To the tune of Blinded by the Light by Bruce Springsteen.

Madman, PR, bummers
Marketers in the summer with a teenage solution
In the dumps with the mumps
As the adolescent pumps his way into the chat
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin’ kinda older
I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasin’, sneezin’ and wheezin’
Calliope crashed to the ground

Some all-hot half-shot was headin’ for the hot spot,
Snappin’ his fingers, clappin’ his hands
Some bespot mascot was caught doing the robot trot
with a whatnot in its hand
Now young Scott with a slingshot finally hit a tender spot
and throws his vendor in the sand
Some bloodshot forget-me-not whispers, “Legal’s within earshot,
save the buckshot, buy on the lamb”

But they were blinded by the hype
Revved up like a deuce, another Gen-AI ectype
Blinded by the hype

They got down but they never got tight
They just won’t make it alright

Some brimstone, baritone, anticyclone, rolling stone
Preacher from the West
He says, “Replace the reporter”, hit me in the funny bone
I thought it was all in jest
And some new-mown chaperone was standin’ in the corner all alone
Watchin’ the young ones code
And some fresh-sown intern was messin’ with the data files
And all the while hoping it wouldn’t implode

Yeah, he was blinded by the hype
Oh, revved up like a deuce, another Gen-AI ectype
Blinded by the hype

He got down but he never got tight
He won’t make it alright

Some silicone sister with a manager mister
Told me they got what it takes
She said, “I’ll turn you on sonny to something strong
If I use the prompt with the funky break”
And desk-bound Aneed was checkin’ out the chatbot feed
To see if it was safe to go outside
And little Early-Pearly came by in his curly-wurly
And asked me if I wanted to try!

Oh, some hazard from Harvard was tripped on hype,
playin’ bacykard financier
Yes, and Dragon’s Den was trying hard,
they sent some dude with a calling card
He said, “Do what you like, just use AI here”
Well I jumped up, turned around, spit in the air, fell on the ground
Asked him which was the way back home
He said,” Take a right at the light, keep goin’ straight until night,
and then boys, you’re all on your own”

And now in the bazaar, a shootin’ star was ridin’ in a side car
hummin’ a lunar tune
Yes, and the architect said, “MVP, but first remove the cookie crumbs,
we’re gonna teach those boys to buy too soon”
And some distressed pro-buyer was complainin’ his system caught fire
from an AI he tried last night
Well, I purged his system cache as his drive I flashed,
I saw him calm and hoped that he’d be alright

But he was blinded by the hype
Revved up like a deuce, another Gen-AI ectype
Blinded by the hype

Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of a sage
Woah, but mama, that’s where the truth is, oh yeah

They were blinded
They were blinded
They were blinded
They were blinded

They were blinded

Inspired by THE REVELATOR and Alan Buxton. (See the post AND the comments!)

To the tune of Perfect World by Huey Lewis and the News.

Everybody’s afraid of
the Post-ZIRP world
Where you can’t have
everything your heart desires
The perfect pitch won’t get the big raise
And the perfect plan won’t set the world on fire

Well, what you gonna do,
when one and one makes two
And the vision of the future
is low utility fees
No Co’s perfect,
not even a perfect fool
If you can’t serve results
They won’t keep the faith in you

Ain’t no bullsh!t in a post-ZIRP world
There weren’t no ZIRP world anyway
Ain’t no bullsh!t in a post-ZIRP world
But keep on dreamin’
of living in an all ZIRP world

Everybody’s got secrets
Now you know that it’s true
They talk about AI
They talk ’til they’re blue
Something happened to the pledges of trust
Down through the years, they began to rust

Now here we are, amid the fears and the laughter
Still waiting for our happily ever after
They’ll keep on dreamin’ as long as they can
Try to remember and you’ll understand …

An ill stream comes a-flowin’
Across the domains on the web
There’s no swimming in the data barrage
No singing as the hogwash ebbs
Red alert, red alert

It’s so hard to stay on focus
Passing through revolving briefs
We need someone to talk to
And someone to man the reefs
Incomplete, incomplete

The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
The vendors drive me crazy
But I worry about you

I know it makes no difference
To what you’re going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg
And I worry about you

Cruising under your radar
Watching from satellites
Take a page from the red book
And keep truth in your sights
Red alert, red alert

Left and rights of passage
Inexperience of youth
Who can face the knowledge
That the truth is not the truth?
Obsolete, absolute

The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
The vendors drive me crazy
But I worry about you

I know it makes no difference
To what you’re going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg
And I worry about you

Oh

The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
The vendors drive me crazy
But I worry about you

I know it makes no difference
To what you’re going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg
And I worry about you…

Its name was Coupa, it was procurement
For anyone to make a buy, through the browser on first try
And it would guide you and satisfy you
And when you had to order quick
It was just a point and click
Across the crowded net, you could buy with no regret
It was new and the UI was slick
Who could ask for more?

At the Coupa (Cou) Coupacabana (Coupacabana)
The hottest app north of Havana
At the Coupa (Cou) Coupacabana
Procurement passion was always in fashion
And with Coupa you fell in love
Coupa, Coupacabana

It’s UI was clean
It lit up the screen
A buyer would leap from his chair, he saw all the items there
And when he hit buy, auto PO would fly

But money took it oh so far
The stack is now an app bazaar
What was a simple app, a 20 SKU mousetrap
Too much cash and a M&A bash
Tell me who bought who?

At the Coupa (Cou) Coupacabana (Coupacabana)
The hottest app north of Havana
At the Coupa (Cou) Coupacabana
Procurement passion was always in fashion
And with Coupa, you lost your love

(Coupa, Coupacabana)
(Coupa, Coupacabana)
(Coupacabana)
like in Havana
(Coupa, Banana)
Procurement passion was always in fashion

It’s name was Coupa, it was procurement
But that was fifteen years ago, when everyone could go
Now it’s a full stack, but not procurement
Where’s the app they used to share
Made for buyers everywhere

It sits there, so refined, with marketing half-blind
The thrill is gone and so is Davie
Will we lose our mind?

At the Coupa (Cou) Coupacabana (Coupacabana)
The hottest app north of Havana
At the Coupa (Cou) Coupacabana
Procurement passion was always in fashion
And with Coupa you fell in love
Don’t fall in love!
(Coupacabana)
(Coupacabana)