Jocko Homo
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| “Jocko Homo” | |||||
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1977 Booji Boy release of "Mongoloid/Jocko Homo"
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| Single by Devo from the album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! |
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| A-side | "Mongoloid" | ||||
| Released | 1978 | ||||
| Recorded | 1977 | ||||
| Genre | New Wave | ||||
| Length | 3:41 | ||||
| Label | Booji Boy | ||||
| Writer(s) | Gerald Casale, Mark Mothersbaugh | ||||
| Producer | Brian Eno, Chuck Statler |
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| Devo singles chronology | |||||
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"Jocko Homo" is the B-side to Devo's first single, "Mongoloid." Based on a chant from the novel The Island of Dr. Moreau, "Jocko Homo" is considered to be Devo's anthemic theme song. The title is taken from an anti-evolution tract called Jocko-Homo Heavenbound by B. H. Shadduck.
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[edit] Song lyrics and themes
The song's verses primarily concerns itself with the satirical view of devolution, noting foibles in human society. Most versions include a bridge that begins with "God made man, but he used the monkey to do it." The song also contains several call and response choruses, including the repeated chant "Are we not Men? / We are Devo!". Jocko Homo, in its variations, has also contained other chants between the main verses and the closing chant. These include "We Accept You / We Reject You / One of us! One of us!" and "I've got a rhyme that comes in a riddle / O-Hi-O! / What's round on the ends and high in the middle? / O-Hi-O!"
The song usually begins in the unusual time signature of 7/8 time, but switches partway through to common 4/4 time for the call and response sections.
The original version of Jocko Homo lacks all call and response choruses except "Are we not men?", as well as the "God made man" bridge This appears on the Hardcore Devo Volume 1 compilation. The "Booji Boy" single version contains both the "O-Hi-O!" and the "God made man" bridge. The version on Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO! only includes the "God made man" bridge.
[edit] Music video
A music video for the song "Jocko Homo" was part of Devo's first short film, The Truth About De-Evolution. It begins with an interstitial scene of Booji Boy running through an Akron Parking Lot, up a fire escape, and into a building. There, he meets with General Boy, who is played by Mark Mothersbaugh's father, and hands him papers. After an announcement from General Boy, there are a series of rapid fire cuts of the letters "D-E-V-O" and then the main video begins. In it, Mark Mothersbaugh plays a professor, lecturing to a class of students in surgical masks, caps, and 3-D glasses. As the song progresses, the class begins to riot. The film was directed by Chuck Statler and appears on The Complete Truth About De-Evolution.
[edit] Live performances
When performed live, "Jocko Homo" is often the centerpiece of the show. During most tours, Devo strips off part of their stage costumes during the bridge. The first performance of "Jocko Homo" in 1975 went on for over twenty minutes. A portion of this appears on the album Devo Live: The Mongoloid Years. When asked to open for Sun Ra, as a joke they performed a half-hour rendition of the song to annoy the crowd, according to Mark Mothersbaugh in an interview in 1997: "We'd play "Jocko Homo" for 30 minutes, and we wouldn't stop until people were actually fighting with us, trying to make us stop playing the song. We'd just keep going, "Are we not men? We are Devo!" for like 25 minutes, directed at people in an aggressive enough manner that even the most peace-lovin' hippie wanted to throw fists."[1]
[edit] Other versions
On the 1988 and 1990 tours, as well as at the 1996 Park City, Utah show and the 2002 Hollywood, CA show, Devo performed a drastically re-arranged and slowed down acoustic version of "Jocko Homo" (known as the "Sad" version). On the 1990 tour, the band would finish the "Sad" version and switch into the regular performance version of the song. The "Sad" version can be heard on Now It Can Be Told: DEVO at the Palace.
An "E-Z Listening" version was recorded in a Caribbean style for playback before shows. This appears on the 1987 E-Z Listening Disc.
In 1979, novelty group Lonnie & the Devotions recorded a cover version, in a barbershop quartet style, for Rhino Records' early Devo tribute album KROQ's Devotees.[2]
Parodist Weird Al Yankovic included a portion of this song in his first polka medley titled Polkas On 45.
