The Grammar Club – Code Monkey
July 8th, 2008
Ah, so this is how it feels to know you’ve finally made it: The Grammar Club has covered Code Monkey and put it up on thesixtyone. Their skills are such that it now sounds to me like it might be a real song or something. How did they do it!?
I agree with Spiff. Yeah, you can’t “ruin” a song by covering it in a style some people don’t like. It’s not like making a cover erases the original from all our hard drives and CD’s.
I like the cover, but then I am not nearly as rap-resistant as some folks. I like some rap, in small doses.
@ Spiff
Actually, my momma told me to
1) tell it like it is
2) stick it to the Man
3) never pay retail
Word.
Also, Grammar Club doodz, no hard feelings I hope. Some us of have a bit of a beef with current “professional” production standards, i.e. that they suck. It’s nothing personal.
Well clearly we love Code Monkey bunches as well, we just did it in our own little style which works for us. if it’s not for you though I’m sure joco isn’t going to change his style because of us lol
Luke M: You nailed it!
And Jonathan, if you get around to reading these comments, I noticed that your version of Code Monkey is mono. Was that intentional?
I guess if most people don’t notice something that obvious, there’s little hope of anybody caring about other audio production-related issues…
I prefer the cover to the original.
Booya.
Suck on that, fanboys.
Awesome.
Beefy’s got it absolutely right. I feel fortunate that JoCo liked the cover enough to mention it in this blog, and even if some people didn’t like what they heard I still appreciate that they even took time to give it a listen.
@Bill: Thank you for clarifying. I just wanted to make sure to go on record that I wish my ex-bandmates well, and I have no doubt that they will do just fine without me, and possibly better.
@SevinPackage: I’m basically focusing on being an internet geek musician that makes music in my basement, and puts it online for anyone that cares to hear it. I’ll also play the occasional live show.
@JoAnn in VA: It’s unfortunate that people have killed an entire genre for you, and my first inclination is to try to recommend some hip hop that you might like. Perhaps you might check out ‘Breakfast on the Moon’ by SumKid if you have 3:15 to kill, and you’re curious to see if a track can change your mind.
@Matt Mayfield: Thank you for the link and the insight. In the past I’ve actually watched some clips and read some articles about the loudness war, and while the concept does make sense to me, I’m not ashamed to admit that most of it is way over my head. I refer to mixing and mastering as my personal kryptonite, but hopefully I’m improving with time. Adam! tends to make mixes that sound wonderful to me, but I guess it’s all subjective anyway.
Seriously, you guys. Thanks again for all of the feedback. Positive and negative.
ROCK!
Glenn Case
Correct me if I’m wrong, but judging by how obvious the autotune is in the cover, I’m going to guess the “locking” sound was intentional, a la Cher-lite. It’s just part of the sound.
Personally, I loved how they managed to take this great song and cover it without copying it; they made it sound quite different from the original, and very unique overall, as per TGC’s style (most people who say this sounds like the stuff on the radio don’t listen to the radio much. It doesn’t. That’s a knee-jerk reaction to the dynamics and the overall “polished” feel. Refer to the “sell-out syndrome.”)
One listener who commented here was frustrated because he couldn’t identify what genre it was. It’s a very clever melding of several; that should tip you off to how unique this cover is, along with most of TGC’s material, which I’m now listening to for the first time thanks to this introduction.
Then again, I have an open mind, and it seems not many people do when it comes to music.
I liked it, anyway. But then, I’m a fan of all of the above. (That seems to be a trend in the comments.)
Matt Mayfield, what would you do with stereo on a track like Code Monkey? (Serious question–I’m not an audio guy.)
Glenn: Thanks! Great web site by the way.
Mojo: You’re probably right that it was intentional. Either way, I don’t care for that sound. High production value can exist without gratuitous Autotune and overcompression. If they offered a version with less pitch correction, and without the Sony Inflator, Waves L2, or whatever they used to suck the life out of the tune for the sake of zombie-like incessant loudness, I’d enjoy it.
Church: Basically, every other Jonathan Coulton song I’ve heard is stereo. I’m guessing that he mixed the track in stereo, but then left a mono setting on by mistake when he exported it to MP3. It’s been practically unheard of, since like 1970, to release music in mono.
I NEVER thought I’d say this, but…..um……yep, it’s better than the original. Sorry JoCo.
You are still eminently more fuckable than they’ll ever hope to be, if that’s any……oh, never mind.
I’ve been listening to it quite a bit, and I *still* like it (hey mikey), but I’m having trouble making out some of the rap part. I guess that is my usual trouble with rap.
Lyrics anywhere?
for Gina and anyone else who might be curious:
Code monkey like his home row and root beer
Code monkey like the staff, but he don’t like to work here
And he couldn’t imagine himself with reckless abandon
To ask the girly on a date yo just to see what would happen, but
He’s here to get paid, not here to feel great
So quick to make the sky fall on a programming primate
I said he should quit it, get a new job in a minute
Should make a change and he didn’t, he said shut up and forget it now
A sapien with an algorithm and the code monkey knows how to close
But look he’s looping the code!
And he feels from his head to his toes
He knows you’re on the internet showing your friends all of his videos
He’s always at work, he’s always tongue tied
Should take her on a test drive, rock it like a stage dive
But he’s all in his cube, in his cell, in his cage
And he’s feeling all down, and depressed, and enraged
Then he sees her face and everything goes numb
Little monkey always holding out for things to come
I just want to say again:
Thanks Grammar Club for doing this cover and for taking our tech-geek bitchery in such good humor. I’ve been obsessing over the loudness war recently after comparing the LP mix of the Mudcrutch album to the wide-release CD version, which just once again hammers home the “fact” (to me) that current production standards are head-up-the-ass wrong. But you clearly put thought and effort and talent into your cover and I respect that.
I propose that to settle this issue, JoCo should record a minimalist, sensitive cover of “Caress Me Down.”
That is all.
Okay, I must have been in a terrible mood (or just woke up.) when I listened to the cover. Anything I said before was due to being in a sad depressed soda mood and not the nice happy shake mood I’m usually in. The song sounds great and I didn’t know what I was saying.
If this doesn’t teach me to save judgements until later, nothing will.
Wow thats a lot of Grammer Club hate? And even going as far as questioning their use of dynamics? What are you guys a bunch of studio engineers? I think the Grammer Club has an excellent sound. It is no where near “polished” as something like Britney. It sounds good, and is loud. So what? You want your mixes to be as loud as possible, and you want to have enough room for all the seperate elements to breath. This track and all of theirs did just that.
Great job guys. It sounds great and IMHO, better than the original.
Emotionless, no spirit. Not bad otherwise, but kills it imo, sorry. :X
You want your mixes to be as loud as possible
I was a fan of The Grammar Club before I heard of Jonathan Coulton, so I knew exactly what to expect upon being informed of this cover (I found out about it through the VGMix.com forums).
I think it’s great. The auto tune is simply their style, and I find the rap section to be a good addition. If you liked this cover, you should go the http://www.thegrammarclub.com and get their free ep. It is some excellent Nerdcore.
“Code monkey like his home row and root beer”
Really, it’s home grown, right? You can say…
Thanks for the lyrics.
Wow, commenter’s are rough. I thought that it was an great remake of a great song.
On a side note, if you don’t want to have to sign up at the site linked to in the original post to get the song. You can get it as a free mp3 off of the The Grammar Club’s home page. http://thegrammarclub.com/
You know, I will say one thing that I definitely prefer from theirs.
The half-time groove in the drums during the verses. Definitely gives some punch.
Having been to shows of one of the members of the Grammar Club (the rapper, Beefy) I have to say that although this comment is a year behind, I loved their remix of your song. And yes, no remix is ever as good as the original. But I’m glad they got mentioned. They deserve it.
I wish I knew who The Grammar Club were when I saw this entry last year. I’ve been listening to them a lot lately (as well as Shael Riley’s other stuff) and I love what I’ve been hearing.
And this cover is great.
Hey, a lovely year old post to comment on.
I’ve been a fan of nerdcore/chiptune/VGM for a while, and was recently pointed onto Shael Riley’s Toybox album, moving onto TGC and Double Ice Backfire. Lovely stuff, and an excellent version of Codemonkey, if not everybody’s cup of tea.
It’s certainly mine.