Song Fu

Song Fu is an Internet contest run by Quick Stop Entertainment... Think of it in contrast to manufactured TV talent contests, designed to shine a light on the quirky, quixotic underworld of musicians that don’t get nearly the attention they deserve.

Like a songwriting version of Iron Chef, the competitors were presented with a very specific songwriting challenge with one week to complete their songs - however they see fit, within the parameters set forth - after which time the entries were uploaded and voted on by the readers.

In the round that ended July 31st, the final task was to completely reimagine David Bowie's "Space Oddity" -- while retaining the same basic “story points” - spaceman goes up, spaceman talks with control, spaceman goes for a walk, spaceman disappears - and at least some sonic “cue” or “quote” from the original tune (a short phrase or series of chord changes; the key word here is “brief”).

Coulton, altered the species and told the story from the point of view of Laika, the dog aboard the Soviet's 2nd Sputnik launch that caused the mission to be called "Muttnik" in the Western press.

Jonathan Coulton - "Space Doggity" [3:26m] Download: Jonathan Coulton - "Space Doggity"

MacDougall chose to stick with a human passenger anticipating an untethered spacewalk with more direct quotes from the original but kept the entire narrative perspective with Major Tom.

Jeff MacDougall - "High" [3:28m] Download: Jeff MacDougall - "High"

Curious about the voting results? Click here!