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I've always said that if there's one thing Silicon Valley needs, it's more show tunes. Which is why I'm such a sucker for the oeuvre of Randi Jayne and Jennifer Lee, the comedic duo behind such hits as "How to Get a Guy in Silicon Valley" and "Failure Is Fun (Valleyfreude)." (Jayne, newly solo, has come out with another brilliant number, "Crackberry," which you must go watch immediately.) But if you want to review Jayne's past works, you'll be stymied. "Valleyfreude" has gone missing. "It's a take-down," Jayne's site reads. I can't imagine that the disappearing "Valleyfreude" anything to do with the fact that Jayne has a day job at Facebook. And that she's the sister of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. And that Facebook's getting ready for an IPO. Oh, wait. I can imagine that."Valleyfreude," is a brilliant piece of work, and I'm not just saying that because its lyrics prominently mentions this humble gossip rag. No, I love it because it speaks a truth about Silicon Valley: People are supposed to embrace failure as part of the startup process, but in reality, they love making fun of the losers.Speaking the truth, of course, is a dangerous activity. Especially if your company is about to go public. The SEC frowns on any truth-telling that goes on outside the formal bounds of an S-1 prospectus.
Jayne, née Zuckerberg, has actively tried to mask her identity; back in February, she declined to give her last name to NewTeeVee's Liz Gannes, who apparently didn't press the matter. (Ace reporting, Gannes!) But if it's a secret, it's an extremely poorly disguised one.
And that makes "Valleyfreude," whose lyrics mock Facebook competitor Friendster and profanely brag about how Facebook rejected a $1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo, a dangerous document for SEC regulators to see. Luckily for them, unluckily for Facebook, "Valleyfreude" has spread beyond Jayne's reach, thanks to the wonders of viral video. Here's a replay, courtesy of iFilm Valleywag:newVideoPlayer("valleyfreud_gawker.flv", 475, 376);
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