Lyric © 2013 Lawrence M. Lesser
may be sung to the tune of "Walkin in Memphis" (Marc Cohn)
Took all this college math — math that they call pure.
I thought I'd do a lot with it, but now I'm just not sure.
Sir Ronald A. Fisher, won't you look down over me:
What class can I take now that will set my thinking free?
Then I was doin' statistics — I was workin' with numbers I could see!
Doin' statistics — now I really feel I found my field!
Learned of randomizing and hypothesis testing, too—
All around me, illuminating polls and studies in the news.
I really loved the challenge; it was a fun kind of hard.
Loved the variety to play in everybody's yard!
I was doin' statistics — I was workin' with data I could see:
Doin' statistics — now I really feel I found my field!
They've got all these big computers
For big data in the air
Reverend Bayes will be glad to see you
When you haven't got a prior!
Boy, you've got a prior for statistics!
Muriel's tasting tea and Student's brewing up some beer;
George Gallup and Nate Silver made elections clear.
What Billy Beane did for baseball, how Pandora finds tunes I like:
You say, "Tell me, are you a Bayesian?" I say, "Man, I am tonight!"
I was doin' statistics — I was workin' with data I could see
Doin' statistics — more degrees of feelin' free!
So glad I found my path, a career with such allure:
Maybe the best part is I never have to say I'm sure!
Maybe the best part is I can quantify how I'm unsure...