The title was derived from a 1924 anti-evolutiontract called Jocko-Homo Heavenbound by Bertram Henry Shadduck, while its "Are we not men?"/"We are Devo!" call and response chant is a reference to the 1932 movie Island of Lost Souls. 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.
Background
According to the liner notes of Hardcore Devo, "Jocko Homo" was first demoed in 1974,[3] as one of Mark Mothersbaugh's first solo compositions for the group.[citation needed] The earliest known live performance of the song was on Halloween night of 1975, opening for Sun Ra.[4] The released recording of this version is seven minutes long.[4] However, according to a 1997 interview with Mark Mothersbaugh, they performed a half-hour rendition of the song as a joke to annoy the crowd: "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."[5]
The title is taken from a 1924 anti-evolutiontract called Jocko-Homo Heavenbound by Bertram Henry Shadduck, where the term is defined as "ape-man".[7]
The song's verses primarily concern themselves with the view of de-evolution, 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 song "The Bible's True" (1926), an anti-evolution song.[8]
The song also contains several call and response choruses, including the repeated chant "Are we not men?/We are Devo!" Co-writer Mark Mothersbaugh has stated that the line is a reference to the 1932 film Island of Lost Souls, an adaptation of the 1896 H. G. Wells novel Island of Doctor Moreau, 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."[9]
"Jocko Homo", in its variations, has also contained other chants between the main verses and the closing chant, including "We accept you/We reject you/One of us! One of us!", a reference to Tod Browning's Freaks (1932),[citation needed] 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!", a reference to a 1922 Broadway song by Alfred Bryan and Bert Hanlon,[10] often performed by the Ohio State University marching band.[11]
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 Booji Boy Records 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.[citation needed]
The song begins in the unusual time signature of 7 8 time, but switches partway through to common 4 4 time for the call and response sections.[citation needed]
Music video
A music video for the song "Jocko Homo" was part of the short film, The Truth About De-Evolution, Devo's first music video, directed by Chuck Statler.[12] It begins with an interstitial scene of Booji Boy running through a Cuyahoga Falls parking lot, up a fire escape, and into a building. There, he meets with General Boy, who is played by Mark and Bob 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, Mark Mothersbaugh plays a professor, lecturing to a class of students in surgical masks, caps, and 3-D glasses. As the song progresses, the class begins to riot.
Other versions
Devo recorded a muzak version for their EZ Listening Cassette in 1981, which was reissued on their E-Z Listening Disc compilation in 1987.
^Casale, Gerald; Mothersbaugh, Mark (2020). DEVO: The Brand/DEVO: Unmasked. United Kingdom: Rocket 88. pp. 8, 28. ISBN978-1-910978-49-8. OCLC1237252015.
^Liner notes to Devo, "Mongoloid" b/w "Jocko Homo." Booji Boy Records, 1977, which say "'Jocko Homo' - from the soundtrack of 'In the Beginning Was the End...(the truth about DE-EVOLUTION)' a film by Chuck Statler."
