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Y2K Ballad



(sing to the tune of Gilligans Island)



Just sit right back and youll hear a tale

Of the doom that is our fate.

That started when programmers used

Two digits for a date

Two digits for a date



RAM memory was smaller then;

Hard drives were tiny, too.

Four digits are extravagant,

So lets get by with two.

So lets get by with two.



This works through 1999,

The programmers did say.

Unless we write new code by then

The data goes away.

The data goes away.



But management had not a clue;

It works fine now, you bet!

Rewriting code cost money,

We wont do it just yet.

We wont do it just yet.



Now when 2000 rolls around

It all goes straight to hell,

For zero less then ninety-nine,

As anyone can tell.

As anyone can tell.



The mail wont bring your pension check;

It wont be sent to you

When youre no longer sixty-eight

But minus thirty-two.

But minus thirty-two.



The problems were about to face

Are frightening, for sure.

And reading every line of codes

The only certain cure.

The only certain cure.



[[ key change, the big finish coming]]



Theres not much time, theres too much code,

And COBOL-coders, few.

When the century is finished,

We may be finished, too.