The Ballad of Me, Ramblin' Rodriguez

"The Ballad of Me, Ramblin' Rodriguez" is a folk song that Bender wrote in 3013. It's about a railroad man &mdash; Big Caboose &mdash; who decides to take revenge on a smooth-talking rambler &mdash; Bender himself &mdash; that slept with his lover &mdash; Jezebel. The rambler asks his best friend &mdash; Fry &mdash; for help, but his best friend, too, decides to take revenge on him, for having once abandoned him, and refuses to help.

The song follows the few basic patterns that Bender found after he downloaded every folk song in the universe and analysed them. Before devising it, Bender had Dr Beeler use his 3-D printer to duplicate the guitar of the greatest folk singer of all time &mdash; Silicon Red. The printer began duplicating other things, and the song started to turn into reality.

While composing the song, Bender seemed to be writing the hobos Fast Frank Brogan, Dandy Jim, Gus, and Cookie into it, but he never actually sang about them.

Original version
Bender sang this version of the song at the restaurant T.G.I. Folky's. The audience booed him, which Silicon Red then attributed to the song being insincere.

Final version
Bender began work on this version after he met Big Caboose, who had had the exact experiences that Bender needed for the song.

Trivia

 * The song's name may be a reference to English musician 's song "". It's also a reference to Bender's catchphrase "me, Bender".
 * The name "Ramblin' Rodriguez" may be a reference to one of the following.
 * Folk singer.
 * &mdash; a children's-show host from Futurama creator Matt Groening's home town of, Oregon.
 * The 1962 song "".