“The Greatest Discovery,” in contrast, was a piano lullaby describing one of life’s most emotional experiences, the birth of a baby.

Other songs spoke of the cultural gaps associated with poverty (”No Shoestrings on Louise”) in a country melody, similar to what the Rolling Stones were recording at the time. Race relations and the consequences of bigotry were encompassed in “Border Song,” with soul themes so profound that Aretha Franklin recorded a cover of the song the next year-the first major star to do so. The final song, “The King Must Die,” was interpreted in the culture of the time to be about the death of Martin Luther King, although Taupin actually wrote it about assassination plots through the ages.

A Transgenerational Appeal This album, and subsequent others, connected at the deepest level with people of all ages, genders, and cultural groups. It laid the foundation for Elton John’s transgenerational marketing strategy- creating a product that may be designed for a specific segment but whose appeal transcends a variety of age groups rather than just teens or just boomers. Other artists have had success with a similar approach, although few are really able to create a music product that appeals to multigenerational audiences. The fact that the classic rock bands highlighted in this article have been around for so long helps to explain why they are more likely to attract varied audiences today, but it isn’t often that new artists can attract the same mix.

One breakout example of late is Norah Jones, whose fairytale success story began with the release of her album Come Away With Me in February 2002, culminating in eight Grammy awards, ranging from Best New Artist to Album of the Year. But this Cinderella’s night at the ball was not the result of an invitation by the prince, rather because the townspeople drove her to the palace and pushed her inside. Her voice is sultry, her look exotic, her sound lush, her talent enormous and genuine. With low expectations for the commercial success of the album, critics and fans alike were surprised by the runaway acceptance of her style of music, and no one was more stunned than Jones herself.

The investor should use his intelligence not only in formulating his financial policies but also in the associated details. These include the choice of a reputable broker to execute his orders. Up to now it was sufficient to counsel our readers to deal only with a member of the New York Stock Exchange, unless he had compelling reasons to use a nonmember firm. Reluctantly, we must add some further advice in this area. We think that people who do not carry margin accounts-and in our vocabulary this means all nonprofessional investors-should have the delivery and receipt of their securities handled by their bank. When giving a buying order to your brokers you can instruct them to deliver the securities bought to your bank against payment therefor by the bank; conversely, when selling you can instruct your bank to deliver the securities to the broker against payment of the proceeds. These services will cost a little extra but they should be well worth the expense in terms of safety and peace of mind. This advice may be The Investor and His Advisers 267disregarded, as no longer called for, after the investor is sure that all the problems of stock exchange firms have been disposed of, but not before.*

Investment Bankers

The term “investment banker” is applied to a firm that engages to an important extent in originating, underwriting, and selling new issues of stocks and bonds. (To underwrite means to guarantee to the issuing corporation, or other issuer, that the security will be fully sold.) A number of the brokerage houses carry on a certain amount of underwriting activity. Generally this is confined to participating in underwriting groups formed by leading investment bankers. There is an additional tendency for brokerage firms to originate and sponsor a minor amount of new issue financing, particularly in the form of smaller issues of common stocks when a bull market is in full swing.