Conference thebay::joyoflex

776.0. "A request from singer Christine Lavin" by LOIOSH::GOUN (CDA Developer) Wed Feb 14 1990 22:34

[It was suggested to me that this is an appropriate conference for such a
bizarre request.  I've also posted it to rec.music.folk and to the FOLK_MUSIC
conference.]

The following request is really from well-known folk singer Christine Lavin;
I'm just the vehicle.  Please give it the widest possible distribution among
those who might have information to share.

First some background.  Christine wrote a song called ``Doris and Edwin:  The
Movie.''  It's the story of Doris, who works ``in the basement, near the
boiler room door'' in ``a building with 37 floors and 4,000 employees.''  She
has an awful crush on Edwin, who ``works in Accounting on the 37th floor.'' 
As the story ends, we learn that ``this is not your ordinary office...crush''
as Edwin leaps from the 37th floor to escape a devastating fire, landing on
Doris and killing them both.  The song notes in passing that ``the chances of
him landing on her are very slim indeed.''

Someone who said he was a student at MIT presented Christine with a humorous
mathematical analysis of just how slim those chances really are.  Christine
has been passing the analysis around at her concerts, saying that she'd really
like to be able to give due credit to the guy who did it, if only she could
identify him.  I offered to help; she accepted, and sent me a copy of the
analysis, which is entitled ``Edwin's Fall.''  It appears to have been
produced using a TeX- or troff-based text formatter.

Since I want to be able to determine with reasonable assurance that anyone who
steps forward to claim authorship is authentic, I'm not going to post the
entire text of ``Edwin's Fall.''  But here's an excerpt:

     Edwin might not be on the upper floors during the fire.  He could be
     out sick, on an errand, getting a coffee with double cream and three
     sugars in the cafeteria, out with his mistress, kidnapped by aliens
     who want to extract a rare enzyme from his spleen, on vacation, or
     golfing with his boss.  Lets [sic] say that there is a 10% chance
     that he is not there.  (Who says accountants are boring?)

If you wrote ``Edwin's Fall,'' if you know who wrote it, or if you know
someone who might know, please get in touch with me.  Inquiring minds want to
know.

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