I’m Doing Science
Posted on | January 26, 2008 at 12:20 pm | 1 Comment
Awhile ago, I promised to list my favorite songs from 2007, but I haven’t gotten around to that yet. One of those would no doubt be one of them there viral Internet sensation songs that just happens to be done by the geektastic dude whose music I discovered and totally fell in love with a little late last year: Jonathan Coulton. The song is “Still Alive” and is the end-credits song for the innovative computer/video game Portal. The song has won all kinds of gaming industry awards and has captured the interest of gamers and non-gamers alike. I haven’t played the game myself, though I intend to one day, probably after I get a PlayStation 3 (Portal is one of the games on the Orange Box disc). The lyrics are a bit cryptic and apparently reveal a twist at the end of the game. The vocals on the original version of the song are performed by game actress Ellen McLain in character as one of the game characters. All instruments are played by JoCo, and there’s also a version of the song floating around with him doing the vocal duties as well. Neither version seems to be available for download on his website, but the Amazon Music Download Store has both of them for 89 cents each on the Orange Box soundtrack (the “JC Mix” is the one with the Coulton vocals). That’s where I got them from.
Anyway, the song is insanely catchy and resonates with you even if you haven’t played the game. Even the arrangement is cool – I like the way it builds. Love it when those electric guitars come in. It’s inspired a lot of YouTubers to cover it (some of which are evaluated here). It even got me to break the guitar out of mothballs last night and learn how to play it. That’s saying something. It’s fairly simple to play/sing, but there’s some fast chord changes.
Here’s JoCo’s chronicle of how he came to compose the song for the game.
Interesting stuff.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 38°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “We Have Danced the Night Away” (Dreams So Real)
- “Ashes Of Roses” (Bill Nelson)
- “A Sigh” (Crowded House)
- “Bionic Commando-P.O.W. Camp”* (The Advantage)
- “A Bullet for the End” (Baby Chaos)
- “A Passing Feeling” (Elliott Smith)
- “Let Down” (Bif Naked)
* – Synchronistic in light of this blog entry from last week.
Latre.
Comments
One Response to “I’m Doing Science”
January 27th, 2008 @ 4:58 am
Jonathon Coulton is quite big on the geek circuit. I heard some SF convention acts cover and parody his songs. That is real success.