Celebrating The 6502 With Song

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In a wonderful ode to tech nostalgia, The Taylor and Amy Show, comprised of YouTubers [Taylor] and [Amy], have released a new video “THE 6502 SONG”. This song had me singing along in roughly six clock cycles, possibly a little dancing around may have occurred as well. This isn’t just any chip they’re singing about; it’s the venerable 6502 microprocessor, the silicon heart behind iconic machines like the Apple II, Commodore 64/128, and the Atari 2600.

Their lyrics reminds me of when I lived for assembly language mnemonics and counting clock cycles, the “feeling” of a processor coming out of tristate to pronounce what it had learned in the last 500ns, and the undulations of the DRAMs like speed bumps. To top it off, portions of the song were actually recorded live at the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest 2023, where fans and computing history aficionados alike were treated to an impressive display of vintage tech.

What sets “THE 6502 SONG” apart isn’t just its catchy, melodic tune; it’s the expert blend of historical detail and genuine enthusiasm that resonates with everyone from grizzled assembly-language programmers to youngsters newly fascinated by the allure of 8-bit computing. With guest appearances from other female tech YouTubers like [Veronica Explains] and [Evie’s Revue], [AJ], [Jeri and Amy- Tilt5] and [FuzzyBad].

I believe [Chuck Peddle] father of the 6502, would be proud to see his creation live on and be appreciated so.

23 thoughts on “Celebrating The 6502 With Song”

  2. Neat!
    Other computers to have songs written about them are the IBM 5100 (‘IBM Boogie’ by Dennis Garcia), the numerous IBM corporate songs and Weird Al Yankovic’s ‘Rise of the Pentiums’. Add this 6502 one to the list:)

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  9. This is wonderful! It’s very well done, and their enthusiasm and energy really shows.

    I can’t sing, but here’s my tribute to the Chuck Peddle and the 6502. We made a badge for the 40th Anniversary of the 6502 for VCFMW in 2017. Here’s my little filk of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band https://sunrise-ev.com/6502.htm

    It’s Our Chuck Peddle’s Lowly Parts Club Plan

    It was 40 years ago today
    That computers taught the kids to play
    With chips to make a new kind of game
    And the world has never been the same
    So let me introduce to you
    The micro called the 6502!

    RIP Chuck Peddle – A true pioneer.
    Nov 25, 1937 – Dec 15, 2019

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  11. The 2600 used a 6507, not a 6502. It was based on the 6502, but to save on materials and cost, it was made into a smaller package, had only 13 address lines, rather than 16, and no IRQ/NMI pins, so it could address at most 8K of memory (4K RAM, 4K cartridge ROM in the 2600) and didn’t support hardware interrupts. All input from the controllers had to be polled during the video vertical retrace interval, as there was just not enough time to do it while the cpu was busy “drawing” the pixels on the screen. Games written for the 2600 had to be optimized for the limited features of the 6507, which is why there were so few colors, terrible sound, and no support for sprites or page flipping.

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  12. The Apple //e. Home of one of the very first chat systems. Apparently written in 6502 specifically for the Apple //e. A recreation of this 300 baud 7 line chat system is available on the web today.
    magviz.ca is the site, and ddial.com is the history. It can even emulate 300 baud for the true ddial chat experience. It’s free to join. Come say hi. We could use a few more vic…er I mean users. :)

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