Video For METALLICA Guitarist KIRK HAMMETT's Cover Of 'Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built For Two)'

May 12, 2014

METALLICA lead guitarist Kirk Hammett has recorded a cover of the 19th century pop standard "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built For Two)" for a compilation album featuring a number of well-known artists all covering the exact same song. The album, called "The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell", also rounds up versions of "Daisy Bell" from "Weird Al" Yankovic, Tyler The Creator, Nick Cave, Katy Perry, DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh, and ex-OINGO BOINGO mastermind/film composer Danny Elfman.

The official video for Hammett's version of "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built For Two)" can be seen below.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, the song has been covered extensively since it was written more than a century ago, and might be best known as the tune that the supercomputer HAL 9000 sings as it is being shut down in "2001: A Space Odyssey".

The album was conceived by artist Mark Ryden, who has done cover art for records like the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' "One Hot Minute" and Michael Jackson's "Dangerous".

The disc will be printed in a limited run of 999 hand-numbered and signed copies on 180-gram red vinyl, costing $99 each.

Half the run will be sold at Ryden's "Gay ’90s" exhibit. which just opened at the Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles, while the rest will go on sale at his web site beginning May 13.

Proceeds from sales of the record will go to the music education non-profit initiative Little Kids Rock.

"Daisy Bell" was written in 1892 by English songwriter Harry Dacre.

It first became popular through live performances by Katie Lawrence in the U.K. and Jennie Lindsay in the U.S. It was first recorded in 1893 by singer Dan W. Quinn, whose version topped the charts for nine weeks.

It was also the first song ever sung by a computer, when an IBM 704 sang it in 1961 during a demonstration of Bell Labs' newly invented speech synthesis — an event referenced by the famous scene in 2001.

It has also been recorded by ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS and BLUR.

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