way.

Here's an IBM ad touting "International".
https://archive.org/details/Nations-Business-1937-09/page/n70/mode/1up

[Quadibloc]

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Here's an IBM ad touting "International".
https://archive.org/details/Nations-Business-1937-09/page/n70/mode/1up

Before IBM used the three letters "IBM" on its products, it just used the word "International" as a logo on some of its equipment, but that logo isn't shown in historical sequences of the company's different logo over time.

John Savard

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Scott Lurndal

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

Watson _worked_ for NCR before going to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording company.

Post by Quadibloc
It's right there in the name of the company.
NCR was nation-wide in scope, "National".
IBM was world-wide in scope, "International".
NCR sold cash registers.

And built fuses (military), aircraft instrumentation,
airplane engines, bomb sights, code-breaking machines
(including the American Bombe), and post WWII, computers
and cryptoanalytic equipment.

While NCR was by far the market leader in cash
registers, others told them too. Here's an
ad by Burroughs for their adding machines,
including cash registers.
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1952-10-25/page/n12/mode/1up

(doesn't include their bookkeeping machines such as
https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1951-09-22/page/n150/mode/1up

[h***@bbs.cpcn.com]

Post by Quadibloc

Post by h***@bbs.cpcn.com
Note that Watson Sr copied a lot of customs from
NCR.

It's right there in the name of the company.
NCR was nation-wide in scope, "National".
IBM was world-wide in scope, "International".
NCR sold cash registers.
IBM sold every kind of business machine, not just cash registers, but also time
clocks, weighing scales, typewriters, and punched card tabulating equipment!

The product lines of both companies varied over their
long history. But until computers came along, I don't
believe IBM was in competition with NCR.

As far as I know, NCR was mostly cash registers and
accounting machines (which were basically glorified
registers with more accumulators). I guess in the
1950s NCR decided to get into computers and tabulator
machines. It did market card sorters and such. It
did 'soup up' its cash registers (bitsavers has stuff).

I don't believe IBM ever had the 'cash register style'
accounting machine that NCR offered--IBM was into
the more sophisticated punched card system. NCR's
chief competitor in that line was Burroughs, which
had a big line of accounting and adding machines.
(Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

I don't believe IBM offered cash registers early on. Indeed,
in the US NCR had a near monopoly on the market. There
were a few competitors such as Ohmer, SCM, Burroughs,
and Monroe-Sweda. Today, I see cash registers (oops,
"point of sale terminals") with the IBM logo, but
people say it's really Toshiba.

IBM's weighing scales was sold off pretty early to Hobart.

During anti-trust proceedings, IBM made a point that it
was not in all lines of business. While it had a strong
presence in tabulating machines, it did not offer
adding machines and many other business systems used
for accounting, which was true.

IBM bought a typewriter company circa 1940. I think
it exploded in that market only after WW II when
it developed newer streamlined machines, and then
later the Selectric.

https://books.google.com/books?id=SlMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA169&dq=LIFE%20ibm%20typewriter&pg=PA169#v=onepage&q&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=BVQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA5&dq=LIFE%20ibm%20typewriter&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false

IBM Mag Card 1974
https://books.google.com/books?id=HVS5vii69H4C&lpg=PA1164&dq=ibm%20mag%20card%20typewriter&pg=PA1163#v=onepage&q&f=false


Previously posted here were links to Burroughs and NCR
accounting machines. Neat ads.

[James Dow Allen]

I can confirm that my father "J. D. Allen" (who was an IBM Advisory Engineer when he passed away at age 49), used to play "Ever Onward IBM" from an IBM song book on his Hammond chord organ in the late 1950's and/or early 1960's.

James Dow Allen III