Mr. Roboto
| "Mr. Roboto" | ||||||||
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| Single by Styx | ||||||||
| from the album Kilroy Was Here | ||||||||
| B-side | "Snowblind" | |||||||
| Released | February 11, 1983 | |||||||
| Recorded | 1982 | |||||||
| Genre | Synthrock, new wave, synthpop | |||||||
| Length | 5:30 (album) 4:44 (single) |
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| Label | A&M | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Dennis DeYoung | |||||||
| Producer(s) | Styx | |||||||
| Styx singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Mr. Roboto" is a song written by Dennis DeYoung of the band Styx, and recorded on the Styx album Kilroy Was Here. It was also released as a 45 RPM single in a 4:44 radio edit, which has the synthesizer intro removed (available on "Greatest Hits" released by PolyTel in Canada in 1992), with the song "Snowblind" (from their previous album Paradise Theatre) as the B-side. In Canada, where they were generally more popular than in their native U.S., it went to #1 on the RPM national singles chart, becoming their third single to top the charts in that country (following "Babe" in 1979–80 and "The Best of Times" in 1981). In the U.S., it reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song's chorus features the line, "Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto", which has become a catchphrase.
The Japanese lyrics at the beginning of the song are as follows:
どうもありがとうミスターロボット (dōmo arigatō misutā Robotto)
また会う日まで (mata au hi made)
どうもありがとうミスターロボット (dōmo arigatō misutā Robotto)
秘密を知りたい (himitsu wo shiritai)
The lyrics translate into English as follows:
Thank you very much, Mr. Robot
Until the day (we) meet again
Thank you very much, Mr. Robot
I want to know your secret
The song tells part of the story of Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (ROCK), in the rock opera Kilroy Was Here. The song is performed by Kilroy (as played by keyboardist Dennis DeYoung), a rock and roll performer who was placed in a futuristic prison for "rock and roll misfits" by the anti-rock-and-roll group the Majority for Musical Morality (MMM) and its founder Dr. Everett Righteous (played by guitarist James Young). The Roboto is a model of robot which does menial jobs in the prison. Kilroy escapes the prison by overpowering a Roboto prison guard and hiding inside its emptied-out metal shell. When Jonathan Chance (played by guitarist Tommy Shaw) finally meets Kilroy, at the very end of the song, Kilroy unmasks and says "I'm Kilroy! Kilroy!", ending the song.
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