GregHowley.com

I've been listening to a lot of Jonathan Coulton music recently. Having read the recent New York Times article about him got me thinking again about how great his music is, and I downloaded myself copies of some of his songs that I didn't get when I bought his two CDs. Some of his songs have great lyrics, and some are just good music. So here are ten songs of his: five that I really appreciate for the lyrics, and five that are just great music.

Great Lyrics

5- Chiron Beta Prime - A teriffic Christmas song.
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime
Where we're working in a mine for our robot overlords
Did I say overlords?
I meant protectors

4- Screwed - Some great references to Indiana Jones and Boba Fett.

3- Code Monkey - this one has special meaning to me, since I'm a programmer. Jonathan Coulton used to be one too. One of his best geek songs.

2- Future Soon - a nerdy kid dreams of the time when he'll be grown up, and will take revenge on his tormentors with his robot army.

1- Skullcrusher Mountain - hands-down Coulton's funniest. I won't spoil the lyrics, listen for yourself.

Great Music

5- Mandelbrot Set - A song about Benoit Mandelbrot, father of fractal geometry. Some explicit lyrics.

4- When You Go - Nice A Capella piece

3- Dance, Soterious Johnson, Dance - upbeat club music about a NPR DJ living in the club scene

2- Big Bad World One - Really catchy upbeat tune about a down-and-out guy.

1- I'm Your Moon Possibly my favorite JoCo song, about the recent decision to declare Pluto not-a-planet.

If Jonathan Coulton was a character on Heroes, his power would be to sing in multi-part harmony with himself.