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IT Anthems: Texas Instruments Fast Forward

Peter Judge ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 17 Jan 2003 08:36 GMT

This week, three hefty chunks of corporate rock, sent by a TI insider. The best track, Fast Forward owes a little to Blondie's One Way or Another (but then, many of us could say the same). The others are below, on page two.

Fast Forward -- MP3 Audio

TI's The Place To Be, Sign Me Up

The singer is Senior VP for Sales and Marketing, Jeff McCreary, and the three tracks were -- as the lyrics would suggest -- recorded during the tech boom a few years ago. Apparently, again symptomatic of the times, high-quality video of the band was also produced. Needless to say we would like to see this.

The group, made up of TI employees, was called BandPass. (So, we wonder -- did the musicians who didn't make it into that band form a second outfit called BandReject?).

These MP3 files incorrectly credit the Texas Instruments Jazz Band, a completely different group. TIJB is a 20-piece big band, of TI employees, formed in 1986, which has worked with renowned artists and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The band is a classic, and very accomplished big band of TI employees, dedicated to traditional swinging standards.

"We don't have any official TI corporate anthem songs in our book," says TIJB president Paul Westbrook. who is also project manager, worldwide construction at TI. "Occasionally a few members of the TI Jazz Band have sat in with Jeff's band to add a 'Tower of Power' style horn section sound." Not on these recordings, unfortunately.

Paul also composes and performs his own music, including the intriguingly-titled "Dilbert is a Documentary".

Lyrics

Fast forward!
Fast forward!
Fast forward!
Fast forward now!

The dot-com world is on my mind
The strategy's set, we said "It's real this time!"
Hot new products in the right marketplace
All businesses are challenged to pick up the pace!
DSP and analogue, it's our right to lead
For value execution, and meetin' the need
Some try to copy our story
Or bask in our glow
More earnings more revenue,
Ready to grow!

Fast forward!
Fast forward!
Fast forward!
Fast forward now!

Fast forward! (oh yeah now!)
Fast forward! (I said!)
Fast forward! (now listen to me!)
Fast forward now!

We're customer focussed
And drive to succeed
Technology entitlement, you do it with speed
Commitment, integrity, you care, you wait
The pace is relentless, you must innovate
Software and tax rates, catalogues exist
DSP performance, you ain't seen nothing yet!
We never said it'd be easy, but we want something real
Moving fast forward baby, it's the ideal!

Fast forward! (I said listen to me)
Fast forward! (No doubt we're moving)
Fast forward! (Oh baby, moving)
Fast forward now!

I said
Fast forward now!
Fast forward now!

As usual, please send any information and suggestions to corpanthems@zdnet.co.uk