Children's Choir Covers “Still Alive,” Achieves Huge Success

Wed
Mar 31 2010 12:50pm

Children's Choir Covers “Still Alive,” Achieves Huge Success

The Gifford Children’s Choir of Racine, Wisconsin are my brand new heroes. Behold their fantastic rendition of Jonathan Coulton’s anthemic “Still Alive” (aka: the best song in the world from the end of Portal), complete with a tiny soloist in a glowing EL wire dress. I haven't seen anything this adorable/enjoyably creepy/awesome/squee-inspiring in a very long time. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction: somebody please give these kids some cake, ASAP.

Bridget McGovern is a lit nerd, a film geek, and a complete pop culture junkie. She enjoys David Bowie, roller coasters, and the genius of JoCo more than anyone probably should.

9 comments

1. R.Fife

view all by R.Fife | Wednesday March 31, 2010 01:15pm EDT

There is no such thing as enjoying the genius of JoCo too much. David Bowie, perhaps, but not JoCo.

And mad props to those kids. I find it very interesting that the side comment affirms that the children understand exactly what they are singing about.

2. Jordache

view all by Jordache | Wednesday March 31, 2010 01:37pm EDT

This is so wonderful and made my day. Love the added harmonies. Adorable.

3. ecmyers

view all by ecmyers | Wednesday March 31, 2010 01:45pm EDT

Reminds me of the Scala Girls Choir. This is awesome, but that little girl sounds a little too much like GLaDOS for comfort...

4. annathepiper

view all by annathepiper | Wednesday March 31, 2010 01:52pm EDT

I am ridiculously charmed by this! (hearts)

5. Irene

view all by Irene | Wednesday March 31, 2010 02:00pm EDT

I'm completely charmed and I'm not even a JoCo follower.

6. tlchang

view all by tlchang | Wednesday March 31, 2010 11:01pm EDT

SOOO great. I have tears. Srsly.

7. BMcGovern

view all by BMcGovern | Thursday April 01, 2010 12:29am EDT

Really glad you all liked this so much--I think that out of all the different takes on Coulton songs floating around the web, this is my absolute favorite. I wish I could high five the choir director :)

8. Wetlandernw

view all by Wetlandernw | Thursday April 01, 2010 01:58am EDT

I can only assume that knowledge of the game or Coulton-fan-hood make a difference to the listening experience. Special effects are fun, and the soloist is cute, but I'd be more impressed if she could actually sing. (Picky, picky. Maybe Coulton actually wrote it in sliding quarter- and eighth-tones?) Okay, that's probably a little hard on the child. Fault should go to the director for giving her a solo her voice isn't ready for. Two more years and she'd probably do a great job.

9. BMcGovern

view all by BMcGovern | Thursday April 01, 2010 10:33am EDT

The soloist in this case is singing the part of a rogue AI--in the original song, the voice is kind of creepy and robotic, which is what makes this particular performance so very entertaining. Soulless killer computer-as-interpreted-by-cute little kids is the point here, not so much a pitch perfect performance (and as @ecmyers points out in #3, she actually does an eerily good job of channeling GLaDOS). I've included links to the Portal version of the song in the post for anyone who's interested.