Iridium's Swan Song — Really

Sure, it's bizarre to hear Madonna covering Don McClean's "American Pie," but no more so than this ditty making the rounds on the Internet. The author is unknown but awfully witty. Some highlights from "Bye, Bye, Miss Iridium Pie":

Long, long time ago I can still remember how the funding made me smile

And I knew if we had our time that we could make that payload shine,

And maybe make the launch occur on time

But '95 made me shiver with every build that we'd deliver

Bad news in the high bay, I couldn't go one more day.

I can't remember if I sighed when I read how the lawyers lied

Something touched me deep inside the day the funding died.

So bye, bye, Miss Iridium pie

Spent our millions and our billions but we made them fly

Them good old days have now gone by

Knowing this'll be the day that it dies

This'll be the day that it dies.

Well, 10 years have now gone by since the gleam got in Bary's eye

But that's not what was to be

When investors sang in the court of law in a place where truth brings on awe

In a voice that sounds like Craig McCaw.

And while the team was looking down

The lawyers stole what we had found; the courtroom was adjourned

Bankruptcy was returned!

And while the judge read a book on sharks, the lawyers danced in the park

And we sang dirges in the dark the day the funding died.

I met a man who had the "sight:" I asked him if the program might

But he just smiled and turned away.

I went down to the big high bay where I'd seen the payloads years before,

In the halls the techies sighed, the coders laughed, and the testers cried,

Not a word was spoken, the stations all were broken.