The Daily Feather — Another One Bites the Dust

Vacationing with seven boys ages 20 to 16 teaches you a thing or two about lyrical license. Take Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” the monster single that made the band an American sensation, sitting at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for three weeks in October 1980. Did you know, however, that the song’s title can be easily modified to sing, “Another One Bites My ____”? That blank will remain empty, but trust me when I assure you the word rhymes with cuts but applies to fruit that grows on trees such as almonds and cashews. Other less crude ‘little known facts’ were relayed by guitarist Brian May in an interview with Mojomagazine: “Freddie [Mercury] sung until his throat bled on ‘Another One Bites the Dust.” He was so into it. He wanted to make that song something special.” During production of the movie Rocky III, producers were frustrated they couldn’t attain permission to use it as a perfect fight training song. And so, Survivor was retained to write the iconic “Eye of The Tiger,” which became the band’s biggest hit. Our personal favorite: The song has been used for CPR training because its bassline has close to 110 beats per minute, which matches the recommended chest compression rate.

Countless new CEOs are no doubt humming the tune, albeit not with the same lyrics as my beach crowd. These freshly hired C-suite occupants harbor no illusions as to why they’ve replaced the old guy or gal. They are henchmen and henchwomen to the highest bidders, no better than any other mercenary. The song still blaring in my head from Wednesday night’s disco ball party bus ride home with the party of 13 that’s featured all week at the beach, the thump, thump, thump grew even louder yesterday morning when I beheld the Challenger, Gray & Christmas headline, “CEO Turnover Surges to 234; June Exits Add to Highest YTD Total on Record.”

Per Andrew Challenger, “Leaders are anticipating a sea change as we enter the second half of this year, perhaps politically, but certainly technologically.” Such understatement! Consider the second-quarter CFO survey, a collaboration of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the Richmond and Atlanta Federal Reserve Banks: “Nearly two-thirds of CFOs say their companies have a strategic priority to automate tasks typically performed by employees.” And here’s the part that resonated given the internals of yesterday’s second-quarter GDP report – nearly 85% of large firms implemented automation in the last 12 months, up from 75% of large firms in the first quarter.