Like most LiveJournal groups, it only sees slightly less activity than most newsgroups, but the concept is solid: song lyrics interpreted as game transcripts.
zorklyrics.livejournal.com/16766.html is a good, if somewhat predictable, member of its back catalogue.
Not quite the same thing, but I’ve heard this song come up on the Poptron station on SomaFM a number of times, and I have definitely thought that it’s almost like a walkthrough for a game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcO4DUSUWcA
Follow the golden fox
Through the golden door
Take the golden key
Go down the golden hall
Through the golden filter
See the golden light
Through the golden filter
See the golden light
Give it one last try
Make it solid gold
Give it one last try
Make it solid gold
-Kevin
In the Casbah
Is it just you, or is this place really empty compared to the past couple of days?
A paper tacked on a wall catches your eye.
X PAPER
“By order of the prophet:
We burn that boogie sound! That crazy ‘Casbah jive’ is degenerate to to the faithful!
Love and kisses, The Sharif”
(You see the Sharif himself clearing out the square out of the corner of your eye.)
BEDOUIN, BRING OUT ELECTRIC KETTLE DRUM
Done.
(The Sharif is now screaming at two elderly men to leave.)
LOCAL GUITAR PICKER, GET OUT GUITAR PICKING THUMB
Also done.
(A large group of people orderly leaves the Casbah.)
WAIT
Time passes…
(The Sharif finally leaves, satisfied that he has cleared the square.)
WAIL “SHARIF DON’T LIKE IT”
Rock the Casbah, rock the Casbah.
Guess the Verb did something pretty similar with the lyrics to Old Man River.
Because I couldn’t resist it:
West of Discotheque
You are standing in a vacant lot west of a brightly colored discotheque, with a boarded up front door.
Nearby you can see a phone booth.
PICK UP PHONE BOOTH
Instead of this incredibly suicidal act, you decide to open it instead.
Opening the phone booth reveals one (1) voice mail.
GET VOICE MAIL
Taken.
LISTEN
(to the voice mail)
“WE’RE GIVING YOU A NIGHT CALL, TELLING YOU HOW WE FEEL! We wanna drive you through the night, down the hills. We need to tell you something you don’t want to hear. We’ll show you where it’s dark, but have no fear (of grues).”
X IN ME
There’s something inside you.
EXPLAIN
It’s hard to do that!
(Voice can be heard from the Discotheque.)
LISTEN
(to the voices)
They’re talking about you.
X ME
You’re still the same.
And of course, what group of IF games are ever complete without the shitty My Apartment game?
Down on Your Luck Again
All you need is a TV show. That, and a radio.
The TV is switched on to some soap.
SHOW ME
Show you what, the people in your life or the people you know from TV?
PEOPLE IN MY LIFE
Psyche! They’re both the same group of people.
WAIT
It’s driving you mad.
X TV
Just another way of passing the day.
I
All you have currently is the loneliness you get when she’s not there.
I
Same thing.
I
Ditto.
I
This isn’t going to change anytime soon, you know.
I
Stop it.
X TV
Whats-her-face is on again.
X FACE
Just another face you know from a TV show. You’ve known her for so very long. She feels like a friend.
CAN SHE DO ANYTHING FOR ME? CAN I TOUCH HER FOR A WHILE? CAN I MEET HER ON ANOTHER DAY, AND WE WILL FLY AWAY?
The answer to all these questions is no.
TURN IT ON
(the TV)
What, again?
YES
Okay.
Turn It On Again by Genesis.
[Good going everyone so far! Here’s some early Tom Waits for you…]
You see your Oldsmobile here (in which is your sweet one).
Gas her up
Did you mean gassing your Oldsmobile or your sweet one?
Oldsmobile
You gas her up.
enter her
undo
enter car
You get behind the wheel.
put arm around sweet one
Done.
drive
Barreling down the boulevard, you’re looking for the heart of Saturday night.
i
You got paid on Friday and your pockets are jingling.
l
You see the lights of the city stretch out in front of you.
x lights
You get all tingling cause you’re cruising with a 6, and you’re looking for the heart of Saturday night.
Flashback: you’re in your bathroom, there’s a comb and a razor here.
comb hair
You comb your hair.
Shave face
You’re trying to wipe out every trace of all the other days in the week. You know that this’ll be the Saturday you’re reaching your peak.
You’re back in your Oldmobile, there’s a red light.
stop
It turns green.
go
Tonight’ll be like nothing you’ve ever seen and you’re barreling down the boulevard, looking for the heart of Saturday night.
You arrive at the bar. There’s a pool table here. This was before mobiles that weren’t Oldsmobiles, so there’s a public telephone as well. The barmaid looks on while something catches your ear.
listen
Is it the crack of the poolballs, neon buzzin? No, it’s the telephone ringing.
get phone
It’s your second cousin!
x barmaid
She’s smiling from the corner of her eye.
x eye
(examining your eye)
There’s a magic melancholy tear in your eye, it makes you want to quiver.
quiver
You quiver down in your core. The barmaid continues to look on, dreamily (your sweet one now somewhat forgotten).
dream
You dream of them Saturdays that came before.
exit
Now you’re stumbling, you’re stumbling onto the heart of Saturday night.
Last night I dreamed that I was dreaming of you.
X ME
From a window across I watched you undress, wearing your sunset of purple tightly woven in your hair that rose in strangled ebony curls, moving in a yellow bedroom light.
LISTEN
The air is wet with sound. The faraway yelping of a wounded dog. And the ground is drinking a slow faucet leak.
Your house is so soft and fading as it soaks the black summer heat.
XYZZY
A light goes on and the door opens, and a yellow cat runs out on the stream of hall light and into the yard.
SMELL
A wooden cherry scent is faintly breathing the air.
I hear your champagne laugh.
I
You wear two lavender orchids, one in your hair and one on your hip.
A string of yellow carnival lights come on in the dusk, circling the lake with a slowly dripping halo.
LISTEN
I hear a banjo tango.
DANCE
And you dance into the shadow of a black poplar tree
*** And I watched you as you disappeared. ***
By the river
You see some ashes, a knife, a mask, a rusty black rake, and a bottle of rum. Your footprints lead to the site.
BURY FIRE
You bury the fire.
COVER TRACKS
(first taking the rake)
The rusty black rake is broken!
FIX RAKE
Yes sir!
COVER TRACKS
You rake over your footprints.
GET KNIFE
Yes sir!
WEAR MASK
They won’t be able to see your face now.
X MOON
The moon is big and blue with three gold rings. It can’t see you.
GET RUM
Yes sir!
E
You cross the river.
By the woods
The birdless trees are to the south. They’re in there. The wind is blowing from the south.
A spooky old barn is out there like a slave ship, to the north.
HIDE GUN
You stow your gun deep in your coat.
SMUGGLE RUM
You secrete the bottle of rum deep in your coat.
N
Don’t go into that barn!
It’s not a song, per se, but Roody Yogurt posted this old Infocom transcript which is in the spirit of this thread.
This is fantastic. Thanks for sharing!
I threw in two contributions. One posted immediately, the other apparently got queued for moderation.
U2 - “But I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” - zorklyrics.livejournal.com/24416.html
Rush - “Freewill” - queued for moderation; should show up later