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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Captain Jack who wrote (81507)	4/24/2000 11:58:00 AM
From: John Koligman	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 97611

OT Captain, have you seen the latest rewrite of 'American Pie' making the rounds of SI??? Regard, John <ggg> Anonymous Reworking of a Classic Has Traders Laughing at the Blues By TERZAH EWING Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL NEW YORK -- Cartoonists and shortsellers aren't the only ones having fun with the Nasdaq Composite Index's recent plunge. So are those who parody song lyrics. Thanks to an e-mail that spread throughout Wall Street during the end of last week, all traders wanted to talk about was "Humble Pie" -- a set of lyrics that rewrites folkie Don McLean's "American Pie" by turning the homage to Buddy Holly and other early rockers who died in a 1959 plane crash into a chronicle of the recent woes of Nasdaq's technology stocks. Thus, "the day the music died" has morphed into "the day the Nasdaq died." And references to "bad news on the doorstep" and Mr. Holly's "widowed bride" have become "bad news on the rate front" and "the CPI." The as-yet anonymous lyricist also touches on margin calls and "buying dot-coms from the back of a pickup truck." The lyrics were passed from Wall Street firm to Wall Street firm by e-mail and many traders agreed it was one of the funnier sendups of the markets in recent years. The real mystery is who wrote it: A check of global-news databases shows no record of its original author, and its publication couldn't be found on the Internet. The text (shorter than Mr. McLean's original) follows: 'Humble Pie' A long, long week ago I can still remember how the market used to make me smile What I'd do when I had the chance Is get myself a cash advance And add another tech stock to the pile But Alan Greenspan made me shiver With every speech that he delivered Bad news on the rate front Still I'd take one more punt I can't remember if I cried When I heard about the CPI I lost my fortune and my pride The day the Nasdaq died So bye-bye to my piece of the pie Now I'm gettin' calls for margin 'Cause my cash account's dry It's just two weeks from a new all-time high And now we're right back where we were in July We're right back where we were in July Did you buy stocks you never heard of? QCOM at 150 or above? 'Cause George Gilder told you so Now do you believe in Home Depot? Can Wal-Mart save your portfolio? And can you teach me what's a P/E ratio? Well, I know that you were leveraged, too, So you can't just take a long-term view Your broker shut you down No more margin could be found I never worried on the whole way up Buying dot-coms from the back of a pickup truck But Friday I ran out of luck It was the day the Naaaa-sdaq died I started singin' Bye-bye to my piece of the pie Now I'm gettin' calls for margin 'Cause my cash account's dry It's just two weeks from a new all-time high And now we're right back where we were in July Yeah we're right back where we were in July.