Jonathan Coulton may seem to provide little more than light listening; his songs are funny! He’s like Weird Al Yankovic!

He’s not. Actually, many of his best songs are equal parts funny and sad and sweet and strange, and a large majority of this troubadour’s ditties are actually full-bore story songs. Tales from start to finish.

And so, I give you, “Space Doggity.”

You can read about the song by clicking that link, but if you don’t — just know that it’s about the first dog in space. Laika — the dog — gets blasted up in a rocket by the Russians. They said she made it a week. She didn’t. She made it a handful of hours, and then died.

This Bowie-riff song picks up from that point and — well, the lyrics tell the variation.

(Blah blah blah, I don’t own the song or the lyrics and blah blah blah. And you can listen to the song from the Grooveshark plug-in at the bottom of the post. Please to enjoy, and don’t hesitate to support the JoCo by buying his shiznit.)

…

The cage is very small

A tiny silver ball

That makes you a hero

The moment you step inside

The world is watching you

What you’re about to do

Will live on forever

Even though you’ll be dead

And gone

Buckle up

We’re about to turn the engines on.

…

Hello from Sputnik 2

I am receiving you

Thanks for the dog food

I’m somewhere above you now

Guess what Malashenkov?

I took the collar off

I’m holding my own leash

And walking myself outside

This door

I don’t think

I want to be a good dog anymore.

…

Now I’m floating free

And the moon’s with me

And it’s bright enough

To light the dark

…

And it’s so high up here

And the stars so clear

Are they close enough?

Will they hear me bark from here?

…

Moscow to Sputnik 2

I think we’re losing you

Your life signs are fading

We can’t really say that we’re

Surprised

It’s a shame

There is always something that gets compromised

…

Now I’m floating free

And the moon’s with me

And it’s bright enough

To light the dark

…

And it’s so high up here

And the stars so clear

Are they close enough?

Will they hear me bark from here?