Civilization WITH LYRICS

By Shamus Posted Saturday Oct 2, 2010

Filed under: Movies 64 comments

Since it seems to be Civilization week around here, it seems like a good time to share this:


Link (YouTube)

This is from a guy called Brentalfloss. He’s got a lot more of these on his channel.

Lyrics:

There’s a game called Civilization where you get your own little nation
Be immortal, rule as you see fit, just one click and you can decree shit
From Civ 1 to Civ Revolution, it’s your job to find the solution
Need advice from somebody wiser? Just ask Elvis, he’s your advisor

Everybody thinks you’re nobody important
If this were Fight Club, you’d be Edward Norton.
A gimp, a geek, a shrimp… they call you weak they call you wimp (and so lame!)
Little do they know that you’re a man of power
You can conquer peoples hour after hour
They’d fear you if they lived in the borders of your Civ!

So keep playing Civilization, take good care of your little nation
Start a war with ancient Egyptians, spread your equally valid religion
Win with science, culture, or napalm
Watch out, Gandhi might drop the A-bomb
You can show your neighbors you love them,
Or just beat the dog shit out of them

Oh-ho, KEY CHANGE MOFO!

When you’re playing Civilization, history becomes your creation,
Learn to write before you can read and build the Taj Majal right in Cleveland!

Keep your wits and your sense of humor
Watch out for that prick Montezuma (He’s a douchebag)
You can change the future a lot, see?
You can even make Jewish Nazis
If it’s in your imagination, it can be your civilization
(Civilization is the shit I hope they don’t drop the ball when they bring it to Facebook!)

 


From The Archives:
 

64 thoughts on “Civilization WITH LYRICS

  1. Joshua says:

    Not related to this video, but it seems you did an Experienced Points on the Escapist and didn’t link it here.

  2. Jarenth says:

    Violent Ghandi truely is the alpha and the omega of all comedy.

    Also, you missed the first line of lyrics there, which was “What if Civilization had lyrics?“.

    1. Mari says:

      Today is his birthday you know. Or – would be if he were still alive.

      1. Scott says:

        That is marvelous.
        Happy Birthday Gandhi.

    2. Valaqil says:

      Agreed. Violent Ghandi, cursing Montezuma… I _loved_ this piece. I can’t stop laughing at it.

  3. Ernheim says:

    Better lyrics:

    CHORUS
    Baba yetu, yetu uliye
    Mbinguni yetu, yetu, amina!
    Baba yetu, yetu, uliye
    Jina lako litukuzwe.
    (x2)

    Utupe leo chakula chetu
    Tunachohitaji utusamehe
    Makosa yetu, hey!
    Kama nasi tunavyowasamehe
    Waliotukosea usitutie
    Katika majaribu, lakini
    Utuokoe, na yule, milelea milele!

    CHORUS

    Ufalme wako ufike utakalo
    Lifanyike duniani kama mbinguni. (Amina)

    CHORUS

    Utupe leo chakula chetu
    Tunachohitaji utusamehe
    Makosa yetu, hey!
    Kama nasi tunavyowasamehe
    Waliotukosea usitutie
    Katika majaribu, lakini
    Utuokoe, na yule, simovu mwehu (?)

    Baba yetu, yetu, uliye
    Jina lako litukuzwe.
    (x2)

    Seriously, the original is so epic, I can’t find this entertaining at all

    1. RPharazon says:

      An arranged version of the Lord’s Prayer in Swahili pretty much hands-down beats anything.
      What really gets my metaphorical goat is that he says that there weren’t lyrics before, or that they were simply too insignificant to get in the way of his comedic opus.
      I like Brentalfloss. He has his good moments. This? This is one of his absolutely horrifying what-the-fuck-are-you-thinking moments.

      1. Shinan says:

        Hahaha. This exact same thing happened on the RPS thread when this was posted there.

        The original song is pretty epic yes. But so is this version.

      2. Miguel says:

        Only he’s not neglecting the fact that there were lyrics before. It’s just his thing to ask “What if [subject] had lyrics?” before each song, even if his lyrics aren’t the first or the other lyrics aren’t insignificant. He even named his CD (Yes, he put out a CD, which rocks and is available for seven-something bucks.) “What If This CD, Had Lyrics?”

        You’ll see him bitching about this exact same problem in one of his ramble videos, and at the end of the Megaman 2 lyrics there’s an annotation telling the fanboys that he knows about Okkusenman and they can shut up.

      3. RudeMorgue says:

        Lighten up, Francis.

    2. X2-Eliah says:

      So am I the only one who is completely unphased by this?

      Okay, maybe they sound good when sung in a certain voiceset in a certain rhythm.

      But those words mean nothing to me. I don’t understand that language. I do not know the meaning. You may aswell bash your keyboard, it’s the same as far as I see.

      What is there to make those characters epic to folks like me without knowledge of African dialect #53?

    3. Ell Jay says:

      Seconded. The affront of “wrecking” an awesome song turns me off both this and Brentalfloss. Context is irrelevant because I don’t want to see anything else by this guy now.

      1. kerin says:

        What I don’t get is how you guys can phrase your response that well and still not understand how asinine such a stance is.

        1. thebigJ_A says:

          Seconded. He took a theme song with lyrics none of us can speak, and changed them to funny lyrics about the game.

          Lighten up. This was awesome.

        2. Ell Jay says:

          Ah, it’s asinine to disagree with you. I appreciate the elucidation, chum.

  4. Christopher says:

    Hearing this music has done more to give me a bigger Civ bug than all the buzz around Civ5 ever did. If only my computer hadn’t gone kaput. I wonder if it Civ4 would run on my crappy laptop…?

  5. Shamus says:

    In order to tame this humorless indignation and harrumphing from fans of the original, allow me to point out that the original composer himself found this amusing:

    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103772-Civilization-Composer-Officially-Endorses-Amusing-Theme-Lyrics

    And while, yes, the original had lyrics, I’m pretty sure it didn’t have them at the main menu, which is where 99% of the people are going to hear it. And they were incomprehensible anyway, which only adds to the appeal of humorous English lyrics.

    And finally, I’m pretty sure this was work of love, not mockery. You don’t make alternate lyrics and sing them if you hate a song. See also: Weird Al.

    1. Ernheim says:

      First, the lyrics were on the main menu and didn’t have to be comprehensible to be incredibly stirring. Secondly, whether or not the composer liked it and the intention of the song doesn’t affect whether I like it.
      This affects Weird Al too; on the whole I love his work, but his parody of American Pie takes a great, emotional piece of music and sterilizes it.

      A piece of emotive, stirring music will never fare well as the basis for comedy. But that’s just my opinion.

      1. Shamus says:

        See, I think the more serious work, the more ripe it is for humor. In fact I’ll bet you could get a lot of humor out of something like Lord of the Rings.

        But that’s just how my sense of humor works.

        1. Chargone says:

          … serious =/= emotional, maybe?

          but yeah, sometimes parody is epic awesome. sometimes it fails.

          haven’t listened to this yet (don’t think anyone would appreciate it at 4 in the morning <_<), but i can't say the lyrics appeal. though some of the amusing moments mentioned are quite entertaining….

          (curse you, Montezuma!)

          also, Jewish Nazis? are we talking Judaism + fascism in civ 4 here?

        2. Ernheim says:

          Well, if the humour of such a hypothetical LoTR-based work came mainly from the interactions of a disconnected group of people, perhaps the members of a role-playing scenario, rather than the books themselves, I suppose that it would be fairly hilarious, yes. For then one could feel superior to the foolish characters, not taking seriously such a magnificent tale. Somebody should make a comic about that.

        3. Svick says:

          You mean something like redubbing the whole Fellowship of The Ring in a humorous way? Which is exactly what a few guys did when the film came up. Unfortunately for you, it’s in Czech.

        4. Irridium says:

          Humor? Out of Lord of the Rings? There is no way you can get any sort of humor from those movies.

          Wait…

          1. ehlijen says:

            Maybe if someone were to juxtapose it somehow with DnD, it’s spiritual descendent….?

            Ah well…

            1. Irridium says:

              Hah! That would never work!

        5. Johan says:

          “In fact I'll bet you could get a lot of humor out of something like Lord of the Rings. ”
          Bah and Harumph, it’s been done!…by the Harvard Lampoon *runs*

        6. Daemian Lucifer says:

          Of course.Thats why this is the funniest page on the internets:
          http://www.dead-baby-joke.com/

          1. Drew says:

            Pretty sure he was talking about creative works of fiction and whatnot.

            1. Daemian Lucifer says:

              Hey,there are dead babies in fiction too.For example:
              http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20080602

        7. Dreckmal says:

          You should read Harvard Lampoon’s: Bored of the Rings

          http://www.jrbooksonline.com/PDF_Books/boredoftherings.pdf

          hilarious, imo.

      2. CrushU says:

        You’re aware that Don McLean (original American Pie author/singer/etc) very much enjoys Weird Al’s version, and his kids like it and play it so much that he almost sings Al’s version when he’s performing live?

        Also, ha. There is much debate as to the actual content of that song… McLean says of the lyrics that they were to be representative of a dream, and not supposed to make much sense. They do stir emotions, though.

        And seriously, why not put English lyrics to the theme song? Is there some rule against it?

        1. Ernheim says:

          What I was saying was that I, personally, did not like the songs. For me, I don’t find them funny, because juxtaposed with the original’s majesty they end up looking sort of lame.
          Whether Christopher Tin (composer of Baba Yetu) enjoys Brentalfloss’s version doesn’t affect whether I do. Whether Don McLean enjoys Weird Al’s version doesn’t affect whether I do.
          I don’t think it’s an insult to the original or anything stupid like that. I just don’t think they’re funny.

      3. Fists says:

        You don’t find weird Al’s version emotional? most star wars fans are moved to tears by the line “his midichlorians are off the scale

      4. krellen says:

        Dude, now you’re just being as petty as Coolio. American Pie is not some deep, emotive masterpiece uncovering the essence of human nature. It’s a song about dead rock stars.

        Gangsta’s Paradise isn’t sacred either. I’ve never heard a song that was sacred. Most hymns are set to some other song’s music.

    2. Awetugiw says:

      I think the main problem a lot of people have with this movie is how it is presented as “lyrics to” in stead of “alternative lyrics to”. This sort of suggests that the original lyrics did not count.

      I am quite sure it was not the intention of the author to give this impression. In fact, since the original lyrics are not lyrics to Civilization one could well say that “alternative lyrics” would be incorrect.

      Still, I think it would have been wiser to call it “alternative lyrics”, as it might have prevented some misunderstandings and a lot of shouting.

      1. Eldiran says:

        It’s really not a very egregious statement on Brentalfloss’ part when you realize that he has an enormous series of these, and they all start with the same exact line, “What if X had lyrics?”

        His Duck Tales song is my absolute favorite, but it seems to have been removed from youTube for some reason…

        1. Awetugiw says:

          It’s a bit unfortunate that a lot of people see the title without that context, and first impressions are hard to change.

        2. “His Duck Tales song is my absolute favorite, but it seems to have been removed from youTube for some reason…”

          Duck Tales with Lyrics

          1. Eldiran says:

            Ahhh, there we go. Thanks! (Way to let me down, Google video search)

        3. Gandaug says:

          Such an awesome game.

      2. Sir Pumpkin Longshanks says:

        Wha…What? If people are going to get offended at that then I don’t know what to say. I mean of all the things to nitpick!

        I wouldn’t change the gimmick of the video for them because they’re the kind of people you can’t please, ever, and it’s a waste of time to try. They take life way too seriously if they’re gonna bitch because it said “lyrics to” without “alternative.”

  6. General Karthos says:

    All this does is remind me how badly I want to try out Civilization V (though I don’t like the look of the new “research” and a couple of other things). However, I own a Mac, and I don’t own Windows for my make. Now, I’m not about to shell out $600 for a copy of Windows 7 (even if I had that kind of money to spare). Does anyone know where I might be able to buy a copy of Windows XP? (System requirements say XP will work).

    And no, I don’t want torrents or a way to get ahold of pirated copies. I want to buy it legitimately. I have few morals, but I refuse to pirate, even from Microsoft. If I just have to hope a copy comes out for Mac in a year or two, then that’s what I’ll have to hope for.

    1. Casper says:

      AI is a total noob. I'd advise you wait at least a couple of months until it- and other shortcomings ““get properly patched.

    2. Sheer_Falacy says:

      Where the heck are you finding Windows 7 for sale for $600? It’s $200 for Home Premium, and even ultimate is barely over $300. Which is still a silly price to pay to be able to run a single game, but it’s not like XP would be much cheaper even if Microsoft still sold it.

      1. Heron says:

        $200? Just buy a $100 Home Premium OEM disc from Newegg (free shipping!). I’ll even give links: 32-bit, and 64-bit.

        1. General Karthos says:

          Thanks Casper for the advice and Heron for the links. I did once spend $200 dollars for a single game, but the difference was that I bought an X-Box, and that wound up being for more than just a single game. At the time, I bought it for KOTOR, but I look through my collection and I think I have 15 games for it, which is a lot for me, seeing as my parents never really bought games for me….

          Plus it led right into XBox 360, which was still the best buying decision I’ve ever made when I wanted a Next-Gen console, but only had enough money for one. (I’ve also been lucky and I’m one of the 5% or whatever of people who have had their system since launch and has never had a RROD.)

          That said, I think I’ll hold off for now, and wait for the AI to get fixed (Was winning Civ IV at Emperor, but the AI in Civ IV was actually fairly good when the Mac version came out [inclusive of all the patches up to that point on the Windows version].) If I’m gonna win again with regularity at Emperor, I want to feel a sense of accomplishment. Plus, if I hold off until the AI gets fixed, I might hear more buzz about a Mac version that someone has said is certainly going to happen “at some point”. (Translation: Probably Never, maybe some number of years less than infinity.)

          Anyway, thanks everybody!

    3. Veloxyll says:

      eh, the research is pretty much the same as in Civ 4. Unless you mean the culture thing, but I kinda like it.

      Personally my biggest complaint is puppeted cities building military buildings and thus spending all my gold on their upkeep. I had an archipelago game where I had 4 military units and 6 workers, and I was STILL losing money.
      Overall though it’s a nice addition to the Civ series.

      1. General Karthos says:

        I never puppet my cities for exactly this reason. Though by the time you get to the high levels, you kinda have to be willing to lose money. If you don’t have a barracks (and walls, when they mean anything) in your front-line cities, you’re just gonna get rolled over.

        I like Archipelago games…. But pirates (sea-faring barbarian units) always seem to be a major problem, except when I’m playing Japan.

  7. UtopiaV1 says:

    Ha, great lyrics, well sung too. Doesn’t ruin the original for me, i still love it!

    1. Integer Man says:

      Agreed. Only thing it does is give me a laugh and remind me how awesome CIV 4’s music was.

  8. Falling says:

    Haha, well I found it funny. Particularly the last part about not dropping the ball when they bring it to facebook.

    1. Swedmarine says:

      A combination of Facebook and Civ would probably be the most addictive thing in this dimension.

      1. Integer Man says:

        It’d be awesome to lure your Farmville friends over to Civ and then nuke them as Ghandi. Just saying.

  9. Wolfwood says:

    hahaha thats awesome sauce! XD and Civ 5 is a ball :D

  10. Otters34 says:

    That was pretty good! a sort of guided tour to the things most people associate with playing the Civ series. Historical figures altered beyond recognition, the weird stuff you can do with tech trees, the works!

    Though I find it odd that he never mentions the turf wars that can start with a bunch of players scrabbling for a prime slice of real-estate. That can be hilarious too, if played right.

    Finally, thank you for bringing something readable to the Escapist, something that isn’t a non-stop stream of grating pomposity, pretentious twaddle, or smug self-satisfied superiority.

  11. Jim O says:

    So my, uh, friend played the original Civilization right after its original release a bit and enjoyed it. But for whatever reason he never picked it up for himself nor played any of the games in the series.

    So for those who have played them, which game in the series would you recommend I start with now?

    Err wait, I mean which game would you recommend my friend starts with now? Yes, my friend…

    1. Jarenth says:

      I’d tell your friend that both Civ IV and Civ V have demo versions, so the best way to find out which one he or she’d want is to try them out.

      Is what I would say to your friend.

    2. thebigJ_A says:

      I’d say Civ V is the easiest for a new player. You can jump right into a game and figure it out as you go. No way I’d recommend that in IV.

      But why don’t you just let your friend play your copy, you know, since you’re such good friends and all. And OF COURSE you have a copy!

  12. toasty_mow says:

    That was epic. I want more. :D

    Thanks for the link. :)

  13. Mazinja says:

    So just to throw in my two cents, I -love- the original theme, Baba Yetu. This is still pretty damned hilarious tho!

  14. Aldowyn says:

    where did I see this… some site had this up, I don’t think it was the escapist, it might have been though.

    Personally, I like the one with the translation. It’s like “WTH, that’s a church song?”

    .. Jewish Nazis :D

  15. Integer Man says:

    Nice. Had fun this weekend: Played as Arabia and went for a diplomatic victory.

    Problem: My neighbors kept attacking city states that were too far out for me to protect so by the time I built the UN there weren’t enough votes to possibly make me win.

    Solution: Launched a surprise attack on America, bombed their coastal cities and invaded resulting in enough liberated city states to win.

    Moral: Sometimes you gotta be a jerk

    Good to know: Kicking the tar out of the Ottomans to solidify your borders / economy and then asking for terms of peace can result in them giving you all cities other than their capital (8 total!)

  16. Langwulf says:

    Awesome song. Only thing missing is a tank losing to a phalanx.

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