THE PRODUCTION LINE | Lethal Company Song! | The Stupendium & Dan Bull

In ‘Lethal Company,’ employees explore a multitude moons in order to find scrap, risking their lives as they face deathly traps and are stalked by dangerous creatures. They must find enough scrap to meet the ever-increasing profit quotas of “The Company,” or else the employees may find themselves brutally disposed of…

But luckily this is all just a video game! Can you imagine any companies in real life having such a callous disregard for their employees mental and physical welfare? Allowing human suffering just so they can increase their profits?! Hoarding wealth and paying a pittance to those doing the actual labour?! I sure can’t think of any AMAZing examples ON the fly…

Well folks, we’re back to our usual video game songs! I loved the idea of a Lethal Company song, it seemed like the perfect game to add to the anti-capitalism bop collection. I wanted it to be a semi-spiritual successor to the Fine Print in terms of theme and message, even though I doubt it’ll achieve the same level of notoriety on TikTok.
It seems to be a pattern to do a collab with Dan Bull in the first half of the year, and who am I to break tradition? Big thanks to Dan, it’s always great fun to work with him (even though I deprived him of sleep a bit for this one… sorry Dan!)
And as always, many thanks to rest of the team for this one. Nick for another smashing set build, Paul for his fantastic filmography, Liz for her excellent editing, Benedict and Phoenix for their cracking costumes and prop-making prowess, and Benedict again for his awesome assistance on set.
Alliteration is fun. Wait! I mean… alliteration is amusing.

All new Stupendi-Merch NOW AVAILABLE!

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Check out the full Stupendium originals playlist for all of my original songs!

STUPENDIUM ORIGINALS:

THE STUPENDIUM ON SPOTIFY:

THE STUPENDIUM ON iTUNES:

Lyrics and vocals by The Stupendium & @danbull
Instrumental by @FreshyKanal, @Freeced @danbull and The Stupendium
Video by The Stupendium & Lizzy CJ
Shoot Coordinator: Lizzy CJ
Production assistant: @LawlessMarshall
Costuming and prop fabrication by @LawlessMarshall and Phoenix Sterling
Set fabrication by Nick Henderson
Mixing by @OxygenBeats

Kazaxaphoo performed by The Stupendium

Helmet 3D Print file by COSPLAYPLANET3D
Mask 3D Print file by Dungeons And Starships

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The Stupendium is a musician, animator and content creator, creating weird, wonderful and usually incredibly nerdy songs and animations. Join them on their journey to obscure, niche internet stardom! They have some pretty decent videos, wonderful facial hair and a great sense of discomfort describing themself in the third person.

[TheStupendium]

LYRICS:

INTRO:
Steel, iron, nuts and bolts
Poor man’s gold in rusted vaults
Scrap, tin, wheels and gears
Shift by shift and year by year
Rod, beam, sheet and plate
Ironclad, you sealed your fate
All that shines shall fade in time
Welded put the day you signed

VERSE 01:
The production line
You better do your best, forget about sunshine
‘Cause you won’t see it where you’re going
And the only thing you know is
You won’t get to have your lunch on time
Or ever again, ‘cause every second you spend
That isn’t meeting an end that an executive penned
Is another debt that you render that’ll let them extend
Upon the length of your tenure where you’re ever condemned

Well, would you look at that, life’s coming thick and fast, I run and
Zig and zag amid the tat, pick and pack, bric-a-brac
Click and drag, mix and match, stick a stack in my sack
‘Til it could fill a skip of scrap then bring it back quick as a flash

We’re scrappy and resilient, we’re happy and we’re diligent
But that’s just if you’re listening to marketing transmissions
Contractually itinerant, a dastardly predicament
Entrapped within a system hauling scrap for the omnipotent
Voices in the radio that point us in which way to go
The base we’re excavating, what we’re paid and then the pay we owe
Uncertain of the purpose to the service that we’re slaving over
Purge the lunar surface of its worth to meet the daily quote

MAIN CHORUS:
Some of us are living to work
Some of us are working to live
Some of us are making while others are just taking
And some of us are dying to give

VERSE 02:
Whoop! Yay! Hooray! Another day at the office
Slaving away and generating the profits
Heading straight for the pockets of the laziest bosses
If it wasn’t for me then they’d be making a loss, it’s
A struggle working double shifts, selling my soul
So my landlord doesn't have to do any at all
I’m clearly very important while you’re merely a drone
Giving me steady employment just to dwell in a hole
That I can barely afford, belly unfilled like Oliver Twist
Begging for more, I don’t want to exist
No longer stomaching it, wanna be somebody different
But I’m stuck as it is, so stuff it, double my shifts
Rub out the family time in your diary, erase it all
They’ll only hire me if I’ll be reliably available
Yet I appear, clearly entirely replaceable
The irony’s I find it to be kind of inspirational
Anxiety’ll make you more inclined to reach a greater goal
Until you find me crying quietly against the wall
I miss my wife, I miss my kids
I miss my life, can’t live like this!
Perhaps for once if salary might rise in line with rent
We’d have the funds to rise and shine, not rise in line, content
To sacrifice our family lives to those on high, hell bent
On empires founded on the thousands drowned in the cement

PRE-CHORUS:
I am the very model of a model employee
I never leave my shuttle, can’t afford to pay those fees
My overtime does overtime, I work nine days a week
And I never hit that bottle ‘til it’s time to take a pee

MAIN CHORUS:
Some of us are making a killing
While some are barely making a living
Is a life worth saving without life savings?
It’s a 9-to-5, 25-to-life in prison

VERSE 03:
Lift off, tick tock, the big clock’s a-tickin’
Drift in, dropped off at the drop ship’s position
Sod tip top condition, a tip’s what you live in
Drop shipping top tip - “Tips will not be given”

With this cost of living what do lives cost?
Well, the customer ain’t fussed over the lives lost
We’re discounted, under the counter, half off
In stocks, at the gallows for the price drop
To rock bottom, ba-da-da-dum
Sing the jingle, give a whistle, here’s your lot, plod on
It’s official, sacrificial, sing the company song
‘Fore they bop the stop-button on your oxygen

Two guys moonlight on a new moon nightly
Tryna find loot like, “Ooh that’ll do nicely”
Lamp, cookie mold, jar, fish, stop sign
Pan, whoopie, gold bar, gift box, MINE!
No, mine!
NO, MINE!
[mine explodes]

Should you be hurt in our place of employment
It’ll be worse than a band-aid and some ointment
There isn’t a nurse with whom to make an appointment
There’s really just certain doom; painfully poignant
Each day tossed upon the scrapheap
Struggling to meet pay, care to mind the gap, cheap
Labour can be replaced when there are fatalities
Several men a week slayed, tumbling from the gantries
In what kind of dimension is debris so decrepit
Worth more than all the lives amongst the men you send to get it?
The minions paid a pittance from the millions you inherit
And then billed for the equipment ‘fore they get to spent the credits

SPOKEN INTERLUDE:
Have you had an accident at work that wasn’t your fault?
No, you haven’t
It absolutely WAS your fault!

MAIN CHORUS:
Some of us are living to work
Some of us are working to live
Some of us are making while others are just taking
And some of us are dying to give
We all bought the production line
We all toe the production line
We all march in production line
We all signed the production line

BRIDGE:
It’s a hell of a show, better the devil you know
Just another shift, try to keep a grip
Haven’t slept a wink and my vision starts to drift
We’re here to sell you your soul, next day and ready to go
Filling up the ship, just another trip
Maddened, on the brink, in no position to resist
The wheels of progress, they turn, so get ahead or go home
I got a quota to meet or else it’s over for me
And when my rota’s complete then I can hopefully leave
Just never question what burns to run the engines below
We were sold on a dream but now they won’t let us sleep
Take a moment to grieve and you’ll owe them a fee

VERSE 04:
My school careers adviser couldn’t be any nicer
She was just like, “Might as well give up and die, bruh”
It isn’t that likely we’ll experience retirement
When staying alive’s a minimum requirement
I’ve trained, I’ve tried, ‘til I’m strained, I’m tired
I’d trade my trade for a train driver’s
But I’m afraid that the end of the line
Isn’t a place I’ll arrive ‘til the end of my life

PRE-CHORUS:
I am the very model of a model employee
‘Cause I’m used to being toyed with by those far bigger than me
Painfully aware my fate to bear’s as cog in a machine
Just one more face cast off to space for products on a screen

FINAL CHORUS:
Production line
Production line
Production line
Production line
Production line
Production line
Production line
Production line

We all bought the production line
We all toe the production line
We all march in production line
We all signed the production line

Some of us are making a killing
While some are barely making a living
Is a life worth saving without life savings?
It’s a 9-to-5 25-to-life in prison

Some of us are living to work
Some of us are working to live
Some of us are making while others are just taking
And some of us are dying to give

It’s a hell of a show, better the devil you know
We’re here to sell you your soul, next day and ready to go

We all signed the production line

[gosha]

Corporate evil and Stupendium is a combo that can really never go wrong

[godwoken]

The fact that lethal company was made by a single furry in his basement and managed to outsell call of duty brings a smile to my face

[gormlesshoboproductions]

"I am the very model of a model employee, cuz I’m used to being toyed with by those far bigger than me" is such an unbelievably raw line, it perfectly captures the mood of Lethal Company (not that the rest of the song doesnt- it all does!)

[epicjag]

1:59
"My son will be turning 18 later this year and as i have yet to meet him, i humbly request that i might perhaps see him for half an hour to mark the occasion?...please?"

The details in the actual video are almost as good as the songs, BANGER

[gavrielbudvietas]

It's a tiny detail, but I love the little patches on the suits. A tiny little expression of individuality on top of a concealing uniform that strips away individuality and humanity, a carefully constructed vent outlet within bounds that don't threaten the bottom (production) line.



And, without those, it's genuinely hard to tell who's who when those helmets are on.

[fawkespryde]

"And I'll never hit that bottle until it's time to pee." As someone who's heard horror stories about night shift, that line hits different.

[MisterBrick]

i love how very little of the song seems to actually involving life-threatening things (I.E. monsters) making it very clear that "hey this is about more than Lethal Company"

[BlakeTheGamblingHero]

The dead emotionless stare as they did the dance is the face of men who worked months upon months for the company and just had enough after being struck by lightning for the 20th time.

[whensleydaled]

Including "production makes me feel good" as a nod to Bustin' was genius.

[myeyesdontbreathe]

very minor detail, but I love how, in the credits, the beat for the backing track comes in just as Stupes thanks Freshy and Free for help making said beat.

[JonathonSwinney]

I love how sarcastically the line "I'm clearly very important while you're merely a drone" was delivered

[turriffo]

Can't believe they ACTUALLY built a space ship JUST for this music video!

[PoisonFlowr]

"Mine" "No, Mine" "No, MINE" lmao.
Genius lyrics, genius set design, genius video.... GENIUS, as always. You and Dan have both outdone yourselves once again!

[FZK]

I haven't played this game, but I don't understand why people complain that Stupendium and Dan Bull took a different path lyrically to not be so close to the original game. I love this! It's so deep, it's lyrically wonderful... AND THAT CHORUS IS SO CATCHING... AAAA!!! I LOVE IT!!

Sparked a genuine interest in the game, i have to try it.

[InsaneGroove]

Dang, Dan's consonants are so PUNCHY, and Stupes sounds SMOOTH as butter, you really are a duo that can do no wrong

[pocket_possum]

the way thier name tags doesn't have thier names on them and just says "employee' is such a good detail because in reality when you're at this kind of working environment you're just that, an employee to them you have no name, no personality, you're just there to make them money

[ThatOneJoJoDude]

"its a 9-5, 25-to-life in prison" gotta be one of my favorite lines in this song :D i love this

[vikerish]

I love how this is literally not a lethal company song, it's just a corporate greed song with the guise of lethal company. Stupendium and Dan you only make bangers!

[Starplagues]

Love the detail of Dan forgetting to turn off the flashlight and has it in his pockets still on