Thing a Week 21 - Chiron Beta Prime
I’m in Denver you see. So this is from the reserves - I wrote it around Christmas time last year at the request of my friend Andrew at Z+ Partners. For their holiday card they sent a CD, and they wanted a Christmas song with a futuristic theme. Of course I went right for the post-apocalyptic, stranded on an asteroid, ruled by robots situation. What would a family Christmas letter sound like from there? Well I think it might sound…something…like this…
The song: Chiron Beta Prime
February 17th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
I love it. I ecspecially love the synth solo. I think that this is something you should put on the “Best of Jonathan Coulton” album. We know you will have one.
February 17th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
You come to Denver and don’t even have the decency to give your fans a show. The horror. I look forward to seeing you in concert some day.
February 18th, 2006 at 12:42 am
That was absolutely **MESSAGE REDACTED**, I really mean it.
February 18th, 2006 at 5:49 am
Chiron Beta Prime
I can’t think why I have never before mentioned my appreciation for the music of Jonathan Coulton. After all, he’s the singer/songwriter behind such classics as Skullcrusher Mountain (listen), a beautiful love song told from the viewpoint of a derang…
February 18th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Check out the link and listen to the song and here the clever but twisted sounding song. Remember that this was sent as a Christmas thank-you to an actual person. It contains such gems as…
February 20th, 2006 at 9:50 am
That song’s been in my head for 3 days. It’s creepy but cool.
February 20th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Dude,
I’d fall down and proclaim, “I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy” over this one, if I hadn’t already done that a dozen times before. Some clever boys from the Yale assembly line.
February 21st, 2006 at 6:17 am
That tune was double plus good. Some of the best yet. My favorite is the redacted message. I have never been an avid sci-fi fan in particular, but I can always see your vision through your music. Thanks.
February 22nd, 2006 at 3:31 am
Brilliant! Yet again. This one’s right up there with Skullcrusher Mountain.
February 22nd, 2006 at 3:31 am
…and The Future Soon
February 24th, 2006 at 5:22 am
My brain blames you for the loop it has been on since downloading this. Come December I’ll be merrily decorating my house as Chiron Beta Prime, with the role of Robot Overlord played by my aluminium-foil-clad cat.
March 30th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
[...] Chiron Beta Prime [...]
July 21st, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Cool Song! The synth solo sounds like that on another song that I cant remember. kind of weird.
August 5th, 2006 at 11:26 am
God! Whats with the synth solo?!?! The same one in Curl.
November 1st, 2006 at 5:39 am
This is just.plain.fantastic. Thanks for posting it, and all of the Thing a Week songs.
November 24th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
I’m going through the archives reading all the comments. I want to point out that I love this song.
December 20th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
[...] I played Chiron Beta Prime (one of my new favorite Christmas songs!) for the twins the other night. They enjoyed it, both for the catchy tune and the entertaining lyrics. I had to explain what robot overlords were, but other than that they picked it up right away. [...]
March 3rd, 2007 at 8:56 am
1.) I like the song a lot, but as an overly-rationalistic type I must ask,
2.) Wouldn’t they also know that it were the Christmas season by the appearance of the robotic “Santa Claus”en…of course, using the term might be their way of avoiding further redaction of the message, and they’re out all year ’round.
But it would particularly sinister if they usually were just glowing-red-eyse-and-metal overseer-bots most of the time, but dressed up as Santa for the season, as sinister as the messages stencilled on bombs’ being altered to match the season.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:36 am
[...] a soft spot for quirky song-writers - like Jonathan Coulton who wrote a clever song called “Chiron Beta Prime” that was made into this clever video. Well, I made the mistake last week of playing the [...]
September 25th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
[...] Music: Chiron Beta Prime by Jonathan [...]
December 29th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
[...] remember “your brains“, don’t you? Well, this, with video-link here (here’s a different version), is an actual, bona fide christmas video [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 2:24 am
[...] Includes bonus evil robot Santa outfit from Jonathan’s song “Chiron Beta Prime”. [...]
March 9th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
[...] he performed Chiron Beta Prime he asked for volunteers from the audience. One Michael Wood stepped up, assuring everyone that he [...]
May 19th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
[...] unnoticed. Jonathan brought Bill up on-stage to assist him with a performance of the ever-popular “Chiron Beta Prime”. Apart from serving as eye candy for the audience, Bill was given the appropriate role of one of [...]