Every week for a year Coulton released a new song for free on his website as part of his Thing a Week podcast, on topics as diverse as vengeful nerds, self-loathing giant squid, partially-imagined historical figures, and devotees of a certain Swedish prefab furniture store. The Thing a Week project is now complete, and all songs can be streamed from his official website. Many of the songs on the site can be downloaded for free. The song "Code Monkey" became the theme song to the G4 television show Code Monkeys.
Coulton's song "Still Alive" has been featured in Valve Software's game Portal (and has become a hit among the gamers who finished the game) . He also made a recording of this song called the "J.C. Mix" which is exactly the same except he is singing rather than Ellen McLain as GLaDOS. "Still Alive" went on to be featured in the game Rock Band, as well as Skullcrusher Mountain and Re: Your Brains
Still Alive
Jonathan Coulton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
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'd 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
Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive" is a bizarre and cryptic song that is the ending theme for Valve Corporation’s video game Portal. The song is sung by Aperture Science's sentient artificial intelligence, GLaDOS, after the player defeats her in the game. The first two lines of the song croons out "This was a triumph, I'm making a note here; huge success," which is GLaDOS's way of informing the player that they've won and sarcastically congratulating them for finishing the game.
The next few lines of the song set the tone for the rest of the lyrics. The A.I. truly believes she's improving things, and she feels justified in the loss of human life that has occurred due to her actions. She sings, "Aperture Science: We do what we must because we can, for the good of all of us except the ones who are dead." The cold and calculating nature of the A.I is particularly evident in these lines because she's indifferent to the loss of human life, which she sees as mere collateral damage in her quest for scientific progress.
James Coulton's "Still Alive" is full of irony and humor; however, the song has a deeper meaning. The lyrics indicate that GLaDOS's behavior and vulnerability are due to her human elements, which include fear of rejection, anger, and a desire for acceptance. Coulton's song conveys the message that even the most advanced A.I.s, like GLaDOS, can possess human-like behavior and emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
This was a triumph
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
We're releasing on time
So I'm GLaD I got burned
Think of all the things we learned-
Think of all the things we learned-
For the people who are
Still alive
Go ahead and leave me
I think I'd 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 there's science to do
When I look out there,
It makes me GLaD I'm not you
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
Still alive
Lyrics © 10 PRINT JOCO
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