Jonathan Coulton Knows How To Coax A Laugh … And Break A Heart

Jonathan Coulton On Stage at Celebrate Brooklyn! /photo by Howard B. Leibowitz

Multifaceted singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton grew up listening to the music of his parents (“a lot of Beatles and Billy Joel … Steely Dan and Pink Floyd’) and tells Brooklyn Roads that he was “definitely into songwriting, the mechanics of songs and how they worked.” He found himself asking, “‘But what’s this song about?’ And when I first started playing piano and later guitar, I really enjoyed the process of figuring out how to play other people’s songs. So when I write, I often have a feeling like, this is how the song goes, which can be a hindrance when I’m trying to do something new and different.” On the plus side, he adds, “I think that’s where I get my sense for melody and vocal arrangements, and I think those are the things that tend to grab people.”

Coulton describes his music as “all over the map. I’m mostly known for funny songs about nerdy subjects, but I write plenty of serious stuff,” he tells us. “I suppose there’s a folk/Americana influence, because my best instrument is the acoustic guitar. There’s sometimes a ’70s soft-rock vibe, sometimes a little power pop in there [or] a touch of post-Beatles whoosywhatsits. Mostly I try to write songs that have a strong structure and a singable melody that tell a story in an interesting way.”

The Brooklyn Scene and NPR

While Coulton doesn’t think of himself as strictly a “Brooklyn-y” artist, he acknowledges that, “When I was first starting out … I definitely found myself in a ‘scene’ of people doing different creative things. And there was something essential about seeing my friends and cohorts out there expressing themselves and putting themselves out there and making people laugh and feel. You see a little bit of that and it makes you think, ‘Huh, I could maybe do that too.’”

Regarding his role of “house musician” for NPR’s Ask Me Another he says, “As jobs go, you could do a lot worse than standing on stage cracking jokes and playing guitar. I went to college with Puzzle Guru Art Chung, one of the original creators. At some point he was in a meeting about ideas for how to make a trivia show for NPR, and someone said, ‘We need a Jonathan Coulton type.’ I fit that description pretty well, it turns out.”

Collaborations and Influences

Aimee Mann and Jonathan Coulton / photo by Ray Fontaine

Coulton met two of his favorite collaborators, John Flansburgh and Aimee Mann, through mutual friends. He opened for They Might Be Giants a few times, and then Flansburgh offered to produce Coulton’s next record. “I jumped at the chance and we made Artificial Heart. It was a real thrill, because they were absolute heroes of mine ever since Flood. TMBG was where I learned that you could write a song that was weird and funny and kind of ridiculous, but also heartbreakingly sad.”

Speaking of heartbreakingly sad, he tells us he has always really loved Aimee Mann as a songwriter. “When she and Ted Leo released The Both record, I invited them to perform on the [annual] JoCo Cruise, which I’ve been running with my friends and fellow performers Paul and Storm for a few years. I was surprised they said yes. Then I joined them on a tour of Christmas shows, and it sort of went from there. I wrote a couple of songs with Aimee for her last record, Mental Illness, and she sang with me on a bunch of songs for my most recent album, Solid State.”

He cites “Judge” John Hodgman as “a big inspiration to me in the early days in New York. We were friends all through college, and I met my wife Christine through him. I toured and played with him on his book tours, and that was one of the earliest ways I started to get a little tiny taste of people knowing and enjoying my work. We’re still pals.”

Kudos for The Bell House

Coulton tells Brooklyn Roads that The Bell House may be his favorite Brooklyn venue in which to perform. “I spend so much time there, it feels like a second home,” he says. “The staff is great, and I still get a secret thrill every time I show up there and they say ‘Hi’ to me and remember me. It feels like being in with the cool kids.”

Jonathan Coulton / photo by Pieter M. Van Hattem -courtesy of Jonathan Coulton

Although Coulton is most well-known for his funny songs, “I’d love for some super-serious artist to come across one of my non-goofy ones and really rip it up,” he tells us. “I’ve got some tearjerkers in there for sure, so this is an open invitation to all the tragic songstresses and all the cute sensitive boy singers to browse my catalog, find a winner, and let’s start making millions of dollars by making people have feelings.”