Saturday Note’s Alright #4: Still Alive

Portal (2007) is just one of those must-play games.  An FPS turned on its head and given a big puzzle to solve with a gun that shoots friggin’ portals.

Now, when Jonathan Coulton (JoCo, as he is sometimes known), semi-famed for being a geek and quite humourous, writes a song he bloody well writes a song.  And when you get a game as genius as Portal together with a man as genius as JoCo, good things start to happen.

Still Alive comes during the end credits, and it’s probably the worst-kept secret in gaming history.  Hell, I’ve never even finished portal and I knew about the song before I’d even played it.

Now, in the spirirt of GLaDOS, time to analyse.  It starts off slow, with GLaDOS gently and softly serenading your ears in that strangely erotic computer voice of hers/its (I’m not the only one to be slightly aroused by that am I? AM I?) while a guitar picks a little arpeggio, up and down.  The drums hit a little snare leading to the second verse and some chimes harmonise with the guitar. The bass kicks in and it sounds a lot fuller.  The fourth verse sees the distorted guitar come in before the breakdown in the fifth, then building up again before plateauing out and declining to an abrupt halt with repetition of “Still Alive”.

It’s a funky ditty, darkly comic and kind of feel good, maintaining the level of fun that Valve created with The Orange Box. The lyrics are wonderful and so sing-along-able.  As a quirky songwriter, Coulton shines through, sticking with the premise, but without making it so cringinly self-referencing that it disappears into its own mythos, or too cheesy for anyone to take it seriously.  It’s a fun song and an absolute joy to listen to.

Oh, you should check out this wonderful flash animation done by Scott Ramsoomair (of VG Cats – vgcats.com – fame) set to the music.  It’s hilariously good.  http://www.vgcats.com/comics/extras/stillalive.php

Thanks to Jonathan Coulton, Valve, and Ellen McLain (GLaDOS’s voice) for this awesome tune and the awesome game.  And to Scott Ramsoomair for the flash vid.

For me, this was indeed a triumph, so I’m making a note here; it’s been somewhat successful and hey, at least I’ve got some cake.