The Song of John Matrix

(adapted from the American folk song `John  Henry'
 by Horst Thieme in 1997)

(singing `John Matrix ' at the banquet of the
    5th  International Conference on
    Mathematical  Population Dynmics
    in Zakopane, Poland,  June 1998)

When John Matrix was a little baby ,
Sitting on his daddy's knee,
He picked up a pencil and a little piece of chalk,
Said `This pencil gonna be the death of me, Lawd, Lawd,
This pencil gonna be the death of me.'

The chairman said to John Matrix:
`Gonna bring that computer round.
Gonna bring that computer out on the job,
Gonna chop that problem down, Lawd, Lawd,
Gonna chop that problem down.'

John Matrix said to the chairman:
`A man is nothing but a man;
But before I let that computer beat me down,
I'd die with this pencil in my hand, Lawd, Lawd,
I'd die with this pencil in my hand.'

The man who'd invented the computer,
He thought he was a super ace.
But John Matrix made a theory that analyzed it all,
And the computer only did a special case, Lawd, Lawd,
The computer only did a special case.

John Matrix was working in his office,
And his pencil was striking fire.
He thought with so much strain that he broke his poor old brain,
And he laid down his pencil and he died, Lawd, Lawd,
He laid down his pencil and he died.

They carried John Matrix to the grave yard,
And they buried him in the sand.
And every problem solver that comes passing by
Says `There lies a theory building man, Lawd, Lawd,
There lies a theory building man. '