Tony read the lyrics to Charly improvising the melody and catching hold of a beat. “Yeh,” said Charly, hearing the tune in his head. “What’s this called?”
Tony called out to Whitman, “Say, Walt, what’s this called?”
“O Robot, My Robot!” Whitman yelled.
“Robot, My Robot. Let’s give it the once around,” Charly said slamming his fingers into the black keys and nattering Joplin-esque boogie-woogie until Tony joined in. “Those sweaty robot Romans love to get beneath
your dripping engine’s coiling heat, it’s pure bliss
From your nose to your feet;
Your copper baby's body
Hanging from the silver cross
Between your twin electric mountains;
Your robot children at their robot mother’s ***,
Baby, I adjure you to bury your dead w/ them,
In the serpentine hills of time’s aluminum armpit
Where your projectile farts collide with the **** of the stars,
In the cosmic slaughterhouse of wheel and woe,
You take off ur bra for those crying brats &
I am the one that gets disenchanted don't u know;
I'm all through w/ with ur ****** platinum facade,
ur the robot maiden made of iron,
w/ your robot apples made of honor,
That's when I will ride thee into the sun
‘til 1 a.m. I, tell thee of bliss,
oh on this night of bliss!
How like the son, my son, u are to me, O
my son, oh robot, my robot! My robot!
Oh, my android Absolom
beneath the shadow of the robot moon,
Telling thee of bliss, Oh robot my robot!
Oh I, I, I, my my my robot my robot, I, I, I,
my robot my robot!
Telling thee of bliss beneath the robot moon (repeat 6x).”
He repeated the refrain as instructed, the chants of “robot my robot” and “telling thee of bliss” rising from everyone’s lips and reaching the door to the kids loitering on the Boulevard. The kids hearing “O Robot! My Robot!” booming in a chorus of parent's voices took up the chant knowing nothing of its origin; only placing it within the scope of Miklós Toldi’s influence.
The rest of the night was a blur. Tony had gained a new following; the older generation hooked on the cryptically rhythmic, “oh android Absolom beneath the shadow of the robot moon.”
He wanted to release ‘Oh Robot My Robot’ right away but it was Whitman’s copyright.