"Code Monkey" is a song by
Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...
, released on 14 April 2006 and part of his album ''
Thing a Week Three'' released in December 2006. It is one of his most popular songs and has since been downloaded over one million times.
[(No author.) "Pop songs based on office life are missing from musical history," ''The Times'' (United Kingdom), Section: Features, What else happened, pg. 2 – Career, June 7, 2007.] The song is about a computer programmer who thinks in ape-like terms, and has been described as a "rocking anthem about dead-end programming jobs."
The song was accidentally mastered and released in mono on the album ''Thing a Week Three''. Jonathan Coulton later released the song in stereo for his compilation album ''
JoCo Looks Back''. Although it does not have an official music video, it is still Coulton's most popular original song, having developed a small-yet-devoted cult following.
In other media
A music video for the song was created by Mike Spiff Booth using imagery from the
World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...
video game series and uploaded to
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
on September 23, 2006.
[Mike Spiff Booth]
"Code Monkey Music Video"
/ref>
The song has appeared in television commercials, and is the theme song for the G4 television network show ''Code Monkeys
''Code Monkeys'' is an American adult animated television program by Adam de la Peña. Set in the early 1980s, it follows the adventures of fictional video game company GameaVision. The show ran for two seasons, from 2007 to 2008, on G4 and G4 ...
''.
In 2008, the song was featured in an animated video presented at a free ASIFA
The International Animated Film Association (French: ''Association Internationale du Film d'Animation'', ASIFA) is an international non-profit organization founded in 1960 in Annecy, France, by the best known animation artists of the time such a ...
event, written by Tom Weiser and IdleAmbition.
In 2012, Chicago-based performance troupe VStheUNIVERSE released a short film based on Coulton's work entitled "Code Monkey."
References
{{authority control
2006 songs
Jonathan Coulton songs
Television theme songs
2008 songs
Geek rock
Songs about primates