I first heard Jonathan Coulton’s song “Code Monkey” about ten years ago. It’s a song about a lovelorn computer programmer who is pining over an office receptionist.
After offering a soda to the receptionist and being told that she is too busy to chat, Code Monkey slinks back to his cubicle, “not feeling so great.”
The final set of lyrics before the chorus go like this:
Code Monkey think someday he have everything
Even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow
Tragic. Right. Code Money is waiting for “someday, somehow.”
How many people in this world spend their whole lives waiting for “someday, somehow?”
Ever since I first heard this song, my heart has ached for Code Monkey. Coulton’s song has trapped him in this moment of yearning, dreaming, and loss.
Does Code Monkey ever escape the mindless drudgery of his job? The disregard of his superiors? Does he find the creativity that he desires to badly? Does he ever get his pretty girl?
It’s stupid and ridiculous and a little embarrassing, but my heart breaks every time I hear this song, not for the Code Monkey of the song but for the Code Monkey beyond the song. The future Code Monkey.
Does he make his dreams come true? I want to know. I need to know. “Someday, somehow” are words that haunt me.
Here’s the truth:
I don’t think he does. I don’t think Code Monkey gets everything. So few people do.
And it breaks my heart. Every single time.
Crazy. I know.
