(Really mild spoilers to follow) Chell has found the way to defeat the mad computer GLaDOS, and the explosions rip the Aperture Science labs to pieces. Chell finds herself outside, as fragments of the facility fall, flaming, from the heavens. A credits sequence rolls and GLaDOS, that passive-aggressive machine with a penchant for cake, sings beautifully:
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.
Still Alive is the dangerously catchy end title song from Valve's hit game Portal. This piece was created by the wonderfully kooky and intelligent Jonathan Coulton, the man behind such amazing tunes as Skullcrusher Mountain (a tale of a supervillain and his evil lair) and Re: Your Brains (the sweet ballad of a corporate type who becomes a brain-eating zombie, featuring the chorus of "All we want to do is eat your brains/We're not unreasonable/I mean no one's gonna eat your eyes").
A classically-trained operatic singer, Ellen McLain (the voice of GLaDOS) was concerned that her style might not completely capture the spirit of the song. After receiving an MP3 file of Coulton singing Still Alive, she fell in love with it, and created a work that will likely stand as a classic in the video game world for many years to come.
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.
298
CST Approved
References:
John and DL...for lots and lots of Portal fun and help on the writing
YouTube, GLaDOS commentary (featuring Ellen McLain) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=648DRxIfgx4
Portal Game review on Blogspot: http://portalgamereview.blogspot.com/
Coulton's myspace page http://www.myspace.com/jonathancoulton and blog http://www.jonathancoulton.com/