Another song roundup
Time for another long-overdue roundup of songs!
"Bytecode in the .Jar" (mp3) is a geeky parody of the Irish classic "Whiskey in the Jar". It began with the realization that Java code often comes in a .jar (short for "Java archive"), and noticing that public static void main (String[] args), a bit of code that must appear in every Java program, scans to the nonsense bit of the chorus, only encouraged me, but it took me a while to figure out the plot. As in the original, our protagonist is a thief and gets his comeuppance from a woman he has underestimated.
"The Footprints of the Wind" (mp3) takes its tune from one of the more haunting melodies from My Neighbor Totoro. I loved this melody so much I had to do something with it. Since Totoro takes place entirely in summer, I'm not sure how this song came by it's all-around-the-seasons structure - it may be that that's just a thing that I do, or it may have something to do with reading Ronia, the Robber's Daughter at the same time...
O(n log n) (mp3) - you say it "big 'O' of n log n" - is an example of big-O notation, which is used in the theory of computation to talk about how long a calculation takes relative to the size of the input. O(n log n) is specifically how long it takes to sort things.
I always wanted to write a song with some Klingon in it, but I don't know a lot of Klingon, so I settled on perhaps the most iconic phrase in that language - taH pagh taHbe', "to be, or not to be" - and then I realized what song's chorus it scans to... (mp3). General Chang, from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, addresses first Gorkon and then Kirk. Does any theme link this song with its original? Perhaps both are about how characters feel about things that change with the passage of time.
"XKCD" (mp3) is a song that was waiting to happen - in fact, I'm surprised that I got to it first, but a quick google doesn't turn up any prior art. I've tried to include a good representative sample of the comic's main tropes.
"The Quangle Wangle's Hat" (mp3) is a musical setting of Edward Lear's poem.
"Send in the Clones" is another song that I thought had to be done, but when I learned more about the original song, I saw that I had my work cut out for me. It couldn't be played for laughs, but had to be - like the original - an ironic but earnest response to a heartfelt disappointment or, in this case, betrayal. From the grammar alone you can probably guess who is addressing whom. A recording awaits a volunteer who can do that voice without cracking up.
"A Wrinkle in Hyperspace" (mp3) is another of my weird crossover experiments - the plot is 100% A Wrinkle in Time, but the setting is Babylon 5. Once I realized how much like Vorlons aWiT's three ladies are, I couldn't unsee it, and after that a lot of the rest of the setting falls into place as well. I'd love to do more with this concept, but getting it out of my head and onto the page (and into your head) is a good start.
"The Tines, They Are a-Changin'" is inspired by The Children of the Sky, Vernor Vinge's recent sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep. tCotS is not as good a novel as aFutD (then again, few are), but it was a fun read, especially the parts exploring the society that the humans and tines are creating together. The references in the song are mostly vague enough that they only count as spoilers if you've already read it.
All US states are basically interchangeable - that's the subtext of "Your State's Name Here" by the Berrymans. And we can extend this idea to other topics by parodying the song - all SF conventions are interchangeable, per "Your Con's Name Here", all politicians per "Your Crook's Name Here", etc. In fact, all topics, and therefore all parodies of "Your State's Name Here", are interchangeable! That is the message of "Your [Your Topic's Name Here]'s Name Here". I think this is about as meta as a song can get before it implodes.
Alright, this song is not new anymore, but I don't think I ever posted a link to it here. "Mechanical Advantage" (mp3) is a parody of Seanan's "Take Advantage of Me" which introduces the physics of simple machines by way of a winsome engineer (probably not too unlike Kaylee) with... peculiar tastes. And a fondness for terrible puns, although that might just be me.
"Bytecode in the .Jar" (mp3) is a geeky parody of the Irish classic "Whiskey in the Jar". It began with the realization that Java code often comes in a .jar (short for "Java archive"), and noticing that public static void main (String[] args), a bit of code that must appear in every Java program, scans to the nonsense bit of the chorus, only encouraged me, but it took me a while to figure out the plot. As in the original, our protagonist is a thief and gets his comeuppance from a woman he has underestimated.
"The Footprints of the Wind" (mp3) takes its tune from one of the more haunting melodies from My Neighbor Totoro. I loved this melody so much I had to do something with it. Since Totoro takes place entirely in summer, I'm not sure how this song came by it's all-around-the-seasons structure - it may be that that's just a thing that I do, or it may have something to do with reading Ronia, the Robber's Daughter at the same time...
O(n log n) (mp3) - you say it "big 'O' of n log n" - is an example of big-O notation, which is used in the theory of computation to talk about how long a calculation takes relative to the size of the input. O(n log n) is specifically how long it takes to sort things.
I always wanted to write a song with some Klingon in it, but I don't know a lot of Klingon, so I settled on perhaps the most iconic phrase in that language - taH pagh taHbe', "to be, or not to be" - and then I realized what song's chorus it scans to... (mp3). General Chang, from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, addresses first Gorkon and then Kirk. Does any theme link this song with its original? Perhaps both are about how characters feel about things that change with the passage of time.
"XKCD" (mp3) is a song that was waiting to happen - in fact, I'm surprised that I got to it first, but a quick google doesn't turn up any prior art. I've tried to include a good representative sample of the comic's main tropes.
"The Quangle Wangle's Hat" (mp3) is a musical setting of Edward Lear's poem.
"Send in the Clones" is another song that I thought had to be done, but when I learned more about the original song, I saw that I had my work cut out for me. It couldn't be played for laughs, but had to be - like the original - an ironic but earnest response to a heartfelt disappointment or, in this case, betrayal. From the grammar alone you can probably guess who is addressing whom. A recording awaits a volunteer who can do that voice without cracking up.
"A Wrinkle in Hyperspace" (mp3) is another of my weird crossover experiments - the plot is 100% A Wrinkle in Time, but the setting is Babylon 5. Once I realized how much like Vorlons aWiT's three ladies are, I couldn't unsee it, and after that a lot of the rest of the setting falls into place as well. I'd love to do more with this concept, but getting it out of my head and onto the page (and into your head) is a good start.
"The Tines, They Are a-Changin'" is inspired by The Children of the Sky, Vernor Vinge's recent sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep. tCotS is not as good a novel as aFutD (then again, few are), but it was a fun read, especially the parts exploring the society that the humans and tines are creating together. The references in the song are mostly vague enough that they only count as spoilers if you've already read it.
All US states are basically interchangeable - that's the subtext of "Your State's Name Here" by the Berrymans. And we can extend this idea to other topics by parodying the song - all SF conventions are interchangeable, per "Your Con's Name Here", all politicians per "Your Crook's Name Here", etc. In fact, all topics, and therefore all parodies of "Your State's Name Here", are interchangeable! That is the message of "Your [Your Topic's Name Here]'s Name Here". I think this is about as meta as a song can get before it implodes.
Alright, this song is not new anymore, but I don't think I ever posted a link to it here. "Mechanical Advantage" (mp3) is a parody of Seanan's "Take Advantage of Me" which introduces the physics of simple machines by way of a winsome engineer (probably not too unlike Kaylee) with... peculiar tastes. And a fondness for terrible puns, although that might just be me.