Jonathan Coulton
A handful of months ago, I was introduced to a clever little songwriter by the name of Jonathan Coulton. This JoCo as he’s called is ahead of his time, literally giving away some of his best work and hoping you’ll buy or donate for them. His sense of humor is quirky and his lyrics run geeky, and his chord changes are generally interesting. Here’s a quick run-down of my favorites.
Possibly the only country song on my entire playlist (if you don’t count Islands in the Stream. I don’t.) The tale of a kidnapped woman and the mad scientist who thinks she ought to fall in love with him (or ELSE.) His most twisted romance song.
Catchy and nerdy. A nice little upbeat tune that’s a little more complicated than your average nice little upbeat tune.
A song about popping pills to make everything better. The touch of irony is light and fluffy, not too heavy. Fast and upbeat, like the last one.
A slow, quiet, pleasant little song that shows off his songwriting. I like it, anyhow. (No free download)
Possibly the most well-known JoCo song. It has nice structure, even if it’s a little pop-ish. Great lyrics that I think a lot of geeks can identify with. (No free download)
Good comedy in this song, and such an enjoyable tune. He really is in top form when he’s telling a story. (No free download)
Still Alive
He doesn’t have this one up at his site because it was a commission by Valve Software, for the game Portal. However, here’s a YouTube copy.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Yeah, I stumbled on Code Monkey awhile back, thought it was pretty cool.
‘re: Your Brains’ has to be my favorite, though. He’s a very unique songwriter.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
You know, I suppose by the time I made it to “re: Your Brains” it just seemed so routine for him. It’s a good song, though.
October 19th, 2007 at 8:04 am
I liked “Code Monkey” for the most part. I think it would have been better if it maintained the theme started at the beginning of the song, (being a drone working for morons), rather than changing into a song about having a crush on the receptionist.
October 19th, 2007 at 11:19 am
I have some other favorites as well, “Tom Cruise Crazy” is really good and his first attempt at a strong bass part in a song, I think.