"Jocko Homo" is the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

's first single, "

Mongoloid Mongoloid () is an obsolete racial grouping of various peoples indigenous to large parts of Asia, the Americas, and some regions in Europe and Oceania. The term is derived from a now-disproven theory of biological race. In the past, other terms ...

", released in 1977 on Devo's own label,

Booji Boy Records Booji Boy is a character created in the early 1970s by the American new wave band Devo. The name is pronounced "Boogie Boy"—the strange spelling "Booji" resulted when the band was using Letraset to produce captions for a film, and ran out of ...

and later released in the UK on

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London, England, by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the punk rock boom, Stiff ...

. The song was re-recorded as the feature song for Devo's first album, '' Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!'' on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

in 1978. The original version peaked at No. 62 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It is based on a chant from the 1932 movie '' Island of Lost Souls''. "Jocko Homo" introduced the

call-and-response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

"Are we not men?" / "We are Devo!" It is generally considered to be Devo's anthem. The title is taken from a 1924

anti-evolution Objections to evolution have been raised since evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the 19th century. When Charles Darwin published his 1859 book ''On the Origin of Species'', his theory of evolution (the idea that species arose through desc ...

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called '' Jocko-Homo Heavenbound'' by Bertram Henry Shadduck, where it is explained as meaning "ape-man". The song had been in Devo's setlists for several years prior to being recorded, and an early version was featured in the band's 1976 short film ''

The Truth About De-Evolution ''The Truth About De-Evolution'' (full title: ''In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution'') is a 9-minute short film written by Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, for the band Devo, and directed by Chuck Statler. Filmed in M ...

''.

Background

According to the liner notes of '' Hardcore Devo'', Jocko Homo was first demoed in 1974, as one of

Mark Mothersbaugh Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) is an American composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose " Whip It" was a top 2 ...

's first solo compositions for the group. The earliest known live performance of the song was on Halloween night of 1975, the released recording of this version is seven minutes long, although Mothersbaugh recalled it being 25 minutes when talking on the subject in 1997. Between 1975 - 1976, Devo filmed '

The Truth About De-evolution ''The Truth About De-Evolution'' (full title: ''In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution'') is a 9-minute short film written by Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, for the band Devo, and directed by Chuck Statler. Filmed in M ...

,' a short experimental film, part of which was set to the 1974 demo of Jocko Homo. The next recorded live performance of the track was from February of 1977, where Devo performed a seven + minute version (which is cut off by a fade out on the tape.)

Song lyrics and themes

The song's verses primarily concern themselves with the view of

de-evolution Devolution, de-evolution, or backward evolution (not to be confused with dysgenics) is the notion that species can revert to supposedly more primitive forms over time. The concept relates to the idea that evolution has a purpose (teleology) and ...

, noting foibles in human society. Most versions include a bridge that begins with "God made man, but he used the monkey to do it..." This is a response and reference to the

Uncle Dave Macon David Harrison Macon (October 7, 1870 – March 22, 1952), known professionally as Uncle Dave Macon, was an American old-time banjo player, singer, songwriter, and comedian. Known as "The Dixie Dewdrop", Macon was known for his chin whiskers, ...

song "The Bible's True" (1926), an anti-evolution song. 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!" (a reference to

Tod Browning Tod Browning (born Charles Albert Browning Jr.; July 12, 1880 – October 6, 1962) was an American film director, film actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and circus entertainer. He directed a number of films of vari ...

's ''

Freaks Freak has several meanings: a person who is physically deformed or suffers from an extraordinary disease and condition, a genetic mutation in a plant or animal, etc. Freak, freaks or The Freak may also refer to: Fictional characters * Freak (Ima ...

'') 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!", which references Devo's home state of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. The song begins in the unusual time signature of time, but switches partway through to common 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 demo version appears on the '' Hardcore Devo: Volume One'' compilation, and the '' Devo's Greatest Misses'' compilation as well. The

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. Co-writer

attributes the line "Are we not men?" to the 1932 film '' Island of Lost Souls'', an adaptation of the 1896

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Island of Doctor Moreau ''The Island of Doctor Moreau'' is an 1896 science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells (1866–1946). The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick who is a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat. He is left on the island ...

'', from which the line actually originated. Mothersbaugh says of the film: "There were like, watered down, wussy versions of it in the later ''Islands Of Dr. Moreau'' stuff, but that was a really intense movie."

Music video

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song "Jocko Homo" was part of the short film, ''

,'' Devo's first

, directed by Chuck Statler. It begins with an interstitial scene of

Booji Boy Booji Boy is a character created in the early 1970s by the American new wave band Devo. The name is pronounced "Boogie Boy"—the strange spelling "Booji" resulted when the band was using Letraset to produce captions for a film, and ran out of ...

running through a

Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Falls ( or ) is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 51,114. The second-largest city in Summit County, it is located directly north of Akron and is a suburb of the Akron metropol ...

parking lot, up a

fire escape A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency th ...

, and into a building. There, he meets with

General Boy General Boy is a character created around 1975 by new wave band Devo. He is usually seen portrayed by Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr., the father of Devo's lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh, former drummer Jim Mothersbaugh, and lead guitarist Bob Mothersbau ...

, who is played by Mark Mothersbaugh's father (Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr.), 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" set to the intro of the Devo song " Mechanical Man," and then the main video begins. In it,

plays a professor, lecturing to a class of students in surgical masks, caps, and

3-D glasses Stereoscopy (also called stereoscopics, or stereo imaging) is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

. As the song progresses, the class begins to riot.

Live performances

When asked to open for

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...

, 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."

Other versions

The version from the film ''The Truth About De-Evolution'' (1977) has a slower time than the album versions and lacks the bridges (like "God made man..." and "O-Hi-O"). On the 1988 and 1990 tours, as well as at the 1996

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City' ...

show and the 2002

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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''. Following the band's reunion, the "Sad" version would be played only once, during the 1996 Sundance Festival concert. An "E-Z Listening" version was recorded in a Caribbean style for playback before shows. This appears on the 1987 ''

E-Z Listening Disc ''E-Z Listening Disc'' is a compilation album by the American new wave band Devo, originally released in 1987 by Rykodisc. The album is a compilation of all but one of the tracks from Devo's two ''E-Z Listening Muzak Cassettes'', which had been ...

''. In 1979, novelty group Lonnie & the Devotions recorded a cover version, in a

barbershop quartet A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment, or a cappella. The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries t ...

style, for

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' early Devo tribute album ''KROQ's Devotees''. Parodist

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

included a portion of this song in his first polka medley titled "

Polkas on 45 Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

". His DEVO parody "

Dare to Be Stupid ''Dare to Be Stupid'' is the third studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 18, 1985. The album was one of many Yankovic records produced by former McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between August 1984 and March 1985, the ...

" is considered by Mark Mothersbaugh to be an accurate pastiche of their song style. French band

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

sampled the opening synth riff of the music video version in their song "

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" in their debut album, '' †''. US band

Thanatos In Greek mythology, Thanatos (; grc, Θάνατος, pronounced in "Death", from θνῄσκω ''thnēskō'' "(I) die, am dying") was the personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referred to but rarely appe ...

included a very tongue-in-cheek cover of this song as a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

on the album ''This Endless Night Inside''.

Charts

References

{{authority control 1978 singles Devo songs Song recordings produced by Brian Eno Songs written by Mark Mothersbaugh Stiff Records singles 1978 songs Warner Records singles