Thing a Week 29 – Code Monkey

Speaking as a code monkey soon to be sacrificed to the god of cost reduction, let me just say, "Eep! Eep!"

I think we have a winner... Although, um, the Thing a Week feed seems to have given me a different song. Seems to be a repeat of "When You Go" -- same length, even.

Okay...I am amazed at what you come up with every week. Consistently strong stuff. This was a particularly good one.

As a fellow songwriter, I would love to hear a bit about your process if you ever felt up to sharing.

Thanks for the good music.

Every week I think I could not love you more.

Every week you prove me wrong.

xoxoxo, jadelennox, former code monkey

I really like this song. It makes me regret taking a code monkey job a little less. Or perhaps more.

I LOVE monkeys and this song rocks!

opps i meant to say I LOVE monkeys and this song is better than monkeys

I swear to God, I have no idea how you not only write a great song each week, but have such fantastic production values. Seriously dude, I'm hitting the tip jar again after Code Monkey. 5 stars, baby. Outta the park.

Wow. Yet again, wow.

A) You need to get out of my head (again). This sounds just like my first job after college, especially the bit with the receptionist.

2) I don't care if you used too many monkeys, I love this song. ;-)

Since Jonathan is gone for the week, I thought you guys would enjoy seeing the artwork I created for this weeks TAW. Visual TAW indeed:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jawboneradio/128658130/

I might do another after listening to this song again.

Len, great picture. I noticed that your previous one was released under a creative commons license, but this one was not. Are you planning on continuing to use CC for these pictures?

Jon, this was without a doubt the *BEST* description of the geek experience that I've ever heard.

The silent defiance of authority figures, the wishes for a simpler life, the social awkwardness and the comfort foods.

I can't remember the number of times I've thought "maybe you should just write the goddamn thing yourself!" or it's equivalent.

I love the song...but I've never met a programmer who drank TAB.

I love it when you rock! Although, your ballads are excellent too. However, I think this song is worth two Things-A-Week, and you shouldn't have to refund any money. Nevermind that I'm a cheap SOB who hasn't given you a dime, I just stop by once or twice a week for updates. Someday I think I'll purchase your albums for real. Thanks for the rock goodness.

Nthyear, I went ahead and changed the license. By default, the license is all rights reserved. So I went and did a CC on it. Enjoy!

Wow. It's just too funny how your musice seems to fall along my life right now. The curling (Im not only a fan, but I actually curl), and now code monkey. My first programming gig was as a VB/SQL programmer. Now Im an analyst. I've pointed some of my programmer friends to this one, after pointing the Columbus Curling Club members to "Curl" last week.

Every week I love you more and more - really. I do. :-)
Ad Astra

Maybe I used too many monkeys ... Isn't it enough to know that I wrecked a budget making an application for you?

Sparky say: I love the song…but I’ve never met a programmer who drank TAB.

Maybe code monkey like tab indenting.

Tremendous song. I am a code monkey myself - bought the tee shirt in fact.

Code Monkey need love too.

I dig it. I'm digging on it. I am digging at a constant rate, and will eventually reach China or Rocktopia.

Rick Springfield meets Pat Benetar meets Jonathan Coulton on the music, there. Yes, very Coultonesque, in fact. Oh! What's that!? I just made an adjective out of your name! How about this: You Coultoned the heck out that song. OH! Now it's a verb!

New T-Shirt: Make a picture of a Monkey behind a desk. Beneath the picture, write, "Code Monkey very simple man with big warm fuzzy secret heart" or some other phrase from the song that works. Listen, I can't do all your work for you. Jesus, JoCo, you don't even have a job. Put in a little effort!

Enjoy the Vaca,
Eric

P.S. pronounced with a hard A, like in vacAtion, not a soft a, like the Spanish word for cow.

QUOTH ERIC: P.S. pronounced with a hard A, like in vacAtion, not a soft a, like the Spanish word for cow.

Hey, you don't know -- he could be, at this very moment, enjoying a Spanish cow. Er, as a nice steak or something...not in the Biblical sense.

code monkey like song!

Where are the lyrics for this song?!

Also: this is now one of my favourites. I have never been a code monkey in the true sense, but this song really puts me into the shoes of a code monkey.

Most most excellent. Alas, all to real for me in my current position (although without the receptionist bit, double alas).

Actually, Sparky, I'm a programmer (and a former coworker of JC's) and I drink TAB by the case. He can vouch for that.

Aha...I see, Bryan -- *you're* the one:

Switch (programmer)
{
case YOU: return TAB;
default: return MOUNTAIN_DEW | DR_PEPPER | JOLT;
}

Is this the Code Monkey?

I just did a new Code Monkey drawing. I wasn't happy with the way the first Code Monkey came out, so here is the new one in all it's glory:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jawboneradio/131389348/in/set-72057594103636347/

Because I thought the people at digg would like it, I dugg this post. Digg it here: http://www.digg.com/music/Jonathan_Coulton_s_Code_Monkey_song

case GLENN: return COCA_COLA;

This is my new anthem!

Finally something to get re your brains out of my head.

Lyrics (Jonathan I hope you don't mind.. I had to get this on paper to share with a friend - Code Monkeys here not allowed download mp3s at work...)

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
with big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot

Code Monkey have every reason
to get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
to see your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job fulfilling in creative way
such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
with big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you

Rest of lyrics, insert these before last post.

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
have boring meeting with boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very diligent
but his output stink
his code not functional or elegant
what do Code Monkey think
Code Monkey think maybe manager oughta write goddamn login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy just proud

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
with big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you

Code Monkey hang around at front desk
tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
bring you cup bring you ice
you say no thank you for the soda 'cause
soda make you fat
anyway you busy with the telephone
no time for chat

Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle
he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great

Wow. Sir, are you stalking me and taking notes on my life? Other than the programmer bit, I mean. But other than that - good God man, get out of my head! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

Sorry. Didn't mean to shout. But seriously - research monkey want Coulton out of head. Research monkey not like Weekly Troubador in head. This is research monkey's head, not Jonathan Coulton's head.

I think that has a few too many words. I believe it's more like this:

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code monkey have boring meeting, boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very diligent
But his output stink
His code not functional or elegant
What do Code Monkey think
Code Monkey think maybe manager wanna write goddamn login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy just proud
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
Big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda ’cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle
He sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
Big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you lots
Code Monkey have every reason
To get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
See your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job fulfilling in creative way
Such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow
Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
with big warm fuzzy secret heart
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you

First time here, had to buy the song, been on repeat pretty much all afternoon. Hysterical and totally apropos.

Another magnificent song. Ex-code-monkey like. Toast you with banana daiquiri.

slashdot!

Very funny Jonathan. I hope you enjoy your one-week holiday.

"Codemonkey..." Pretty cool song, best line, "Maybe manager would like to write goddam login page himself" (or whatever it was...) and how it fits in rhythmically and rhyming with the rest... awesome.

Perhaps you'd consider releasing the individual tracks in a CC license. So that maybe the guys at, e.g. http://www.myvirtualband.com could make some variations, and have a little fun?

Couldn't hurt... well, not much, anyway.

Please consider it.

Thanks,

(Grateful in any case that the mix is released under a CC license.)

-- steve

As a Code Monkey I must say I am a simple man who enjoys Fritos and TAB. DAMN manager Rob.

I'm sure you already know by now, but you got slashdotted man.

http://slashdot.org/articles/06/04/23/159227.shtml

Love the music, I'm glad I checked out slashdot today.

hey welcome to digg/slashdot/wikipedia survivors league
http://digg.com/music/Jonathan_Coulton_s_Code_Monkey_song
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/23/159227&from=rss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_monkey (bottom of page)

Holy Slashdot, JC! Can't wait to see your traffic logs for the past day or so =)

Hey Jonathan! I Love the song.. great work man.

Ah, Jonathan, this code monkey (er, um, fka, anyway...) wants to thank you from the bottom of his warm fuzzy. You made my day. Was a VB/SQL guy too. All I can say is manager Rob be damned; I knew him well. I don't drink tab, but my mom did. God Bless Slashdot. And you to Mr. Coulton...

Fantastic song!

My wife who knows me all too well found this song cute, funny and all too real!

Great work!

Heh, said it once, will say it again, opposite sex get in the way of code, to hell with them.

Great song btw, the tune sounds familiar.

ico2 :)

yeh nice song :)
if i have some free money i would buy your song :)

I like Weezer so I like this song...

Haha, man, this is awesome. If only there were more people writing songs about the IT world. Thanks for the song :)

That was simply awesome. The lyrics are really nice and i'm sure many coders out there, me included, can relate to it very personally. The tune is really catchy too. It's stuck in my head now!

Outstanding! I'm forwarding the link to all of my favorite code monkeys (or code fairies as they're sometimes called)

In the words of Homer Simpson, "It's funny 'cause it's true".
Bravo.

-jb

Now that is the way a pop tune should sound!

Bravo, sir! BRAVO!!!

Umm... this Code Monkey is sad to have his name associated with boring manager. But otherwise LOVES the song!

Hope you enjoyed the vacation. We sort of missed you, but we got by.

Umm... this Code Monkey is sad to have his name associated with boring manager. But otherwise LOVES the song!

Hope you enjoyed the vacation. We sort of missed you, but we got by.

I love John's music. I'd go to see him play somewhere.... I'd even travel to SkullCrusher Mountain.

See, you go on a TINY little vacation, and suddenly you get slashdotted (and apparently dugg(?)).

Eeks! It's been pirated EVERYWHERE! Even Pirate Bay has a torrent of YOUR song. Some people aren't even credited it. Examples:

http://thomastuttle.mooo.com:8080/~tom/Code%20Monkey.mp3
http://data.coolnicks.co.uk/Code%20Monkey.mp3
http://static.thepiratebay.org/hashtorrent/3474917.torrent/Code_Monkey.mp3.3474917.TPB.torrent

Somebody want to get on that, or is the theory that because it's free, people can copy it if they want? I hope not. They aren't even crediting you, sometimes! You're worth more than that, JC!

I was listening to this song on my iPod on a bus on the way to NYC, so I started singing (so I thought) quietly to myself. But then I pulled out a bag of Fritos, and the ten-year-old sitting next to me exclaimed, "CODE MONKEY like Fritos! What else do code monkey like? Mountain Dew!" And it was laugh-worthy.

I hadn't heard of this before a friend started playing it in the campus center to the CS majors, because it was put on slashdot, but once I heard it I must say, this is amazing.

suscribed to the podcast and downloaded all the previous ones too, very talented songwriter, and this one's geekiness is just amazing.

That is the best song I have heard in a long time. In fact it is my new theme song - replacing "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails. Really identify with it.

Jonathan,

Your song is the new anthem of our little gang of programmers at KSU, as well as my new personal anthem (as both a student, and professional programmer).

This CodeMonkey get up get coffee, CodeMonkey listen to song, then go to job. =P

Keep up the grat work, you are awesome, and have most perfectly described the day-to-day plight of our "people".

Thanks

Yay!

Awesome work! Thank you for a fun song to code to!

Hey Jason:

Since you're so close to Cleveland, why not demand JC to come and play here?

http://eventful.com/demand/D0-001-000000342-2

It's the least a code monkey from Kent can do.

Found this through Slashdot and had it running through my head all day. Rare combination of clever (and *very* insightful) lyrics and good music. Way to go!

Awesome song! I'm not a code monkey (it's worse - I'm a documentation monkey) but a lot of the people I know and love are. Thanks for a bit of humor to ease the stress of an impending release date.

Btw, someone mentioned the possibility of t-shirts. Where can they be found?

What we really need is a black metal song about programmers, THAT WOULD BE AMAZING.
Still, great song considering the limitations of your chosen genre :p
Highly funny song :)

ico2 :)

Well I've recently moved from loveable Code Monkey to stupid Manager Rob, but I still love the song. Nice work!

Pretty cool ~ I love the song !

I'm a programmer and I play World of Warcraft. I have a level 60 rogue on the Firetree server named Codemonkey that I have been playing for about 10 months now. Someone on the server showed me a link to your song which we traced back to you. Good job on the funny song.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?ForumName=wow-realm-firetree&ThreadID=213730

Wow... this page is now the #5 google search result for "code monkey"

Anyone else think this would make a great intro song to "The IT Crowd" if it ever got remade in the U.S.?

Have you considered making yourself streamable on Last.fm, BTW?

Bravo! Very, very cool song.

I say Jon needs to be on Attack of the Show for this one.

Your song is now the favorite of every programmer I know.

awesome!

OK, I know you have gotten TONS of praise for this, and I need to share in that. But I also want to know if this is "podsafe" meaning, is it cool to play this in my podcast if I point people to your site? I think my podcast listeners are perfectly suited for this song and I really want to play this at the end of my next show. Please let us know what the rules are...

Thanks, from a new fan

Fantastic! I usually listen to classical music, but I know good music of all types when I hear it. After hearing it on the MacCast podcast, I had to get a copy. Enjoyed it so much, I downloaded your album from iTunes. Great sound. I will check back often.

LOL - I love this song!

You rock!

Linked to this because a) I love this song and b) I'm married to one. Too cute! Thank you.

Just wanted to say I appreciated this song!

Wow... that is fantastic! As the leader of the ninjacodermonkey militia... and organization that neither exists nor matters... I must say I am impressed. KUDOS!

-ninjacodermonkey@gmail.com

Awesome song. Here's a wild guess at the guitar tab for it. Did I get close? :)
http://www.archive.org/details/CodeMonkey

Neil

Guess what!

There's a parody of Code Monkey.

It is known as Autie Boy and is written by Susan Senator.

Did you ever think of getting the Code Monkey lyrics - or a favourite part of the lyrics - on a T-shirt?

CC-licensed of course!

Goddamn, this song rocks! Johnathan might be a bit surprised by the hubbub when he gets back, hehe... Major kudos to him; been on a loop all afternoon since I first heard it and spreading the word!

You rule. The end. Keep up the good work. Don't spend my dollar in one place.

Superb song !

Still a code monkey in training though ..
But can't wait to get yelled at by a manager called Rob !

The supply of gerbils can always be increased.

http://www.coloniapress.com/Habitrails.html

Just heard this on Adam Curry's Dailly Source code #376

Spookily I was in the middle of writting some Java (University assignment).

First time I been here, but it ain't going t be the last.

Great song, Great music, Great lyrics.

Quick question whats the differance between the MP3 link or buying the song?

Really well done. Kudos.

Awesome! Played it for all of the monkeys at the office, they loved it too.

>I don’t know how easily I’ll be able to access the internets

Internets? All of them?

>> I don’t know how easily I’ll be able to access the internets

> Internets? All of them?

The Jonathan he is channeling The Manolo.

Just picked this up via the Daily Source Code.

Brilliant!

this song rocks

http://metroidclassic.com

This song is amazing! I just spent the entire day listening to Jon's songs online and bought the whole Smoking Monkey album! :) Keep it up dude!

I just got back from a 10 day vacation in Flordia and the Bahamas/Bermuda. Reality is really hard to stomach after relaxing like that. Ahh well, another day, another dollar. Another year, another cruise. :)

It wouldn't be so funny if it wasn't true. I feel like this could be an anthem! Go Code Monkeys Go!

This code monkey like coffee not mountain dew

About the Tab thing...

It works, but might be a little dated. As a recent forced convert to non-sugared sodas (diabetes), I note that _diet_ Mt. Dew (my favorite drink)works as well as "Tab and" Mt. Dew. In fact, I think I'll just sing THAT in my head from now on since the rest of the song works so well.

(sigh)

Excellent song.
Yes, I am a code monkey, and work with a bunch of other code monkeys - it's a jungle out there...
You should have heard the howls of laughter when I played this song at work.
Keep on playing!

Wow. For this over-40-year-old code monkey (who's married and drinks diet coke now), that song takes me right back to my younger, prouder, coding days when I dreamed longingly of every sweet girl I couldn't quite get up the nerve to ask out. Well worth the download!

This is such a cool song. Thanks for sharing it with us :)

Dude....wtf like who listens to this crap...no offense man, i like more rap but get off the crack and get laid

As everyone else has said: "Codemonkey like song. A lot." My only quibble is that the crush-on-the-receptionist thing is so strong a stereotype that it's distracting. I wish you'd left her job less clearly implied, leaving room for her to be receptionist OR tech writer OR phone support OR... heck, maybe even another code monkey.

(Rhetorical digression: We're not supposed to date our co-workers, to avoid complications in the office. We're not supposed to date our competetors, for business security reasons. Or our customers/suppliers, to avoid conflict-of-interest. So who else does the typical shy technogeek with "big warm fuzzy secret heart" ever meet and have courage enough to talk to? No wonder we're having trouble with our long-term supply of codemonkeys and similar beasts; they're hard to breed in captivity.)

i find that i was in need for a song like this. even if i didnt notice until now x3 this code monkey is definetly loving jonathan.

Heya,
I luv the song!!!! My big brother the geek introduced me to it!!

This song is amazing. I can relate to it completely. I've slaved away for 4 years at uni last year to get my degree in Software Engineering and now this is me....

...a code monkey who is fed up and bored with an uninspired and uninteresting job, with no girlfriend, feeling very lonely.

I wish I'd joined the Army.

Thanks for this Jon, makes me feel like other people understand who I am.

SoftwareEngineer: stick with it, you just lack perspective. As a code monkey that already went that route, I can tell you the two occupations are almost mutually exclusive in their membership for a reason: they are entirely incompatible.

This song is anthemic. Love to see a similarly themed album!

Is there a better audio qulity version available (ogg, flac, wav, etc)?

By the way great song.

As a code monkey, this song speaks to me, and partially reflects my webcomic http://esh.comicgenesis.com ... this is a fantastic piece of music.

Thank you for this song. It is amazing! We're gonna have a lot of laughs when I introduce this in the office.
Code Monkey just like you!

A guildie shared a clip of a WoW movie of Creepy Doll (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTSkWnKs9rM). He also mentioned Code Monkey. I found you site. I like.

I code monkey too. I share with all code monkey friends everywhere.

/sipsmtdew

What about girl code monkeys?

Girl Code Monkey

As a former code monkey (and someone who is still one deep inside), I

Now I'm going to have this in my head for the rest of the evening...

"Code monkey like you"

Codemonkey like you.... wish that was how MY crush though of me

Love the song. Totally rocks. Do you do live shows anywhere ?? :)

Me and all of my code monkey friends love the song!

i love code monkey, i must make the flash video for it if there isn't one.

HEY CODY IT'S EDDIE.EDDIE FROM YOUR CLASS MRS.HUSBAND HI.

yes, code monkey here. I LOVE THIS SONG!!!

You may have noticed a distinct lack of posts here lately. While sometimes that is due to me just plain not posting anything, this time it wasn't because of that.

Sometime just around two weeks ago, the comments table of the MT database because "in use" so that nothing could actually use it. Basically, any time that MT would try to access the table, it would get a nice error stating that it couldn't get to it. If I tried to post, any of the comment related tags would give an error as well, which didn't allow the post to be published to the site. Disabling comments on that post didn't help, either.

I didn't think of it until this morning, but globally disabling comments for all blogs on milbertus.com "fixed" the problem. We can post again, just not receive any comments on those posts. This is better than nothing, in my opinion.

Cool tune. I actually first heard about it on NPR Sunday morning. In truth, I prefer the acoustic guitar version that you played over the radio; but this version sounds good too. Keep up the great work! BTW, I'm not a programmer, but I can relate because college professors have a similar work environment--you'll just have to take my word on it.

has any one got this song creepy doll by jonathan coulton that they could send me for free

Hi - I just wanted to add that I too first heard your work yesterday on NPR, but it certainly won't be the last time. I'll be ordering your CDs (a little old fashioned, but oh well) when they're back in stock. Loved the song, and I can certainly identify- never wrote code professionally, but I've done my share of cubicle work. Thanks for the 3+ minutes of smile you put on my face.

Yeah, Um, I'm going to need you to go ahead and write more programmer songs. So, if you could just do that, that would be great. Oh, and I'm going to need you to go ahead and come on in on Saturday.

And be sure to use the new coversheets on all your new songs. You see, we're using the new coversheets on all new songs now. Did you get the memo?

Code Monkey need more code music...thanks Jonathan and thanks NPR

Great song! Saw it on a MSN video.... with WOW monkeys ;)

very catchy and all the best!

Awesome - you even got the name of the manager right !!

I have just finished another day in the troupe and I have knuckled back to the lair now, but your song got me through the day

press monkey think maybe editor wanna lay out *(&^%$# page himself....
hear jonathan coulton in head
press monkey start laughing instead....

press monkey say thank you
press monkey say code monkey sing real good
press monkey gonna spend a buck
if press monkey ever got a buck
on code monkey like you:)

This song is brilliant....saved my sanity and got me the girl!

Cheers Jonathon

Code Mikey

Why am I just now hearing about this song. No offense, the riff is played out, but the lyrics fuquin kick ass! I keep picturing my own video over and over in my mind.

Awesome...

Heard the song on Net@nite with Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur on the Twit.tv podcast network. Love it!

Heard it on net at nite and thought it was a great song. You should put it on the podsafe music network, you would get some great exposure.

Aw! Dawn big, warm, fuzzy, secret heart Code Monkey.

lol i love that song.

I have blogged about this post - A tribute to the corporate software developer

I just heard this for the first time today. Very nice, actually very touching. I'm a VB code monkey, too. Thanks a bunch of bananas.

I'm going to purchase the code monkey coffee mug and t-shirt.

Very nice song, just bought it.

I'm going to get the T-Shirt soon as well.

I'm jealous about the sunny place part of your article. And I feel completely unaffectionate with the term "code moneky" right now. I'm a code moneky behind bars today.. =P

FunkeyMonkey like you A LOT.

awww its so :( cuz code monkey so good but code monkey so sad!

I love this song! I've been listening to it on infinite repeat for 3 days now!

Ditto that. Feeling the code monkey love.

Your not him bitch

wtf man i am him

Great song man. You need to do more software developer songs. :) Not many songs out there that capture the day in and day out of us programmers.

Freaking great song. Also the video on Youtube was great as well.

Thanks.

The article in the NYT magazine led me to look up your blog and this song. IT ROCKS!!!! I've quitted my job as a code monkey 10 days ago and have been feeling liberated and at the same time very lost not having Rob hovering over me. Your song makes me want to finally get on with my life. Your one-song-a-week goal is very inspiring as well. THANKS!!

So, I just heard this song. And the chorus kinda sounds like Guster's Amsterdam. Do you listen to much Guster? Anyone else notice the similarity?

Kudos. I like the song. :)

i want the url code for code monkey

I just started watching the show on G4 and had to find out where this song came from. I'm a code monkey and this song is so frickin' cool.

does anyone know the tab for this song? it sounds like a fun song to do for a talent show, kareoke, ect

this is a great song i just found it out (frend told me i live in au) ill be loocking for other songs but id like to let u know THIS SONG KICKS BUT, yeah thats all realy, good luck. U ROCK!

Hi!
me a code monkey too
thx for song
how you know about big warm fuzzy secret heart?!
me tell no one

Tab for this song? Play it by ear guitar monkey :P

Ah, ok. I like this song (me code monkey too), so I dusted off and tuned my guitar and tabbed it out for you 'that one guy'

Goes a little something like this:

code monkey get up...
-7(muted)
-----

rob say...
-9-------
-7--9--7-
----7--5-

-9---------6\4--
-7--9--7---4\2--
----7--5--------

maybe manager.. saying....crazy...
-------6-9-----|-----------------
-7--9--4-7-9---|-7---------9-----
-5--7------7---|-5---------7-----

..fritos..simple
----------2-2h4--4--4h6--
-9-9--6-4-2------4-------
-7-6--4-2-0--------------
-------------------------

etc..

Should be enough to get you started.

copy and past into a your favourite editor for monospaced font for correct alignment oc numbers.

Mr C.

hmmm, replace the long dashes -- with two single dashes -

Watch Code Monkey on g4, this song is the theme song, and the theme song rocks!

As a code-monkey who just got his first job...this has automatically become my anthem. I was refered here by a friend to get the song, and I've already played it way too gawddamn much.

I would like to get Code Monkey the shirt, Code Monkey the Spitoon, Code Monkey the Breakfast Meat, and Code Monkey the Flamethrower.

booby this music is for people that work in jobs like tech and all so if u dont like it dont post stuff in here

we have a winner.

while(1) {
you.monkey.code();
}
return; //never happens

guys, the song is about a code monkey, its hard not to like it

and btw the show on g4 is called "Code Monkeys", and yes it is awesome

oh, btw hi mom!!!!!!!

This cracka can write songs!

code monkey song gives me warm fuzzies all over for 3 reasons

1) i love monkeys

2) i wana be a code monkey after school

3) i really really love monkeys and im built like king kong ^_^ ¤_¤ §_§

alt code

¤ is 0164
§ is 0167

enjoy

Fountains of Wayne are on Line One...

please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Code Monkey rocks, it approaches OFFICE SPACE as a summation of my LIFE !
& love the series, hope Jonathon made some $$ !
..I bought an Atari console when they were NEW hahaaha

is jonathan canadian

is jonathan canadian like ya

no what he is from new york o well =)

cool song, i also love brains

code monkeys is the best show cause no ever thought that a game would be a show.keep rockin code monkeys!!!!!!!!!!!!!

code monkeys is the awesomest show ever they make the best problems ever. i think code monkey

I need Code Monkey Chords, oh and by the way i LOVE the song ive memorized all the lyrics.

Between this and portal... I think I'm going to listen to more of your work, Mr. Coulton.

Furthermore, I wish Code Monkey were a song you could rock out in on Rock Band. Harmonix really loves indie artists, and you already had "HUGE SUCCESS" with the last song of yours that was in a video game. Could this be possible?

Thanks JC. You've started a revolution among the Code Monkeys, so they can overthrow their own Manager Robs. You've made life a lot more bearable in the Office.

Almost two years after the post, I have a question: I noticed that your guitar riff is quite similar to that in the old MTV theme song (a la “MTV ID - Moon Landing”[*]). Was this intentional or just a coincidence (or is the similarity all in my head)?

[*] http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8364371213479442185

No, it wasn't meant to be a reference. But the riff is actually quite similar to a few different songs, not the most original thing in the world to be sure...

Ah. Thanks for clearing that up. :)

Wow. This is my first exposure to JC and I am instantly charmed.

what the flibib is a monkey

Heard Jonathon being interviewed on a podcast for the BBC at the SXSW festival. As soon as I heard Code Monkey I fell in love.

Will now spend weeks/months listening to Code Monkey while exploring Jonathon's blog and other works.

Dear JC, I'm just listening to Code Monkey at work and writing it out for a friend (long story) and one chord in the bridge is throwing me. Is that a Cdim7 or a G#7 under "login page"?

Just heard this on the latest Linux Outlaws - awesome song! It's gonna get scrobbled real soon now when I listen to it in Rhythmbox

sorry but theres this one song called code monkey!{code monkey get up get cofee code money go to job! Code mnkey go to boring meeting with boring maneger bob!}

Hey there! I just got to your site through the tv series code monkeys. I just wanted to say i love your song, it's sooo awesome!

After spending a couple of hours tracking down "Code Monkey" stuff, I hereby declare that many many people have wayyyy too much time on their hands...enjoy!

Saw JC on a IFC interview a couple of months ago for some geek convention they were covering. Really kewl to see The Man on TV. You know you've made it. Now if we could just find him a barber....

Hi!

Love your music!! I love this song, is it available as cell ringer? It would be perfect for my fiance's ringer.

Thanks for all the music, I hope you can come to the Kansas City area and play soon.

~Chrys~

Oh geez. I listened to this for a while. It describes me. Like, PERFECTLY. Which scares me. And it makes me wonder. Jonathan, you wouldn't happen to be Physic, would you?

Anyway, I'm gonna spit it out. Out of the "thing of the week" this is the best in my opinion. Of course, opinion is opinion.

Great song! Been playing it all afternoon after a programmer friend sent me the link.

I'm not a code monkey, but I used to be a "boring manager" with an even more boring manager to report to.
(Why don't you do the g**-damned financial reports yourself?)

And the song describes me perfectly, aside from the programming part. (and from the comments here, the song describes a thousand other guys too.)

Great rhyme, nice tune, very insightful lyrics. Maybe you can write a song for the abused middle-manager? =p

More power!

I've been singing Code Monkey in my head, but I could not understand some of the lyrics (about fritos etc) and I made them up. Here's my more culture-independent version:

Code Monkey like riddles
Code Monkey like paper aeroplanes
Code Monkey very simple man
...

Cheers from Istanbul, Turkey...

Baris

WOW a lotta people post stuff here!

...... i meant to put a m there....

So good, this is my life in a song

I really identify with this song, but unfortunately only with the character Rob.

Mine is lucky. He got me before he was Code Monkey, and still has me now he's Software Architect/DB god. Poor love can't have Mt Dew any more because of medication conflict. The Tab is for me, and I know it won't make me fat (has no sugar).

I only code monkeyed a few months myself, then got downsized and off-shored. Sigh.

So, love your song, love the Dark Heaven AMV version, love my sweet code monkey.

Very nice. Great song. Great concept. Great marketing strategy (give away for free). The future of music belongs to the masses. I wish you continued success, and look forward to hearing more!

That's great!!! I'm in planning and we are Planning Chimps! :)

This song about ME!
ha-ha
)

This song is amazing. A friend of mine pulled out his iTouch while I was coding the robot for our FTC team, and started playing this song. It's become my theme song; they insist on playing it whenever I'm writing code. One of them came back with some food, and said, "Don't let the code monkey eat his hamburger until the robot moves!"

Awesome song!

I really think there's only one way to end this song: by shouting "I LOVE YOU WHORES!"

Hi code monkey, your song is AWESOME!! Really loved it, keep up the good work :)

The term "Codemonkey" is not about passionless programming

It implies that the coder exists to code, as a performing monkey exists to dance.

It's mildly self-deprecating but more of a badge of honor.

Being a codemonkey most definetely does not imply that you write bad code. If you're any kind of programmer you are a codemonkey. Live it and love it.

I come from a group of geeks who generally don't even try to date non-geeks, so something about the "hang around at front desk" verse made me twitch a bit (and apparently some of the other people in the crowd too). So the inside of my head started writing a patch for that verse. This patch may be applied, with no strings attached, by anyone who does anything with the song, if they choose to use it. A large part of the original verse is preserved (particularly: rhyme intact, scansion intact).

Code Monkey hang around in back room, tell you server look nice.
Code Monkey offer buy you soda, bring you cup bring you ice.
You say no thank you for the soda, soda spill on that;
Anyway you busy with the network card, no time for chat.

Am kind of a Coding Monkey as well... Nice one ;) Thanks for this.

If you'd add a flattr button I guess monkeys 'd klick!

We are all code monkey till not managers.