Thing a Week

Thing a Week is a series of studio albums released by rock musician Jonathan Coulton in 2006. He compiled these albums from his highly successful weekly podcast, where he challenged himself to write, record, and produce a new song within a week, every week, for an entire year. He had done that to prove to himself, and to fans, that he was capable of working with a deadline.

Contents

Thing a Week One

Thing a Week One
Studio album by Jonathan Coulton
Released August 31, 2006
Recorded 2006
Genre Folk rock, Powerpop
Producer Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton chronology
Our Bodies, Ourselves, Our Cybernetic Arms
(2005)
Thing a Week One
(2006)
Thing a Week Two
(2006)

Thing a Week One is the first album of the series, and Jonathan Coulton's fourth studio album. It contains some of Coulton's earliest hit songs, including a cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back". This album features his hit, "Shop Vac," and "W's Duty," one of the only songs Coulton has written about a real life topic.

Track list

No. Title Length
1. "See You All in Hell"   0:58
2. "My Monkey"   2:47
3. "W's Duty"   1:49
4. "Shop Vac"   3:31
5. "Baby Got Back"   5:33
6. "Someone is Crazy"   2:04
7. "Brand New Sucker"   2:07
8. "Sibling Rivalry"   3:04
9. "The Town Crotch"   4:44
10. "Podsafe Christmas Song"   2:45
11. "Furry Old Lobster"   2:02
12. "Drive"   2:35

Thing a Week Two

Thing a Week Two
Studio album by Jonathan Coulton
Released November 2, 2006
Recorded 2006
Genre Folk rock, powerpop
Producer Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton chronology
Thing a Week One
(2006)
Thing a Week Two
(2006)
Thing a Week Three
(2006)

Thing a Week Two is the second Thing a Week album, and the fifth studio album by Jonathan Coulton. It features some more of Coulton's most popular songs, including "Re: Your Brains," which would later be used as an Easter Egg in Valve Corporation's 2009 hit video game, Left 4 Dead 2, and "Chiron Beta Prime," a Christmas song that originated as a Christmas card to one of Coulton's friends and shows how Coulton's songs tend to be about science fiction.

Track List

No. Title Length
1. "Flickr"    
2. "Resolutions"    
3. "You Could Be Her"    
4. "I Will"    
5. "Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance"    
6. "So Far So Good"    
7. "Curl"    
8. "Chiron Beta Prime"    
9. "Take Care of Me"    
10. "A Talk with George"    
11. "Don't Talk to Strangers"    
12. "Stroller Town"    
13. "Re: Your Brains"    

Thing a Week Three

Thing a Week Three
Studio album by Jonathan Coulton
Released December 15, 2006
Recorded 2006
Genre Folk rock, powerpop
Producer Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton chronology
Thing a Week Two
(2006)
Thing a Week Three
(2006)
Thing a Week Four
(2006)

Thing a Week Three is the third Thing a Week album, and the sixth studio album by Jonathan Coulton. It contains two of Coulton's most popular songs. "Code Monkey," used as the theme to a TV show and internet series, G4's Code Monkeys, and "Tom Cruise Crazy," a song about Tom Cruise. "Code Monkey" was likely inspired by Coulton's days at the New York software company Cluen.

Track list

No. Title Length
1. "Madelaine"    
2. "When You Go"    
3. "Code Monkey"    
4. "The Presidents"    
5. "Just as Long as Me"    
6. "Till the Money Comes"    
7. "Tom Cruise Crazy"    
8. "Famous Blue Raincoat"    
9. "Soft Rocked by Me"    
10. "Not About You"    
11. "Rock and Roll Boy"    
12. "Drinking with You"    
13. "Pizza Day"    

Thing a Week Four

Thing a Week Four
Studio album by Jonathan Coulton
Released December 15, 2006
Recorded 2006
Genre Folk rock, powerpop
Producer Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton chronology
Thing a Week Three
(2006)
Thing a Week Four
(2006)
JoCo Looks Back
(2008)

Thing a Week Four is the fourth and final Thing a Week album, and the seventh studio album by Jonathan Coulton. It has some more of his popular songs, including "Creepy Doll," a song where a man buys an abandoned house and finds a living, creepy doll upstairs, and later is killed by the doll in a fire. "Mr. Fancy Pants," a song where a man is obsessed with his pants, urging another man to buy the world's best pants to best 'Mr. Fancy Pants' in a contest of whose pants are better. "You Ruined Everything," seemingly a parody of typical love songs by taking the tone of a love song with lyrics reflecting anger, sadness, or regret towards somebody. It is actually about Coulton's daughter, as he was inspired to write it because of her. "I'm Your Moon," a song about the moon, Charon, of Pluto. Charon criticizes Earth scientists for renaming Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet, and Coulton has been known to introduce the song by casually damning the scientists who made that decision. It also features covers of two Queen songs, "We Will Rock You," and "We Are The Champions."

Track list

No. Title Length
1. "SkyMall"    
2. "Seahorse"    
3. "Creepy Doll"    
4. "Under the Pines"    
5. "Big Bad World One"    
6. "Mr. Fancy Pants"    
7. "You Ruined Everything"    
8. "I'm Your Moon"    
9. "The Big Boom"    
10. "Make You Cry"    
11. "Pull the String"    
12. "Summer's Over"    
13. "We Will Rock You"    
14. "We Are the Champions"