Dumb idea. Why did this little worm crawl in my head today?
New silly idea brewing for a cover song that mocks moocs…
— Alan Levine (@cogdog) June 1, 2015
Someone was tweeting about the end of an open course. I have this thing about talking about the finality of something. Some things should end. But if it’s an open ended experience, why cement the fate with a pronouncement? Why not leave the possibility of what was built as a community, the connectivity continuing on when the MOOC is over?
And then in my head I heard… “When the MOOC is over…. turn off the site, turn off the site, turn off the site…”
with the lyrics possibly changed. What am I thinking? I cannot pull off a Jim Morrison. And the song weaves and moans all over the crazy 7th and 9th chords.
So I dumbed it down to something simpler. And in about 14 minutes, re-wrote the lyrics. My ability to play harmonica at the same time is kind of bleating the same rhythm. But hey, I already spent a chunk of time, so here it is, in one take. And I tossed in a re-write of Jimbo’s opening for “The Soft Parade”.
Of course, if all MOOCs were not over, we’d be drownedwith ongoing collaboration and camaraderie. That would suck.
"When The MOOC is Over"
(intro) spoken
I am the MOOC King, I can do anything...
When I was back there in graduate school,
There was a person who put for the proposition
That you could teach millions online.
That you could teach millions online.
You could teach millions online.
YOU CANT TEACH MILLIONS ONLINE!
Yeah, c'mon
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over, yeah
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over
D D# Em
Turn off the site
D D# Em
Turn off the site
D D# Em Bm7 Em A
Turn off the site, yeah
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over, yeah
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over
D D# Em
Turn off the site
D D# Em
Turn off the site
D D# Em Bm7 Em A
Turn off the site, yeah
A7 E7
The MOOC can teach anything
A7 E7
Feed it data as it needs
D
MOOC is your only friend
Em D
Until the end
Em D
Until the end
Em D D# Em
Until the end
Em A9 Em A9
Cancel my subscription to Edu Resurgence
Em A9 Em A9
Send my credentials to the Clayton of Disturbance
Em A7 Em7 A7 Em A7 Em A7 Em A9
Got investors..... inside
Em D/A Em A9
The lecture in the video won't stop
Em D/A Em A9
The messages in the forum won't drop
Em D/A Em D
A pile of badges "Certified!" she cried
Em D/A Em A Em7
Got that job Big Bucks inside!!
Em7 D/A Em A D/A Em Em7 A7 Em A
Em A9
Before I sink
Em A9
A big dropout
Em A9
I want to hear
Em A9
I want to hear
The scream of the lecturer
Come back, teacher
Back into the classroom
We're gettin' tired of hangin' around
Building up debt, sleeping on the ground
I hear a very gentle sound
Very near yet very far
Very soft, yeah, very clear
Tweet today, tweet today
What have they done to education?
What have they done to our fair system?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped it and sacked it
Cut niche programs sacrifice the queen
Filled it with adjuncts and dragged it down
I hear a very gentle sound
With your tweets down to the ground
We want to learn and we want it...
We want to learn and we want it...
Now
Now?
Now!
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over, yeah
Em A Em A Em A Em7 A
When the MOOC is over
D D# Em
Turn off the site
D D# Em
Turn off the site
D D# Em Bm7 Em A
Turn off the site, yeah
A7 E7
The MOOC can teach anything
A7 E7
Feed it data as it portends
D
MOOC is your only friend
Em D
Until the end
Em D
Until the end
Em D D# Em
Until the end
I think I need a new hobby. Or just a hobby.
A Hobby is an invented thing to do when you are bored with life and it is not time for sleeping or being at work.
But when you are #4life then Art is what you do a lot because the creating is what your brain does with extra cycles. Before you can get bored.
So never get a Hobby when you are making Art like this.
Tru dat tru friend
I do this often (creating song lyrics) but they tend to just stay in my head and don’t come out in writing and definitely not in song. The last time I picked up a guitar I had long hair, was studying to be a chef and it was the 1980s. But I think I will pick up that guitar again someday.
Thanks for sharing Alan!
You ARE the lizard king! Sounds great on organ.
The ghost of Jim Morrison visited me in the night once. I was listening to a Doors cassette while falling asleep and I was in that in-between place. Suddenly, I was awoken by Jim’s voice in all of it’s top of the range shakiness that it is so well known for…
All he said was “Hey listen to this!!” but it was during 5 to 1 and the lyrics that followed were:
Your ballroom days are over, baby
Night is drawing near
Shadows of the evening crawl across the years
Ya walk across the floor with a flower in your hand
Trying to tell me no one understands
Trade in your hours for a handful dimes
Gonna’ make it, baby, in our prime
Come together one more time
Get together one more time
I think he was calling me out on my mortality – the thing that sucked was that I was like 13 at the time. Some might say that is way to young to be prompted into existential questioning by a self-destructive dead rock-star but this is my plight.
In my experience very few endings are total. But change is ever present.
There’s a MOOC in people’s experiences with the Lizard King’s words. No, I did not suggest that.
Get together… one more time bu bump
You do know about Song Meanings? http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/35135/
Yeah – I have the mobile app