BACK IN '64
Sung to the Beatles' “When I'm 64”
New words by Nancy Schimmel nancy@sisterschoice.com

What were those people thinking about back in '64?
Setting up computers with two-digit dates,
Now we have to put them all straight.
Mem'ry got cheaper, they didn't change,
They took the easy way,
Matching the old when they could have been bold,
Happy New Year's Day!

Oo, are we wiser now?
Ah, or do we think it will
Fix itself somehow?

1964 was in the middle of the old Cold War,
No one ever thought
Of the year 2k;
They figured by that time
We'd be blown away.

The Virtual Quake

Words and music by Nancy Schimmel nancy@sisterschoice.com
Sheet music
RealAudio of complete song coming soon to this page

When they made the old main-frame computers
Memory didn't come cheap
So they used two digits for the date
And what they sowed we now must reap
Cause when the year two thousand comes
The computers will be confused
They'll think we're back in nineteen-hundred
Before computers were even used.

CHORUS:

So the year two thousand problem
Should be on everybody's lips
Cause the bug's in the big computers
And in hard-to-reach embedded chips
So any machine you deal with
It might stop or be OK
And unless it's checked we won't know if it's wrecked
Till we start that millenial New Year's Day.

CHORUS

Those computers direct the power
To go down the power line
I may give candles to all my friends
For Christmas nineteen ninety nine
But that could start some fires
And the engines might not go,
Let's start to think before the brink
And share the wealth of what we know.

CHORUS

We've seen disasters bring us together
Whether they're big or small
But it's always better to get together
Before the dominos start to fall.
If we get to know our neighbors
We can get some planning done
Then if it's bad we'll cope and if it's good we'll party
On that special January one

CHORUS

IT'S THE YEAR 2000 BUG
Sung to “Auld Lang Syne”
New words by Nancy Schimmel nancy@sisterschoice.com

It's not a praying mantis and
It's not a slimy slug
It will upset the apple cart
It's the Year 2000 bug.

No it won't upset the apple cart
Cause Apple looked ahead
But all the guys with IBMs
Are going in the red.

But all the folks with Macs should note
Before they get too smug
They're gonna find their power line
Has a Year 2000 bug.

It's not in Revelations
Nostradamus missed it too
It is the Year 2000 bug
And it's coming after you

Jeanne Dixon never heard of it
But the geeks could see it clear
If management had listened
We'd be happy next New Year

If management had listened
We would all be doing fine,
Oh where is grandpa's sli-ide rule
From the days of auld lang syne.

THANK YOU PG&E

(PG&E is Pacific Gas and Electric, the leading power company in Northern California which, early in 1999, suggested its customers prepare for possible Y2K disruptions.)


Words by Nancy Schimmel
Tune: Wabash Cannonball


No one seemed to trust us
With news of Y2K
But keeping people in the dark
Is really not your way
In the envelope with every bill
You told us you don't know
Exactly what will happen
When we hit Two-o-o-o

Thank you, thank you, thank you PG&E
Thank you for your courage and your honesty
Panic and confusion feed on secrecy
So thank you, thank you, thank you PG&E

You come right out and tell us
To make our plans in case
Computers and millenia
Do not interface.
With complicated systems
There are no guarantees
But we can help our neighbors
In all emergencies.

We know that you've been working
To cope with Y2K
We're gladthat you've got back-up plans
Should something go astray
But confiding in your customers
Is the jewel in your crown
Cause we know it will be up to us
When the chips are down

Y2K Ditty

The year two thousand is approaching fast
Some people think the world is headed for a crash
Come my friends let's raise our voices
What else is there to do when the only choice is singing:

Calypso apocalyptic song
Calypso a cappella apocalyptic song

This century full of terror and fright
Let's just start it over and this time we do it right
Shut off the computers the videos and T.V.
Bring peace upon the planet
By singing harmony

Singing: Calypso...

Millenium fever take us by surprise
Together we will tumble or together we rise
Y2K is an opportunity
To go back to mother nature and community

Singing: Calypso...

(to the tune of the Beatles' "Yesterday)

Y2K ...All computers will be blown away
They'll all think it's Teddy Roosevelt's day
The world will stop ... at Y2K

Suddenly ...All your credit cards will cease to be
Say goodbye to electricity
On Y2K, it's history

Can't ... buy ... beer or beans, cash machines ... refuse to pay
Banks ... fall ... to their graves, we're in caves ... it's Y2K, ay-ay-ay

Y2K ...All the world's one hundred years astray
Video late fees will be hell to pay
The world will stop ... at Y2K

Happy New Year ... Jay Gilbert

Y2Klementine

(New words by Nancy Schimmel)

In a cavern in a canyon
Late in 1999
Two survivalists were holed up
With their daughter Clementine.

They had canned goods, they had rifles
In an old abandoned mine,
But they would not have the boyfriend
Of their daughter, Clementine.

Oh, my darling, Oh my darling,
Oh, my darling Clementine,
Are you lost or are you with us
Won't you come back, Clementine?

They had canned goods, but no rifles;
They were stalwart but benign,
They had organized their neighbors
Knowing all lives intertwine

Chorus

Clementine was feeling lonely
When there came to her a sign,
“You'd be warmer with your boyfriend,
Leave this cold and clammy mine.”

So she left her folks a letter
With one stark and simple line
Writ with pen, and not computer,
“Gone to find my Izzy Stein.”

Then she tip-toed to the pickup
Coasted down a long incline
Reached the highway, revved the motor,
Finally let the headlights shine.

Chorus

So she makes it to the city,
Smells the latkes and the wine
Sees the candles in the window
Finds her darling, Izzy Stein.

Got Y2K songs? Email them to us