The Future Soon

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The Future Soon
ReleaseWhere Tradition Meets Tomorrow
Length3:49
Release date10-01-2004
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Demo version: {{#song:The+Future+Soon+(Demo) }} "The Future Soon" is the opening track on Jonathan Coulton's first EP, Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow. It is one of Jonathan's most regularly played songs in his live shows, often appearing at the opening of a set.


History[edit]

"The Future Soon" was, in its early days, performed as part of John Hodgman's Little Gray Books Lecture #18; "What Will Happen In The Future." After a performance, Andrew Zolli, curator of the Pop!Tech technology conference approached Jonathan to play for Pop!Tech 2003.

On October 17, 2003, he performed as one of the events scheduled between official sessions. This performance was so well-received that Jonathan played several more songs throughout the weekend-long conference, including "Gambler's Prayer" and "Mandelbrot Set". Jonathan later cites Pop!Tech 2003 as the cause of several career-shaping decisions (contributing to Popular Science Magazine, releasing music under Creative Commons), making "The Future Soon" a unique keystone of Jonathan's early career.

Demo version[edit]

A demo performance of "The Future Soon" was recorded by Jonathan Coulton before release on Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow. The recording consists of Jonathan's solo vocals accompanied by an acoustic guitar. Some of the lyrics in the demo version differ slightly from those in the published version. All changes are listed in the notes on the lyrics page.

The demo version of this song is included on the non-album collection Other Experiments, available on the Jonathan Coulton Store as "The Future Soon (Demo)".

Live performance[edit]

"The Future Soon" is a staple of the Jonathan Coulton live show experience. Jonathan typically gives a consistent introduction to the song when he chooses to. In brief, Jonathan describes "The Future Soon" as to how someone might feel if they were about 12 years old, alone in their room, reading Omni Magazine, and thinking about the future.

When playing alone, Jonathan usually performs "The Future Soon" as the first song on the setlist. When the show opens with Paul and Storm, "The Future Soon" marks the beginning of the "Jonathan Coulton" part of the show--a subtle but important detail, considering that Jonathan usually performs backup vocals for Paul and Storm for at least one song.

When playing the song live, Jonathan uses only an acoustic guitar and is otherwise unaccompanied. If Paul and Storm were performing before this song, they leave the stage until the next, for which they perform backup vocals and percussion. Thus, the live version of this song differs mainly in the instrumentation and the presence of backup vocals.

A few, much more minor, differences exist between the recorded version and the live version of the song:

  • The line, "And I know that I'll forget the look of pity on her face," becomes, "And I know that I'll forget the pity on her face." View the lyrics to find the line.
  • The final guitar chord of the bridge section is modified to be more reliably played (from Aug to A); this results in a slight but noticeable change. Take a look at the tabs to find the chord.

Trivia[edit]

  • "The Future Soon" is classified as a funny/sad song on the Listening Suggestions page.
  • "The Future Soon" was regularly performed by Emil Bleehall of the Adventurers Club, a themed nightclub in the Pleasure Island portion of Walt Disney World. The Adventurers Club has since closed down, and Emil's last performance was, appropriately, of When You Go.
  • "The Future Soon" was featured during the Harmonix Rock Band Network panel at PAX 2009 and was released for the Xbox 360 on March 4th, 2010, and June 1st, 2010 for the Playstation 3.
  • Cory Doctorow used lyrics from this song's chorus as the title and epigraph of a science fiction short story.
  • "The Future Soon" also goes by the alternate title, "Doorless Showers" (at timestamp 22:12, in the podcast episode Jonathan Coulton – ID10T with Chris Hardwick)

Availability[edit]

Downloads[edit]

"The Future Soon" is available for purchase in the Jonathan Coulton MP3 Store as an individual track or as part of Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow. Of course, this song is also part of the "Everything" playlist.

Downloadable FLAC versions of the above are available in the Jonathan Coulton FLAC Store as well as Amazon.

CD[edit]

As of February 2008, the CD version of Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow is out of print and is no longer available.

Other versions[edit]

The demo version of "The Future Soon" is also available on the MP3 Store as an individual track or part of Other Experiments.

A karaoke version of "The Future Soon" (studio recording version) is available on the Jonathan Coulton Karaoke Store.

This song is also now available through the music streaming application Spotify here.

The Yale Spizzwinks did an acapella version at Jamnesia 2009

I Fight Dragons, a rock band from Chicago, has also covered "The Future Soon".

The song is also a track on Harmonix's Rock Band Network, of which Jonathan Coulton is an avid supporter. It lists for 160 Microsoft Points or $1.99 on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, respectively.

Themes[edit]

Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow
1. The Future Soon · 2. Skullcrusher Mountain · 3. I Crush Everything · 4. Betty and Me · 5. Mandelbrot Set
JoCo Looks Back
1. Code Monkey · 2. Ikea · 3. I Feel Fantastic · 4. Mandelbrot Set · 5. Tom Cruise Crazy · 6. Shop Vac · 7. Chiron Beta Prime · 8. I'm Your Moon · 9. My Monkey · 10. Skullcrusher Mountain · 11. I Crush Everything · 12. When You Go · 13. A Talk with George · 14. You Ruined Everything · 15. Creepy Doll · 16. Mr. Fancy Pants · 17. Baby Got Back · 18. First of May · 19. Re: Your Brains · 20. The Future Soon
Best. Concert. Ever.
1. The Future Soon · 2. Ikea · 3. Shop Vac · 4. I'm Your Moon · 5. Baby Got Back · 6. Kenesaw Mountain Landis · 7. Chiron Beta Prime · 8. Tom Cruise Crazy · 9. Code Monkey · 10. Creepy Doll · 11. Still Alive · 12. Mr. Fancy Pants · 13. I Crush Everything · 14. Skullcrusher Mountain · 15. Mandelbrot Set · 16. You Ruined Everything · 17. Re: Your Brains · 18. A Talk with George · 19. I Feel Fantastic · 20. First of May