"Coin-Operated Boy" is a single by

The Dresden Dolls The Dresden Dolls is an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 2000, the group consists of Amanda Palmer (lead vocals and piano; additional: keyboards, harmonica, ukulele) and Brian Viglione (drums and backing vocals; add ...

duo, taken from the self-titled debut album ''

''. It was produced by

Martin Bisi Martin Bisi (born 1961) is an American producer and songwriter. He is known for recording records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, The Dresden Dolls, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Angels of L ...

and released on December 13, 2004, by

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is a Dutch–American record label focused on Heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock music. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. Formerly seen as ...

. "Coin-Operated Boy" was written by

Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a memb ...

. The song makes heavy use of

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of Articulation (music), musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and ...

, and includes instruments such as a

toy piano The toy piano, also known as the ( in German), is a small piano-like musical instrument. Most modern toy pianos use round metal rods, as opposed to strings in a regular piano, to produce sound. The U.S. Library of Congress recognizes the toy pia ...

Interpretation

Palmer expounds on the many advantages of an artificial and subhuman partner over real ones in a tick-tock rhythm reminiscent of

automata An automaton (; : automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers i ...

clockwork Clockwork refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called clocks and watches (where it is also called the movement (clockwork), movement) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of gears driven by a spring or wei ...

. The song has broad overtones of lonely narcissism, and a desire for intimate loyalty and affection without personal sacrifice or vulnerability. Caroline Bologna of ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' writes that the song "suggests themes of masturbation as it explores the idea of the pleasure of love without the 'complications' of a real partner".

Legacy

Reception

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the song was ranked #12 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004.

In popular culture

It has been parodied and used in advertisements and products. The song was featured in the third episode of the

DC Studios DC Studios is an American film and television production company that is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). It is responsible for the production of live-action and animated films and television series, as well as video games, based ...

animated series ''

Creature Commandos The Creature Commandos are the name of several military special forces groups appearing in American comic book, American comic books published by DC Comics. Co-created by writer J. M. DeMatteis and artist Pat Broderick, the team first appeared i ...

'', titled "Cheers to the Tin Man".

Track listing

;German CD single #"Coin-Operated Boy" - 3:33 #"Coin-Operated Boy" (Live) - 5:44 (This is the same version as the one found on ''

A Is for Accident ''A Is for Accident'' is the debut live album by American dark cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, a collection of live and studio recordings from 2001 to 2003, which was released on May 27, 2003, by Important Records. Future pressings were handled ...

''.) #"Baby One More Time" (Live) - 3:20 It is in ''

The Dresden Dolls Companion ''The Dresden Dolls'' is the debut studio album by American dark cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls. It was recorded by Brooklyn producer Martin Bisi and released on September 26, 2003 on 8 ft. Records, the band's personal label. Upon signing wi ...

''.

Personnel

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

Brian Viglione Brian Viglione (born May 16, 1979, in Greenville, New Hampshire) is an American drummer best known for his work with The Dresden Dolls and Violent Femmes. For a short time, he was also a member of New York City's cabaret punk orchestra The World/ ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

- Memory Man * Michael Pope -

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

director

References

External links

The Dresden Dolls official site
including lyrics and downloads
Music Video Director's site
including music video {{Authority control 2004 singles The Dresden Dolls songs 2003 songs Songs written by Amanda Palmer Roadrunner Records singles