Bill Cosby had that show about kids saying cute stuff for a while, but there seems to be an even more entertaining trend emerging on the internet: kids singing super awesome stuff. First, there was that chorus that sang Phoenix's "Lisztomania" and now (via GameVideos) we have the Gifford Children's Choir singing Jonathan Coulton's wonderful "Still Alive" (also known as "that song from Portal").
You can check out the video past the break, which is kinda dark but you're not really watching it for the visuals so that's okay. Seriously, for as much as we're sick of Portal memes, out of the mouth of babes comes a great version of this song. Of course, it's worth mentioning that the whole song is basically one spoiler -- so if you haven't played the game, you should probably stop reading the internet and fix your situation.
You think that's something, I once witnessed a Camp Counselor sing "House Of The Rising Sun" with a bunch of 6 year olds....
The only thing that was more messed up then that was the time I was at a grocery store and I saw a group of little girls in soccer jerseys. Their team name on their jerseys read: "The Pink Pony's".
According to the guy's blog, the kids not only knew what they were singing, some of them had actually played the game.
(Of course, that means the only possible explanation is that Valve payed them to perform this so that the kids and their parents would all go out and play the game through to find out what the song was all about and therefor get addicted to Valve games. Poor guys. They're all going to go into withdrawals waiting for Episode 3 to come out...)
hahaha nah they just got weirded out because it was their first time hearing the song and one of them had the mic and was all "am i really suppose to sing this?"
As cool as it is that a children's choir sings such an awesome song, the fast tempo really disrupts the flow of the song and loses the feelings evoked by GLaDOS
Fails to evoke the feelings of GlaDOS? Dang. Hey, do you want to join my Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants club?
I thought the tempo was fine. It didn't have precisely the same effect as listening to the original piece, but hey maybe that also had something to do with the fact that it was being sung by a gaggle of little kids instead of a synthetically processed adult human voice.
I have to believe the teacher gave some background to the song before they started. It's pretty funny to hear a bunch of little kids singing about being cut into pieces and those pieces burning in a fire.
Of course its a little pitchy, its a children's choir. Its extremely difficult to train a grown adult to have an "ear," let alone a child.
And fwiw, the tempo was fine until the drummer jumped in and started rushing. My experience has been that its easier to talk sense to a lunatic than it is to control a drummer's tempo tho . . . (/em reflects fondly on how he is no longer in the music pedagogy industry :) ).
Something interesting I read on the blog of the Racine Post:
Local residents can get a chance to see the students perform "Still Alive" at UW-Parkside at 3:30 p.m. on May 2. The choir will also sing a song with the UW-Parkside choir and premiere a new piece by Alyssa Seversen of Eau Claire called “El Tiburron." Tickets for the show are $6 general admission, $4 for students, staff and seniors. For tickets, contact the Box Office at 595-2564 or email boxoffice@uwp.edu
So if you live in or near Wisconsin, and want to see this in person, here's your shot.
Well Billy, bravo, kudos, congrats. If I had a millions bucks I'd give it to you. You are the best. What would I do without you? What would any of us do without you? Surely my life won't be the same until you bestow your prime "finding stuff on the internet" gift upon us again.
Apparently, whoever recorded the video knew about the game and song, but had no interest in the actual performers when you see the Soloist credited as "A Third Grader".
