Mr. Roboto Gardening at Night

A 'From the Archives' revisit to a time two earworms from the '80s battled for song-spinning supremacy

Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash

(originally written in May 2022 — updated to seem less dated)

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I woke up this morning with two competing earworms duking it out for the title of heavyweight champion of my mental throne.

But before I tell you which two songs went 10 rounds though, a question and a tangent.

Do worms have anything resembling limbs?

At first, I thought yes, but wondered if I was getting them confused with centipedes and millipedes. Time to check with the intertubes.

According to Wormmy.com:

…No, worms do not have legs. They move around using their muscles and tiny bristles on their skin.

A worm is an invertebrate which is to say that they have no bone structure, including no vertebral column. Earthworms move forward thanks to their muscle power alone.

There are, however, worm-like creatures that can remind us of worms without actually belonging to the same animal category. 

For some reason, a mental image of the “worm dance” to represent this sort of movement popped in my head after reading this. Though without the hands usage in the gif below.

I suppose “muscling” is an apt and scientifically accurate term to describe the act of a song or lyric attaching itself to the inner-DJ part of the brain. It effectively captures the sometimes violent act of being beaten — or pummeled — by unrelenting song loops.

Which is exactly how it feels to have legendary prog-pop-rock band Styx’s 1983 hit song “Mr. Roboto” stuck on constant redial. Not the entire song, just the opening lyrical bit between seconds 45-58 in the below video. The part where the robotic voices chime in singing in Japanese:

Domo arigato Mr. Roboto
Mata au hi made
Domo arigato Mr. Roboto
Himitsu wo shiri tai

What does it mean?

Literally, what do the words mean? And also, why do I have lyrics stuck in my head in a language I don’t speak or know the correct phonetic pronunciation? I had up until now believed the meaning of the Japanese lyrics to be found in the English portion of the song as sung by the vocalist and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, who wrote “Mr. Roboto.”

Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the jobs that nobody wants to
And thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For helping me escape just when I needed to

But, other than the “thank you very much” part, the other lines do not seem to match, according to my online research.

Here’s what one thread (of many!!!) determined as the best translation of the lyrics:

Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto.
Until we meet again.
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto.
When you have time, I'd like to know your secret.

It sounds better in Japanese.

I’m not going to explore the larger concept around Styx’s album, Kilroy Was Here, and its themes surrounding fear of technology and robots replacing humans (none too original sci-fi tropes). I could, of course, argue how pertinent and timely the song seems in today’s current climate, where concerns around Artificial Intelligence are growing louder by the day. But that would be a stretch, as everything is a cycle. “Mr. Roboto” was bound to become semi-relevant again regardless of the existence of AI. (Note to self: find out if sales of Adobe Illustrator have gone up with the popularity of AI.)

And I’m not going to explore the cultural stereotyping expressed in this song. Because, although I did play taiko drums for 7 years and traveled in Japan (taking a weeklong taiko workshop in Miyama, a small town four hours north of Osaka), I am not well-versed in appropriation history.

(Below is a video of me playing taiko at a festival in the summer of 2003. I’m the bald guy on the front right facing away when the video starts.)

Here’s what Dennis DeYoung had told an interviewer back in 1983 about his inspiration for this addictive song and album:

DeYoung had been to Japan with the band and was intrigued by their culture. Later, he saw a documentary on robots put to work in factories. He merged these concepts of censorship, robotics, and Japan into "Mr. Roboto," the story of a human/robot hybrid who is called upon to save the world.

I guess it’s essentially a variation on an age-old story. Frankenstein, The Golem. The Iron Giant, E.T., and Encino Man.

“Mr. Roboto” is just another rung on the ladder of that long lineage.

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Young and sweaty R.E.M. in 1981

The 2nd song that entered my braino’sphere during the wee hours was “Gardening at Night” by R.E.M.

This is a deep cut, one that even R.E.M. aficionados might not recognize. It appeared on their very first EP, Chronic Town. And then again on their B-Sides collection Dead Letter Office. I hadn’t listened to the song in at least 20 years, so why it suddenly popped in to say “hi!” uninvited I have no idea.

Or maybe I do have an idea.

A couple of nights ago, I was actually gardening around 8pm. Planting corn seedlings. It was more eveningish — it wasn’t yet dark, the sky clinging to its last vestiges of light — but who am I to limit the definition of night?

A quick internet search (thanks, Songfacts!) about this song reveals this exciting tidbit from R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, who wrote the song:

“Gardening At Night" is about an old neighbor of mine who used to putter about the yard after dark.

Wow, super thrilling. It’s exactly as it says in the title. No annoying metaphor or overwrought analogy needed.

If I had lived in Athens, Georgia back in 1979 (ish) and was much older than a pre-teen, he could have been writing about me. This story is proof that a great song can be written about literally anything. So, for you artists out there who struggle with creator’s block, take this as inspiration that you are constantly surrounded by source material.

In terms of the earworm portion, the only words I can understand (still, to this day) in the song are “Gardening at Night,” so those are the words that spun round and round, along with “Domo arigato Mr. Roboto.”

Which song eventually won the battle to claim solo earworm victory?

Well, it was probably my gardening during the daytime that gave Styx the win. Though I have a feeling “Mr. Roboto” would have won regardless. It’s a far more insidious earworm, so it wasn’t a fair fight.

Maybe if Michael Stipe and Peter Buck had thought to write/sing some of the lyrics in Japanese it would have made the difference.

• Who would have thought that Styx would still be around, recording decent albums and playing sold-out stadium concerts? I saw them about a decade ago, playing with Foreigner and Kansas, and they were quite excellent!

• Do you have any Styx or R.E.M. earworms that wreak havoc upon your mental state? Is the R.E.M. song “Orange Crush?” Is the Styx song “Come Sail Away?”

• Do you garden at night? Did you know there’s an official world naked gardening day? It’s the first Saturday of May. I garden in the front yard and my neighbors like me, so I don’t participate.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Naked_Gardening_Day