Jed the Humanoid
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Jed the Humanoid is a song on the 2000 album The Sophtware Slump released by the Modesto, California indie-rock band Grandaddy. The song is an elegy for an android who drinks himself to death,[1] and is taken to be central to the nature versus technology parable of the band's sophomore album.[2] A music reviewer for the The Guardian, Dorian Lynskey, called it "the saddest robot song ever written."[3]
Songwriter Jason Lytle explained that much like Modesto's famous former resident, George Lucas, growing up "he had nothing better to do than dream up robots."[1]
In the song, the inventors of the bona fide thinking, feeling robot lament leaving town and returning to find that Jed has raided the liquor cabinet and killed himself.[4]
"Jed is a mechanical martyr with a message," said Lytle. "And his message is that alcohol and electronics do not mix."[5]
The character of Jed also appears in two other song by Grandaddy, Jed's Other Poem (Beautiful Ground) from the same album, and in the song Jeddy 3's Poem from the album Signal to Snow Ratio.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Bearded and proud. Telegraph (UK) (February 2002).
- ^ Moran, Charlie (2006-05-09). Still sort of purring -- CD Review - Grandaddy: Just Like Fambly Cat. The Daily Iowan.
- ^ Lynskey, Dorian (2006-01-27). Readers recommend: songs about sci-fi and space. The Guardian (UK).
- ^ Harvilla, Rob (2003-11-17). Best Band on the Planet: Sometimes, even a jaded critic gets to be a fan. East Bay Express.
- ^ Athitakis, Mark (2000-06-28). The Modesto Invasion: The San Francisco rock scene is alive and well -- 90 miles from San Francisco. SF Weekly.
