Better (Robot-to-Human version)
Hi,
I've been spending my nights and weekends perfecting my warrior robot choir (in reality an app I wrote some years ago to get the Mac speech synthesis to sing so that I wouldn't have to), and I've often thought of getting it to cover JoCo songs. Even the voices that are supposed to sound like humans sound a little robotic, and there are a couple of voices that are deliberately made to sound like robots, so when thinking of songs to cover I tend to think of songs that would be sung by robots. I made a slightly altered version of The Future Soon, and covered Still Alive and a Chiron-Beta-Prime-esque Christmastime is Wunnerful. But I wanted to do better. Or, to be more precise, I wanted to do Better. So I rewrote Better from the perspective of a robot whose partner/co-op is gradually becoming more human.
Here's a recording and a blog post. When I started this I assumed Better was one of the tracks we had the source tracks for, but alas, it isn't, so I had to use the karaoke track for Better, which has some harmonies that get in the way a bit.
Here are the lyrics. Any suggestions for improvement? There are parts which my internalised Bry disapproves of, due to their closeness to the original lyrics.
Where did we go?
When was the moment that we came unplugged?
I think I know.
In fact I am sure 'cause I've had your chips bugged.
I remember the first big surprise,
the day you came home with your infant-bred eyes.
I looked inside them and lased you a note
but your return signal was smoke.
But it's not smoke, it's fire,
and your burning desire
to turn into something
that I don't require.
You used to be OK
and I liked you that way,
but I don't think that I like you better.
No I don't think that I like you better.
Started out small:
some lungs and a heart and your lasers unwired.
Now you're just six feet tall.
Even when fully charged your organics get tired.
And I'm tired of the evenings I spend
making small talk with your new human friends
and their stupid insistence on blocking my lasers
when they know I know the three laws.
And you climbed the wrong way out
of the uncanny gorge.
You went from bad data
to bad Geordi La Forge.
You used to be OK
and I liked you that way,
but I don't think that I like you better.
No I don't think that I like you better.
So that's how it goes.
Tap my interface once if you still understand.
No data flows.
Wait, are your digits just five on your hand?
I can tell by your insider art
There's more than a pump in your chimpanzee heart.
I tried to reason, but something's gone wrong.
Why am I singing a song?
Well, I like to think different, but it's not quite the same.
If this is a trojan, I know who to blame.
You used to be flawless; now you're F-ing lawless,
and I don't think that I like you better.
No I don't think that I like you better.
I've been spending my nights and weekends perfecting my warrior robot choir (in reality an app I wrote some years ago to get the Mac speech synthesis to sing so that I wouldn't have to), and I've often thought of getting it to cover JoCo songs. Even the voices that are supposed to sound like humans sound a little robotic, and there are a couple of voices that are deliberately made to sound like robots, so when thinking of songs to cover I tend to think of songs that would be sung by robots. I made a slightly altered version of The Future Soon, and covered Still Alive and a Chiron-Beta-Prime-esque Christmastime is Wunnerful. But I wanted to do better. Or, to be more precise, I wanted to do Better. So I rewrote Better from the perspective of a robot whose partner/co-op is gradually becoming more human.
Here's a recording and a blog post. When I started this I assumed Better was one of the tracks we had the source tracks for, but alas, it isn't, so I had to use the karaoke track for Better, which has some harmonies that get in the way a bit.
Here are the lyrics. Any suggestions for improvement? There are parts which my internalised Bry disapproves of, due to their closeness to the original lyrics.
Where did we go?
When was the moment that we came unplugged?
I think I know.
In fact I am sure 'cause I've had your chips bugged.
I remember the first big surprise,
the day you came home with your infant-bred eyes.
I looked inside them and lased you a note
but your return signal was smoke.
But it's not smoke, it's fire,
and your burning desire
to turn into something
that I don't require.
You used to be OK
and I liked you that way,
but I don't think that I like you better.
No I don't think that I like you better.
Started out small:
some lungs and a heart and your lasers unwired.
Now you're just six feet tall.
Even when fully charged your organics get tired.
And I'm tired of the evenings I spend
making small talk with your new human friends
and their stupid insistence on blocking my lasers
when they know I know the three laws.
And you climbed the wrong way out
of the uncanny gorge.
You went from bad data
to bad Geordi La Forge.
You used to be OK
and I liked you that way,
but I don't think that I like you better.
No I don't think that I like you better.
So that's how it goes.
Tap my interface once if you still understand.
No data flows.
Wait, are your digits just five on your hand?
I can tell by your insider art
There's more than a pump in your chimpanzee heart.
I tried to reason, but something's gone wrong.
Why am I singing a song?
Well, I like to think different, but it's not quite the same.
If this is a trojan, I know who to blame.
You used to be flawless; now you're F-ing lawless,
and I don't think that I like you better.
No I don't think that I like you better.
Comments
to bad Geordi La Forge."
Brilliant!