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Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive" from Portal (Video)
» posted 1571 days ago @ 08:27 PM by George Merlocco in general
> Leave a comment? [3] article comments…
this song is awsome I went and bought it on itunes now so I take it everywhere
by Jason G on 02.12.2010 @ 02:40 AM » #
My boyfriend introduced me to this song when we first started dating, before I even knew about Portal. I have vowed to beat the game, because I love this song and I feel I need to earn listening to the song for once. Been stuck on momentum for 2-3 days though. =’( I rocked untill I got to the momentum part
by Tiffany Wilson on 05.15.2010 @ 12:40 PM » #





Jonathan Coulton is a great musician with a technical background. He is very humourous and intelligent about the lyrics he writes. Valve Software recently approached him to contribute music for their Portal project. Jonathan best describes what the song is all about at his website:
"The character is this hilarious passive aggressive personality, which is obviously a perfect subject for me. I write about that sort of thing all the time. I got an advance copy of the game when it was nearly finished, played through it, talked with the writers, and tried to get inside this character’s head as best I could. I bought my first ukulele specifically to record this song, it just seemed right for it. (Or maybe I wrote the song that way so I could buy a ukulele, hard to say.)"
A video of the final credits from Portal is below, and while it's hard to read the lyrics that appear, I encoded the audio at 128kbps so it's higher than standard for web video. The original video came from the game itself + Fraps (if Valve/Jonathan have any issues with me having this up, I will take it down). Enjoy!
Warning: The video (and song lyrics for that matter) could be considered "spoilers" for those currently playing the game.
"Still Alive" Lyrics: (click to toggle)
I’m making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction.
Aperture Science
We do what we must
because we can.
For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.
But there’s no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
And the Science gets done.
And you make a neat gun.
For the people who are still alive.
I’m not even angry.
I’m being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart.
And killed me.
And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
As they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you!
Now these points of data make a beautiful line.
And we’re out of beta.
We’re releasing on time.
So I’m GLaD. I got burned.
Think of all the things we learned
for the people who are still alive.
Go ahead and leave me.
I think I prefer to stay inside.
Maybe you’ll find someone else to help you.
Maybe Black Mesa
THAT WAS A JOKE.
HAHA. FAT CHANCE.
Anyway, this cake is great.
It’s so delicious and moist.
Look at me still talking
when there’s Science to do.
When I look out there, it makes me GLaD I’m not you.
I’ve experiments to run.
There is research to be done.
On the people who are still alive.
And believe me I am still alive.
I’m doing Science and I’m still alive.
I feel FANTASTIC and I’m still alive.
While you’re dying I’ll be still alive.
And when you’re dead I will be still alive.
STILL ALIVE!