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
The Future Soon
Jonathan Coulton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It said I love you signed anonymous friend
Turns out she's smarter than I thought she was
She knows I wrote it, now the whole class does too
And I'm alone during couple skate
When she skates by with some guy on her arm
But I know that I'll forget the look of pity in her face
When I'm living in my solar dome on a platform in space
Cause it's gonna be the future soon
And I won't always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away
It's gonna be the future soon
I've never seen it quite so clear
And when my heart is breaking I can close my eyes and it's already here
I'll probably be some kind of scientist
Building inventions in my space lab in space
I'll end world hunger I'll make dolphins speak
Work through the daytime, spend my nights and weekends
Perfecting my warrior robot race
Building them one laser gun at a time
I will do my best to teach them
About life and what it's worth
I just hope that I can keep them from destroying the Earth
Cause it's gonna be the future soon
And I won't always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away
It's gonna be the future soon
I've never seen it quite so clear
And when my heart is breaking I can close my eyes and it's already
Here on Earth they'll wonder
As I piece by piece replace myself
And the steel and circuits will make me whole
But I'll still feel so alone
Until Laura calls me home
I'll see her standing by the monorail
She'll look the same except for bionic eyes
She lost the real ones in the robot wars
I'll say I'm sorry, she'll say it's not your fault
Or is it?
And she eyes me suspiciously
Hearing the whir of the servos inside
She will scream and try to run
But there's nowhere she can hide
When a crazy cyborg wants to make you his robot bride
Well it's gonna be the future soon
And I won't always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away
It's gonna be the future soon
I've never seen it quite so clear
And when my heart is breaking I can close my eyes and it's already here
The song "The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton is a nostalgic and comical homage to adolescent longing for the future. The first verses describe a boy's unrequited love for a girl named Laura, notwithstanding her apparent rejection of him. The boy consoles himself that he will be living in a solar dome on a platform in space in the near future, having left behind his current awkwardness and weaknesses. He is confident that his vision of the future is clear and tangible. He further details his planned activities in space, including ending world hunger, teaching his warrior robots about life's values, and preventing the Earth's destruction.
Yet, the boy recognizes the irony of his situation. While he sees himself as increasingly "whole" with each piece of his human body that he replaces with steel and circuits, he acknowledges that he will remain isolated without Laura. He fantasizes about a future encounter with her after the robot wars, where she would possess robot parts too, which reminds us that his vision of the future is entirely fantastical.
Overall, Coulton's song tells a charming story of juvenile optimism and naïveté towards the future. It's a reminder to us all that we must appreciate what we have in the present and not get lost in the future's all-too-perfect image.
Line by Line Meaning
Last week I left a note on Laura's desk
I left a secret message on Laura's desk last week
It said I love you signed anonymous friend
The message read 'I love you' and I pretended to be an anonymous friend
Turns out she's smarter than I thought she was
Laura figured out it was me who wrote the message
She knows I wrote it, now the whole class does too
Everyone in the class now knows that I wrote the message
And I'm alone during couple skate
I feel lonely while everyone else is skating with their partners
When she skates by with some guy on her arm
Laura passes by me while holding another guy's arm
But I know that I'll forget the look of pity in her face
I'll forget the disappointed look on Laura's face
When I'm living in my solar dome on a platform in space
I believe that I'll be successful and live in a space dome in the future
Cause it's gonna be the future soon
I have faith in the future and believe that anything is possible
And I won't always be this way
I know I won't always feel this way
When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away
In the future, my weaknesses and eccentricities will be fixed with science and technology
I've never seen it quite so clear
I've never been so sure about the future
And when my heart is breaking I can close my eyes and it's already here
Even when I'm sad, I imagine my successful future to feel better
I'll probably be some kind of scientist
I see myself becoming a scientist
Building inventions in my space lab in space
I'll build inventions in my lab, which will be located in space
I'll end world hunger, I'll make dolphins speak
I'll achieve amazing feats like solving world hunger and making dolphins speak
Work through the daytime, spend my nights and weekends
I'll work hard all day and night to achieve my goals
Perfecting my warrior robot race
I'll spend time perfecting my robot creations
Building them one laser gun at a time
I'll build my robots with great attention to detail
I will do my best to teach them
I'll make sure that my robots learn important life lessons
About life and what it's worth
I'll teach my robots about the value and meaning of life
I just hope that I can keep them from destroying the Earth
I'm afraid my robots might become dangerous and destroy the Earth
Here on Earth they'll wonder
People on Earth will be amazed by my accomplishments
As I piece by piece replace myself
I'll use science to improve and replace parts of myself over time
And the steel and circuits will make me whole
My enhancements will make me feel complete
But I'll still feel so alone
Despite my achievements, I'll still feel lonely
Until Laura calls me home
I'll feel happy and fulfilled when Laura is with me
I'll see her standing by the monorail
I imagine a future where I'll see Laura waiting for me at the train station
She'll look the same except for bionic eyes
Laura will have artificial eyes instead of her original ones
She lost the real ones in the robot wars
She lost her original eyes while fighting in a futuristic war
I'll say I'm sorry, she'll say it's not your fault
I'll apologize for my mistakes, but Laura will forgive me
Or is it? And she eyes me suspiciously
Laura's not sure if I'm to blame for something that happened
Hearing the whir of the servos inside
Laura hears the mechanical sounds of my body enhancements
She will scream and try to run
Laura will freak out and try to escape
But there's nowhere she can hide
She won't be able to escape from me
When a crazy cyborg wants to make you his robot bride
I'll try to marry Laura, despite being part machine
Lyrics © 10 PRINT JOCO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@1moarblockz
this seriously needs a music video. i love joco
@Morec0
May I educate you about Spiffworld?
@smokingwolf4152
@@Morec0 a man of culture
@blackcat-en9hr
This song only happens it the timeline that the hero falls and ganon takes the triforce of power, until link to the past
@jameshampton1460
It's perfect for Narbonic
@smokingwolf4152
I miss JoCo
@Morec0
Literally me, fr fr
@BannHammer
:D
@imtired9395
/r9k/: The song
@Simp4Gwyn
Ben Saint from the PCP brought me here