It Was Sing Along With Watson Sr.
One Hundred Years of IBM Songs
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Date Published: August 10, 2021
Date Modified: June 29, 2024 |
Songs of "The IBM"
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Watson Sr. started life as a piano salesman. Today we read about the early days of IBM and its salesmen singing together at events. We chuckle. Yes, it seems archaic because we have lost touch with our early American history. Homes had pianos in our days as a new country. Sears Roebuck and Company sold pianos in their catalogs. In the evenings, the sound of music and family voices resonated from within our American homes.
Just like Watson Sr., Elbert H. Gary, the chief executive of U.S. Steel Corporation had a love of music. |
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Ida Tarbell wrote of Judge Gary, "At sixteen he was singing bass in church, later he was a member of a quartet which did considerable work in the community." It was natural to sing together in early America.
Maybe if one of these individuals were to visit from the past they would think, "How sad it is that people don't sing together in their homes anymore. Instead, they sit in the same room across from each other looking at their phones. These are wonderful houses, but they are not homes!" These are songs from an early era of IBM and the United States.
When I asked one 96 year old IBMer about singing in his day, his comment was, "Sure we sang. It didn't hurt us none and we would laugh about it later."
When I asked one 96 year old IBMer about singing in his day, his comment was, "Sure we sang. It didn't hurt us none and we would laugh about it later."
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