Jonathan Coulton - Nobody Loves You Like Me (Official Video)

Jonathan Coulton performs Nobody Loves You Like Me from his new album Artificial Heart. Directed by John Flansburgh.
For more information on Jonathan Coulton, visit www.jonathancoulton.com

[@clockworkNate]

Listening to joco now feels like constantly looking at old messages from an ex, come back Jonathan!

[@andybaldman]

Where did he go?

[@clockworkNate]

@@andybaldman I don't know andybaldman, I don't know... but if you see him ..tell him we miss him and to come back home!

[@KameariKillScreen]

Hey I just got here. You telling me he's gone?

[@TestSubjectMacHoshi]

I can't confirm anything but it seems as if he took the pandemic off. Maybe he was not inspired to make music during the time? Perhaps his thoughts were elsewhere? If you follow his Twitter you can see he is still active but not so much in music production at the moment!

[@kingtonsiljockey528]

...does Valve know? JC, wherever you are, hope you are okay...I used to make music too, and the spark has dwindled, but it has not faded. I still find myself singing the songs time to time, and Code Monkey is one of my favorites! L4D and Portal are some of my favorite games too 😊 I sing those songs too

[@Astounding33]

Sheesh, I can't believe this came out almost 12 years ago. This is one of my favorite songs. Still love to listen to it

[@Thiefree]

I'd forgotten how lovely this one is. Bare bones and beautiful.

[@KameariKillScreen]

Every time I listen to this song I expect a huge orchestral hit that never comes

[@Jeff-zd5eh]

That's life

[@MikeRose421]

"Holes in the bellows, and blood on the keys." Such a hauntingly melancholic metaphor. Beautiful song that does such a great job of capturing that tortuous place into which we often put ourselves.

[@YourWeirdAunt]

Oh wow.. How am I just finding you .. Your voice is smooth and sweet like honey, and your melodies hit every single spot in my brain that needs to be touched by a song for love to take place.. Sigh ..

[@ThatDudeWithBoobs]

Found this through the reworked version for the Portal 2 Musical, how have I never heard this before...

[@FiveNightsAtFilians]

Lyrics: Here at the bar who cares what I do I'm all alone but I'm drinking for two Drowning the man that I used to be Nobody loves you like me I won't sign a thing, or else if I do I'll use a pencil and that will show you How nothing lasts, how nothing is free Nobody loves you like me I shouldn't stay, I think you'll agree It's no good for you, no better for me In the morning I'll go to a place far away Somewhere you'll never find me I catch a look, a thing that you say Out on the fire escape smoking all day Missing someone, now who could it be Nobody loves you like me Noises outside, the trucks in the street Will cover my flight, my hero's retreat I'm supposed to feel bad but I don't anymore Only when you remind me Air in my lungs, a cough and a wheeze Holes in the bellows and blood on the keys You move along, there's nothing to see Nobody loves you like me Nobody loves you like me

[@jdaltair]

Holy smokes, this is such a haunting, beautiful and sad song.

[@dadoody]

Best suicide song ever

[@dammit.faythcapra3626]

Ive been obsessed with this song for YEARS now and this is my first time hearing this version and im in love

[@TruFalco]

It hits SO much different to the original. It's message is much more powerful and potent in ways I can't describe, in my opinion.

[@shawarman112]

Bellows is a reference to the lungs, but bellows is also part of an organ (i.e. the musical instrument) which you work by pressing keys. I think "keys" is just a way to add to the "lungs-as-an-organ" reference.

[@willofbob]

A lot of people say that he kills himself at the end of the song, but I think it sounds more like a drunk driving accident, especially because it comes so close after "the trucks on the street cover my flight, my hero's retreat." From that perspective, the organ metaphor seems to represent how he's basically gotten fused with the car - there a holes in the bellows (his lungs) and blood on the keys (the actual key in the ignition).

[@terriblycharismaticduck2717]

willofbob "flight" - I.E. jumping.

[@melloang]

Beautiful. Sad, but beautiful.

[@OnlyOneEarth8]

It's a sad commentary on American culture that this man is a "Niche" artist. A towering talent who deserves far more acclaim and recognition. Wake up, USA.

[@somerandomchannel5617]

***** Does that mean you're a barber?

[@zomtron]

Nah, more like wake up humans!

[@Laitiere772]

What's a niche ?

[@TriToneTiefling]

Douce Plume A niche is a small group or community. When people call something a "Niche Market", they mean its a very specific community where you can't really expect to earn a ton from. Niche itself is basically a very specific group of people with typically small numbers

[@Laitiere772]

ReasonForNo Okay, thanks !

[@skedmcvey3913]

this song yanks my guts out, love it, please don't burn anything down though

[@andybaldman]

This man has an amazing aptitude for writing melodies. I don’t fucking know how he does it.

[@nonsensicalfox]

I actually vastly prefer this version to the album version, I wish this was released as a single, it's subtly different, but it makes a big impact.

[@rowanash5378]

I've often pondered the meaning of this song ever since I heard it on the Artificial Heart album. Wondered what the story really is. I've never managed to figure it out.

[@jessedandthedisappointments]

I recently found this song and it spoke to me. Sorry it took 10 years.. It sounds to me like a man drinking at a bar voicing his thoughts on his upcoming divorce. He sings about how he will handle it, saying he won't sign the papers and committing to leaving in the morning. Things take a bad turn during the final verse. When he sings "Holes in the bellows and blood on the keys," he's referring to holes in his lungs and blood on his literal car keys. It seems there was an accident on the way home from the bar. That's just my interpretation. It's my new favorite go-to sad song.

[@Styxlite9215]

I swear to god, this is the perfect song for long journeys, or even one a sailor would sing, and that's what I love about this song, great job!

[@phoenixfreefall]

This song reminds me strongly of "When You Go." The subject matter, the ritard and caesura in the middle... And just as beautiful, but in a different way =) love it!

[@instantstar16]

This so haunting, sad, moving, beautiful...can't get enough.

[@backgroundgameplay355]

One of my favourites. So simple and sad. Just lovely

[@timelord153]

Love how you made it sound almost like a drinking song. Another great song from you!

[@Acheronvampire]

I listened to it very carefully to interperet meaning, or at least the surface meanings. Its about a depressed man whos wife wants to leave him. He doesnt care about his possesions and would just as much let her have everything. The line about, " I shouldnt stay, i think youll agree i-- in the morning ill go where youll never find me" refers to the fact that possibly her anger would be too much for either of them. He decides the next morning to let the trucks outside cover a flight or heros

[@kevinm5940]

I think 'Where you'll never find me' refers to Heaven or a similar afterlife, implying that the singer is so haunted by this person that death seems like a reasonable alternative.

[@Keti9er]

I concur - this song is definitely about the dissolution of a very powerful relationship.

[@ahleena]

Yeah. It's about suicide I think, but I can't decide if "keys" are piano keys, door keys or a metaphor for teeth. Bellows would be lungs, of course.

[@bethduvall9279]

This song rips my heart ouy

[@bigdaddycoldcuts]

Directed by John Flansburgh. ...I have..no words...to express..how super amazingly awesome this is...

[@Core11953]

According to the wiki, Storm unofficially renamed this "The Song That Will Haunt Your Mind For The Next Month"

[@ivymcallister]

I can hear Tom Waits having a go at this. It's very "Last Leaf On the Tree" in the sense that it's sparse, poignant and just quirky enough to charm without taking away the emotional impact. Lovely.

[@ianirvine6060]

such a beautiful song

[@kanawful]

Love the melody. Haunting and beautiful

[@FINALSTANDFOLEYOFFICIAL]

this has its own little atmosphere that i can't help be addicted to, i love this

[@XpyrolegendX]

Only Jonathan Coulton could make such a great song without any music

[@ChilupaKing]

Good old Jon reminds me of the the things that hurt, but to understand it and see how it molds me, there is some solace knowing someone out there gets it. Never give up, and stay nerdy my friends

[@Fezezen]

One of my favorite songs.

[@MegaOldnews]

I think it's about a guy who still loves his wife although she wants to divorce him. So he throws himself from the roof of their apartment into traffic. The place that 'you'll never find me' is heaven. The holes in the bellows is his lungs getting torn apart.

[@dawn8293]

PexyWoo oh. I thought he murdered her lover and then burned him...

[@dadoody]

Yup, a suicide song

[@glinyx]

Another lovely song by Mr. Coulton. Fact.

[@GLue02]

I agree. This is one of my favorites from the new album. This and My Mustache.

[@Anivasion]

Hurts my heart, listening to this, when I'm not even in that place.

[@angeltenrih]

Dear god, this song gives me chills.

[@NickisanEnigma]

This is by far my favorite song from the album.

[@marouchoc]

I really cannot stand how good this is. It's simply fantastic. Either this or Down Today have to be my favorite from the current album. This is certainly my favorite video. Keep up the great work, sir.

[@Spirits-n-Giggles]

Not enough people know who you are and its a real shame. I show you to people whenever I can. You are so talented. I have been a fan for many years.

[@Milanodroku1972]

Wow !!!!

[@Epiczx]

Such a beautiful song. My favorite from the album, by far

[@faszkivanveletek]

holy shit its been 9 years??? still one of my absolute favs.

[@instantstar16]

This song really moves me. It's so entrancing

[@fairyzoe]

The best song ever! ! ! !

[@xxjoscaixx8828]

Hey, God loves you. Jesus says in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.". This verse means that the moment that you believe that Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross for the sins of the world and rose again from the dead, your name will be written in heaven, and you will have everlasting life in heaven with the Lord Jesus after you die on earth. So repent, ask God for forgiveness of your sins, and put your faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. The Lord God richly bless all of you.

[@07wickedchic]

That is a pretty freaking sweet machine!!! :)

[@kaptkegan]

And then listen to "Dissolve" again (which comes right before this song on the album). Connected? Probably not, but it's kind of fun to listen to them that way.

[@Charlamanga]

pure distilled pile of epic

[@Destructides]

@ChingParr It's a monome device. They're made in limited stock if I remember correctly and they let you assign all kinds of functions to the different buttons, not just stuff like audio samples. Google it up, you should find the website there.

[@josda1000]

Happy belated birthday Jonathan. Mine's on Friday.

[@bigbadbubbajoe583]

I want to know a couple things: 1) What is the machine creating the harmonies? 2) Why isn't your music available on the TouchTunes jukebox app (and how do we get that added?) 3) Would you consider a collaboration with Cosmo Sheldrake?

[@spoco2]

I have to say, this song is just awesome, and is, I'm afraid to say, the only track I've bought from the new album... but it is sensational :D

[@NintendoHighSchool]

This was a triumph

[@patrickbrown33]

So this is how I've always interpreted the song: The man's wife is leaving him, and he still loves her. He can tell she loves someone else, and he truly does want her to be happy even if he can't stand the thought of not being with her. So when he refers to the noises outside, the trucks in the street, he's referring to her not noticing he's shot himself in the car outside. So he dies in the car, and she moves on, unbothered and continues her life without him. The closing line of the song has always been meant to mean this to me. "You move along, nothing to see, nobody loves you like me," has always referred to him killing himself and doing so in a way that's easy on her to allow her to more easily move on as an act of genuine, if not grossly misguided, love.

[@j2n]

@MrSpeakerCone Hmm. I figured as much at first (before I heard "keys") - that bellows would make a good diaphragm replacement in an artificial man (one who would own an artificial heart).

[@fairyzoe]

Gracias! Me Gusta La Cancion! :)

[@RMorgan97]

It's about a man with lung cancer, the bellows are his lungs and he's coughing blood. That's why he mentions the people smoking, the pencil shoqing nothing is permanent is life and the place he's going to is heaven.

[@LonelyAssassin96]

I love vocoders.

[@Spintown]

Keep the videos coming.

[@eekoh472]

i cn probably play this on the accordion

[@Waltham1892]

Agawin Fox Weird Al, go home, you're drunk...

[@finalboss8514]

what's the device with the green keys?

[@wakipaki7381]

I've always wanted to replicate this audio effect. What is the thing he's using? Is there an app or something that does the same thing?

[@NeverwaY]

Hey Jonathan, what camera did you guys use for this? The low light performance is amazing!

[@j2n]

holy shit. i need to start listening to jonathan coulton. (and bellows and keys? is an accordion accomplice to a killing?)

[@LTamazil]

well that kind of makes sense, but what about the rest of the verse? What would the truck in the street have to do with it if it was just him playing the organ? How would he get blood on the keys? or is that a metaphor also?

[@SausageLegs]

This song is about divorce. It's about a guy who still loves his wife, but she's leaving him anyway.

[@IllDieInThisCorner]

@Mudfrog72 what i think this song means is that he commited sucide by falling off a fire escape because he loved someone but she didn't like him that's what my idea is anyways.

[@SatoshimaProductions]

or keys could refer to teeth as thye are lined up like keys on the organ. in other words the guy is coughing up blood.

[@TheSpyderx82]

Don't mind me I'm just going to squeeze out all of the emotions I can for a bit

[@ethanjohnson5983]

WAIT DIRECTED BY FLANSBURGH???

[@Acheronvampire]

retreat. This flight lands him on the ground with likely compound fractures of the ribs and punctured lungs. (Billows) Now for the key, singular... it could be anything almost, it could refer to his mouth or internal bleeding, maybe a ruptured heart. Or just his scrapped up body, it does lots of damage to be hit by a truck or scraped across concrete. Maybe we will never know.

[@Araclain]

@ChingParr It might be his Zen drum, dunno.

[@feel-the-rain85]

You were recommended by Kerrin Connolly. Go check her out. She's awesome too 😁 I love this song 😍👌

[@MrSpeakerCone]

@j2n the previous line references lungs. might be metaphorical.

[@Vadergeek]

@Vampericlegends Depends on whether there are any cats.

[@sachsenpower1]

Will JoCo come to Germany? :D

[@McDeadmagician]

i think the man he's singing as tried to commit suicide. or possibly just fell off the fire escape

[@Vampericlegends]

@MrCraigjclark I think John Hodgmans underground lair is one of those no Coultons allowed sort of deal

[@ivymcallister]

@adhesivemedstrip Ha! Too cute. Did you smoke a case of cigarettes, gargle with broken glass and razor blades and wash them down with a whiskey to get that Waits-y effect? (More to the point--how long were you vocally crippled after your performance?)

[@chubeatle]

it sounds like tobuscus, awesome :P

[@BaufritzFPV]

How does he modify his voice like that?

[@deidog]

hardware wise all kinds of toys of course. Looks like he is using some brand of launch pad (like a Novation) as a controller. As far as the effect used could use a harmonizer but I think it sounds like a pitch shifter with delay using the pad to activate three different preset pitch shifts he is going back and forth in between.

[@RetrogradeAnalysis]

probably a vocoder

[@KProjektStudios]

It's a vocoder

[@Kaotiqua]

Gotta love a creepy stalker song. Jon Coulton creepy stalker song? Bonus points!

[@EnochMetatron]

Alternate interpretation: The part where he confronts and kills her takes place entirely in his mind. Whether or not he decides he can go through with it, he is killed by a truck as he's crossing the street.

[@ahleena]

I love this song so much. But I'm afraid to share it with people close to me because it's a song about suicide. :(

[@LucasHutchinsonIsGreat]

@josda1000 happy belated b day to you :D

[@CraigJClark]

This was obviously filmed in John Hodgman's secret underground lair.

[@Begviling]

What was this about?? as far as I can tell he's having a "transitionary pub crawl" (drowning the man I used to be)

[@CalculusVariations99]

This is my favorite song about suicide

[@hollowearthsounds]

@ChingParr looks like a monome. it's controls a computer.

[@EnochMetatron]

The line "I won't sign a thing, or else if I do..." suggests it's about a man who is in the process of getting divorced, but he can't let go of his ex-wife because, well, nobody loves her like him. After he gets good and drunk, he goes to visit his ex, where things quickly go south and she winds up dead. He sees himself as the hero in this, so he pretends he doesn't feel bad about it because the hero is always justified. Nevertheless, he runs from his crime (somewhere you'll never find me)

[@UncleSikki]

Holes in the bellows would make sense if it were actually his lungs. He could very well be talking about the instrument he's playing at the moment, and the cough and the wheeze would be how the blood got on the keys. Ever see someone cough up blood?

[@zanabandgirl]

I can only think of Jason Todd.

[@LTamazil]

I thought he was in a car accident in the end, thus "blood on the keys".

[@Ibeatganon4fun]

Divorce and suicide?

[@FaceofFrequency]

launchpad? cool.

[@chimerareviewer]

Now if only Flansy could get back to actually making good music videos for TMBG. These are great for JoCo. because he never has music videos, so anything is great for him. But with TMBG, who used to make great videos like Ana Ng and Don't Let's Start, now making crap like The Fellowship of Hell and O We videos, it gets disappointing. I understand that they're touring, so they can't make great videos, but in that case, just don't make videos until you're done, because a song on a time lapse sucks

[@LeMayJoseph]

Teeth. The keys are teeth, like organ or accordion keys.

[@LeMayJoseph]

The keys are his teeth. Like coughing up blood. White ivory keys on an organ/a squeezebox = bloody teeth.

[@PaidInBoredom]

Its a reference to an organ. Holes in the bellows means basically holes in his lungs. Organs have bellows and keys.

[@childofthefence2887]

@@PaidInBoredom Yeah, and I always thought of it like his lungs (the bellows) were punctured by his bloody ribs (the keys?). Maybe I am reaching though xD