Jonathan Coulton - Re: Your Brains - ASL Song

"Re: Your Brains" by Jonathan Coulton performed in ZSL (Zombie Sign Language). This was definitely my most work-intensive video yet. I made the zombie costume from scratch specifically for this occasion, down to the fake blood and everything. Click "more info" for lyrics.
Heya Tom, its Bob from the office down the hall
HI I BOB, OFFICE HALL [location-mid] FROM-[there]
Good to see you buddy, howve you been?
GOOD SEE-[you] FRIEND, HOW ARE YOU?
Thing have been OK for me except that Im a zombie now
I GET-THROUGH OK, BUT I BECOME [ZOMBIE]
I really wish youd let us in
PAST I WISH YOU INVITE-[us]
I think I speak for all of us when I say I understand
I THINK WE AGREE WE UNDERSTAND
Why you folks might hesitate to submit to our demand
WHY YOU NOT WANT OBEY US
But heres an FYI: youre all gonna die screaming
BUT I SEND {FYI} FUTURE YOU-[all] DIE, SCREAM
All we want to do is eat your brains
WE WANT DO-WHAT? YOUR BRAIN EAT
Were not unreasonable, I mean,
WE NOT CRAZY,
No ones gonna eat your eyes
NOT EYES EAT
All we want to do is eat your brains
WE WANT DO-WHAT? YOUR BRAIN EAT
Were at an impasse here,
TWO-OF-US NOT GET-ALONG,
Maybe we should compromise:
MAYBE TWO-OF-US NEGOTIATE
If you open up the doors
IF YOU OPEN
Well all come inside and eat your brains
WE ENTER, YOUR BRAIN EAT
I dont want to nitpick, Tom, but is this really your plan?
I KNOW I PICK-ON-[you] BUT YOUR PLAN WHAT?
To spend your whole life locked inside a mall?
LIVE ALONE INSIDE MALL?
Maybe thats OK for now but someday
MAYBE OK NOW, BUT FUTURE
Youll be out of food and guns
GUN, FOOD FINISH
And then youll have to make the call
YOU MUST DECIDE
Im not surprised to see
I NOT SURPRISE
Wou havent thought it through enough
YOU NOT PONDER ENOUGH
You never had the head for all that bigger picture stuff
PAST YOU NOT UNDERSTAND-ALL
But Tom, thats what I do,
BUT I UNDERSTAND,
And I plan on eating you slowly
PLAN EAT-[you] SLOW
[chorus]
Id like to help you Tom, in any way I can
TOM, I WANT HELP-[you]
I sure appreciate the way youre working with me
TWO-OF-US COOPERATE I APPRECIATE
Im not a monster Tom, well, technically I am
I NOT MONSTER (pause) TRUE
I guess I am
YES
Ive got another meeting Tom,
HAVE MEETING,
Maybe we could wrap it up
MAYBE TWO-OF-US END
I know well get to common ground somehow
FUTURE TWO-OF-US AGREE
Meanwhile Ill report back to my colleagues
NOW I GO-TO FRIENDS,
Who were chewing on the doors
THEY DO-WHAT? DOOR CHEW
I guess well table this for now
TWO-OF-US POSTPONE THIS
Im glad to see you take constructive criticism well
MY CRITICIZE YOU ACCEPT
Thank you for your time I know were all busy as hell
YOUR ATTENTION THANK-YOU, WE BUSY
And well put this thing to bed
FUTURE THIS MELT-AWAY
When I bash your head open
WHEN I SMASH-[you]
[chorus]

[@Weedhead444]

This brings some many memories of better times when the world wasn’t on fire

[@combat9233]

same here my man. I loved this video when I was like 12. God I miss those days sometimes...

[@Weedhead444]

@@combat9233 lmao the world may literally be on fire 🔥

[@vbagextremist6416]

Let me just start off saying I saw this video a few years back. Thought it was funny but never paid too much attention. Now, I have a 2yo boy who is deaf. It changes everything. It changes my perspective. Your videos now help me learn asl and learn that facial expression is extremely important. Thank you!!!!

[@tejaswoman]

To anyone who doesn't know ASL but HASN'T turned on the captions, you absolutely need to. As noted by others, ASL syntax makes an excellent approximation of what we must presume zombie syntax would be.

[@CaptainValor]

Haha yes! Much better than all the moaning, right? ;)

[@likeabunnie]

HAHA I didn't even think of that! :-D

[@theOriginalRadar]

"future soon" has the same vibe to it, I find it absolutely fascinating!

[@helenrodriguez3478]

tejaswoman AUTCMPIETAR HELLEN RODRÍGUEZ ARROYO B-) O:-) 12:39

[@R.F.9847]

tejaswoman: *ASL syntax makes an excellent approximation of what we must presume zombie syntax would be.* Except no. If by "zombie syntax" you mean an over-simplistic "Me Tarzan" non-fluent rendering of English, then that is a very inaccurate portrayal of ASL. ASL (or any signed language, for that matter) is not a "Tarzan-speak" version of the local voiced language on the hands. The gloss presented on the screen is not a translation. It's simply a literal word-for-word calque of the signs. You would get the same effect if you "translated" Chinese word-for-word. That doesn't mean Chinese is Tarzan-speak. It just means a lot got lost in the rendering. Of course it sounds like weird English, because it is not English. Different languages have different grammar and syntax. Signed languages are languages, full stop, and they are every bit as rich and nuanced as any other language, because the only difference is modality. But glossing fails, rather spectacularly, to capture the nuance of the grammar.

[@Omega.Unicorn]

So, here I am working on learning ASL to become and interpreter and I am spending my day looking at how music is translated into sign. I find some beautiful songs, and I think to myself "this is great, but I still don't know what a lot of these signs are. I'd love to see a literal captioning of the sign instead of subtitles of the lyrics on some of these videos so I can learn how music is signed". I click on the next video (this one), see the annotation advising me to turn my captioning on, and BAM! You did exactly what I wanted, not 20 seconds after I thought it! And you were fantastic doing it! I'm a huge JoCo fan and I'm just going to have to use your video over and over and over again until I have this song down pat. Back in high school I did an English to ASL word for word translation of "With Arms Wide Open" by Creed, but I have never done a proper music interpretation. Now I'm off to check out more of your videos and I hope they are done the same way with the sign captioning. Thank you!!!

[@EvaGehlert_SmallMediumAtLarge]

I just love this video!! I had shown this to my son (He's 12) a handful of months back and he thought it was funny. After he took an ASL class, he watched it again with a new perspective! he didn't realize that signing could be fun as well as functional! He will be watching all of these after school today. Thanks for providing inspiration for us all!!

[@wockynerd]

Seriously never get tired of this video.

[@JennyTroutstanding]

I love that you adapt the English colloquialisms, rather than translate them literally in a way that doesn't make sense in ASL.

[@furlizard]

I love your combo of zombie outfit and patronising coworker manner, it fits the song SO well. Also love the 4 eyes being eaten cos it goes with the beat. Just makes me laugh even more each time I watch it.

[@jonathanblaylock5938]

I always come back to this video. It’s one of my favorites. I had never heard this song before or even Jonathan Coulton. I heard it years later and I was like hey I’ve heard this!

[@lostdrewid]

Man ten years later and I still love seeing this video. I know you're retired from youtube but I hope everything is going well in your life!

[@RJTheBikeGuy]

I have watched this dozens of times. I just love watching all your expressions and how well you act it all out. It just cracks me up! Of the various videos done for this song, this is my favorite. Great job!

[@jesschristiansen2523]

This is brilliant; I've shared it so many times over the years, and it just never gets old.

[@katraylor]

Came back to this after 11 years and it absolutely holds up. :D

[@CaptainValor]

Each country has a different form of Sign, and sometimes they vary greatly even within countries. I'd recommend checking out a book called "For Hearing People Only." It is by FAR the best resource for understanding Deaf culture out there. :)

[@jennifermeister2692]

This was my first ASL music video YEARS ago, and it is still my favorite and dear to my heart

[@racheloveck]

This is amazing, you are amazing! Thanks for putting the ASL-English translation underneath too!

[@HunterRichardson]

I love how the raw ASL translation sounds like a caveman...

[@mr.ladytoast]

It's 11:18pm here and I have school in the morning. What do I find myself doing? Fangirling over Stephen and his mad signing skills. JoCo + Stephen = AMAZING GIFT FROM GOD!!!!! But I should probably go to bed now. Thanks for giving inspiration to us kiddos learning ASL. You're a great signer and have great taste in music. Keep up the amazing work. God bless.

[@becscott7661]

I just wanted to tell you that YOU, Captain Valour, inspired me to learn "American Sign Language!

[@kyasuriin413]

extremely late to the game but so happy I saw this video.

[@CaptainValor]

It's words like these that keep me making these videos. I shall spare your eyeballs, good sir... salted or not. ;)

[@michaelottinger3661]

Oh, I'm so glad this has English AND glossing. That makes me happy. :-D

[@matthewfox4299]

This video never gets old.

[@Ghost_Shoes]

my brother is deaf so seeing this just made my day (night) so thx sooo much :3

[@threemad8456]

My regards to him, he can't hear the awesomeness of this song

[@krysiaharmonypfe]

Mike, we have absolutely LOVED you since the early days that you posted the ASL vids. THIS...THIS!!! Awesome.

[@eris8x6]

This is seriously excellent! I've loved the song for years, and this adds something very special to it.

[@vampjager8586]

so I graduated from highschool a couple years ago but i forgot to comment that i was in ASL 2 that year and had to sign 2 different songs... this was the second one i signed and i learned how to sign it from this video lol it was AWESOME!!!! and everyone was super jealous asking how i remembered so many signs lol i love this song and i love this video

[@kaiawarmhearth]

That fact that you included English captions AND the ASL gloss makes me terribly happy. :D

[@JeremiahBurns]

I know you've done other songs in ASL. But the fact that this is a zombie, who clearly would have difficulties communicating with your average food source (aka person), makes this all the more genius. Thanks for this. Love it.

[@sparkypchu]

I love how he was not just signing, but acting. Like he was singing with his hands.

[@pickleweasel1208]

This is the awesomest presentation of this song I can think of. Great idea telling the song with ASL, while dressed as a zombie, and your facial expressions are wonderful. Thanks for making this!

[@pandapounce]

You know what I love best about these? How much emoting you out into your signing. It's so entertaining; it makes the replay factor huge!

[@PackLeaderWolfie]

I'm learning the line 'all we want do to is eat your brains' in ASL to freak out my assistant teacher. She understands it much better than i do. This me wanna learn more so much

[@taltigolt]

that movement is extremely clean

[@Unigamia]

If KZbin wasn't stupid and removed them, I'd give this video 5 stars. Not only does the ZSL take talent, but adding the subtitles for both the song and ASL took time along with the costume. Five. Stars.

[@CaptainValor]

@clarglemans Somebody actually read those columns? Wow! I was planning on ceasing my awesomeness, but now that you mention it, I think I'll go ahead and test the awesome limits of the universe. ;)

[@Abnersnail]

This is the video that made me fall in love with this man!! haha I love Jonathan Coulton, and this is my fav of his songs!!!

[@Sloaner69]

Kudos on all of your videos, this and still alive are my favorites!

[@SIGNTEACH]

Hilarious song and great ASL adaptation! Thanks for sharing your hard work with us!!!

[@KatyReaL]

FANTASTIC! I loved it - both a great song, and a wonderful rendition in ASL =D

[@madtophatterthefirst]

These videos are too, too wonderful. Your energy and excitement are so fun to watch. I didn't even know ASL music videos existed until a few minutes ago, and now I know what I'm going to spend the next few hours watching. :)

[@jillybean823]

Awesome! This is my favorite song! Love your enthusiasm - you're a talented performer!

[@Tigger62077]

The "eat your brains" and "eat your eyes" signs amuse the hell out of me every single time.

[@diannaclary]

you are so amazing this is the 3rd vid of your's i have watched and i can't seem to stop. great costume.

[@Hakerh]

This was probably the most awesome thing I've seen all day. Thanks!

[@kayleighcantrell7035]

This is excellent, and your use of facial expressions makes me laugh out loud. Great job! God bless!

[@BeingLolaStar]

You are officially my new hero! My favourite ASL song ever!

[@sherrydeanne]

This is on my short list of must-see crappy day videos. Seriously, fantastic man! Thanks.

[@TobiasEriksson88]

Best video that I've seen in a long time. Thanks!

[@Berkana1]

LOVE this, LOVE you. So fantastic. Thank you!

[@clamoring]

Fabulous! Thanks so much for including the ASL text translations. As a Coulton fan and new ASL student I just love your videos!

[@format9]

We LOVE this video! There's nothing like seeing my boys (10, 8 and 4) singing and signing "All we want to do is eat your brains Were not unreasonable, I mean, No ones gonna eat your eyes" YOU ROCK!

[@millerwyomingreigle2808]

Brilliant!! I was looking for a video for this song that I could use for my fifth and sixth grade English students. New school year starts next week, and this should be a great welcome back. :)

[@CaptainValor]

Camille Reigle Awesome! Tell them I said Hello and I hope they enjoy the video. ^_^

[@ryoushimorino9436]

+Camille Reigle best teacher ever lol

[@MrGatsby801]

YOU sir are FANTASTIC! Love the song and when I discovered you doing this song I was SO impressed, I just had to tell you

[@OlOpposableThumbs]

...and all I was looking for was a generic video of the song, but I found your brilliant ASL version. Thank you so much! This will be forwarded until my fingers are worn down to bone.

[@trog69]

Really great song, and wonderfully done in ASL by Mr. Torrence. I can't wait for my zombie Overlords to arrive!

[@gracemalcolm]

I'm doing this song in a group for my ASL 2 final with a few friends. We are going all out with the costumes and everything, and after, a flash (zombie) mob. I am so excited for this, I just had to share. Thank you so much for posting this video.

[@IamBmeTammy]

Great zombie costume, the shambling during the musical interlude was perfect! Thanks for the video, it made my morning. :-D

[@dgthall]

I think this whole series of videos may be one of the most awesome cross-cultural education experiences I have ever seen anywhere. My appreciation for ASL has shot thru the roof!

[@ToniAllen]

Just watched this for about the millionth time since it was uploaded. I love it so much!

[@MsAmedina1]

We absolutely LOVE this song and your interpretation of it!!!!

[@ginamai]

Another great one. Thanks! Really love them.

[@riffingt0n]

Completely amazing. Thanks for going the effort to do this. Your facial expressions are amazing!

[@zouljiin]

You are much more expressive than most zombies. I appreciate that. Your likeability factor may convince me that letting you devour my brains is acceptable. The same goes for Jonathan Coulton. My brains = your/his sustenance any time, as long as my eyes remain to enjoy your videos.

[@patrock400]

Dear god, the sign for "zombie" is the greatest thing I've seen in a long time!

[@kaligoddess74]

That was brilliant! I took a half semester of ASL long ago and I actually recognized some of the signs you were using. Fantastic!

[@Lerah99]

Ok, this is made of win! Thank you so much for posting this!

[@queenloreen]

I sign also, ASL and English transliteration. I can't say how much I enjoy your vids!! Very skilled signing, very unique song selections. It's so refreshing to find vids that are high quality signing and hilarious at the same time!!

[@dahnamoodybrown673]

Love, love, LOVE this!! We played this at our wedding celebration. The only thing missing was a sign interpreter. Genius. Instant fan.

[@neneluvsyooh]

This is my favorite ASL song, keep making the videos!

[@valarltd]

This was hilarious. You kept on the beat, which is remarkable and looked perfect for the part. I like the bridge section too.

[@andy4an]

Wow this came together nicely. he really went the extra mile with the acting, costume and makeup. Well done.

[@Megamomster]

Oh my goodness! This is utterly fabulous! Great work, Captain Valor.

[@finalyover]

I love how you post the lyrics and the signing grammar/words...awesome!

[@katwithseveredwings]

awesome! i love jonathan coulton and ASL. love your interpretation and how well-thought-out this video is. love your other vids as well..you've got a new fan:)

[@ArmchairPuppet]

Whoa! This is hilarious and awesome at the same time! Love it!

[@purklefluff]

i have to say this is my new favourite thing on youtube.... sign songs? awesome!

[@fabulousredhead]

This is the best thing I've watched all week. :)

[@Haeil30]

Haha! Zombie interlude was priceless! You did a FANTASTIC job!

[@Max-dw9kg]

Thank you for the great laughs and sign language tips.

[@SkarmoryThePG]

Oh this is just -fascinating-. Especially reading the transcription of the ASL. And the doubletake at 2:46 is beyond awesome.

[@solidwingtsunkid]

thats is awsome man i love this video !!!! thx so much for uploading it!!!

[@katherinebailey4079]

Im learning ASL and we saw this in class. I really like this video! Good job!

[@thehebrewhoya]

LOVE THIS! You are amazing!!!!!!

[@gregoryvasquez852]

Pure perfection lol I love all your song signing you do it do well and amazing affect wish I was as good as you

[@WolfSpeaker25]

you made this song so much more awesome. I cannot listen to it without signing along with the words "all we wanna do is eat your brains". they are basically the only 8 words I know how to sign.

[@chemicalrose22]

This is really awesome. I love your facial expressions.

[@selkie100]

This is incredible :D I can't help but have respect for you.

Brilliant. Simply delightful.

[@adrilahan]

I love this! Seeing this song in ASL was really fun :D

[@rosalindmatteson3697]

I truly enjoy your videos, especially Re: Your Brains.

[@KikiLovesYou2011]

That was probably like the coolest ASL video I have EVER watched! :)))

[@oldNavyJZ]

This video is genius. One of the best on KZbin!

[@vampyrecats]

Thank you!!!! I can't stop watching this. I love ASL, I had only 2 semesters in college. I love the game plants v zombies... this is just so well done too.

[@beautyliedead]

I'm surprised I found this when I was looking up ASL poetry and not when I was looking for the song itself! Awesome job and the costume is amazing. :)

[@mulchair]

This has to be my favorite. My 3-year old likes to watch these videos and attempt the signs and my 9-month old is completely mesmerized.

[@Boleniana]

Wow, this is incredibly EPIC. I'd taken an ASL course a few years back, so I recognized a few of the signs; maybe I should go back to learning it, so I'll be able to fully appreciate this video's genius.

[@Tur7leKat]

thank you so much for the awesome video ^.^

[@wrestler101803]

That was amazing. Ha. Loved it. Keep up the good work.

[@keiyakins]

I love it - especially your shambling during the instrumentals :P