Only seen it performed live twice.
Once in my hometown, and most recently at the Aug. '03 Wembley Arena show.

So EG,were you at the '03 Wembly show?


I always thought that Monkey Man meant,monkey on your back. Like a drug habit.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

Chicago Monkey Man Blues - Ida Cox & Her Blue Serenaders....

I'm goin' to Chicago, sorry but I can't take you
Yes I'm goin' to Chicago sorry but I can't take you
Cause there's nothin' on State Street that a monkey man can do

I've got a monkey man here a monkey man over there
If monkey men were money I'd be a Chicago millionaire

I've got fourteen men now I only want one more
I've got fourteen men now and I only want one more
As soon as I can get one I'll let these fourteen go

Now I'm goin' tell you like the day goes so must you
When you nobody no money mama can no usin' you

I can take my monkey men and stand them all in line
Anybody can count them one two three four five six seven eight times



ROCKMAN

whoa Rockman; that's the deep stuff; deeeeep blueesss....you are amazing to come up with those lyrix and pic...! 1930's? '40's?? 20's???

When are we gonna be able to post AUDIO clips into threads like we can with pics?
THAT would be cool.

Beely - Ida Cox - Chicago Monkey Man Blues 1925...photo from much later



ROCKMAN

Monkey Man Blues - Richmond Starlight Quartet
QRS - RecordsDecember 1928 - Long Island City, New York.........



ROCKMAN

I don't have a date on this:


Illustration by Mike Peterson

Turns out Toots and the Maytals have a CD called "Monkey Man", with a tune of the same name. No, it's not a cover of either version of the song mentioned so far.
What do you think?

[www.cduniverse.com]

(Scroll down to see hear some of the song.)

.... song soars ...... one of the most likeable decadent songs to hit the brain, and has yet to get boring...
by the way, to touch on 'lemon squeezer', simply put, some heroin needs a drop of lemon juice in the spoon to activate the ph in the heroin so it will perform,,,,, 'persian' stuff was notorious for that. it was ship'd in that fashion (needing the boost) so customs and other officals couldnt get a positive reading..

Bob Dylan wrote a number of songs that were about nothing, and for that he is called a genius

Bluzdude, yo, go away from my window, leave at your own choosen speed - you talkin' jive about my man Bob or what?

I've seen Minkey Man played live once or twice too.
First time was 9-20-02 in Philadelphia.
And I was in ROW 7 in front of the stage.
I had NEVER before had a seat SO CLOSE.
They played four great sings in a row from LIB.

Love In Vain
Live With Me
Monkey Man
Gimme Shelter

The giant screen behind them
showed the album's cover as Mick
announced the mini-set.

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.



Copyright © 1965
___________________ this aint one of em.

Surely you're not trying to
compare Bob Dylan's words with
Mick and Keith's (lack of)* poetic lyricism?

* EDIT



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-30 09:09 by schillid.

I meant nothing negative about Dylan in my remarks. Someone (from the UK) once told me that the reason Dylan is a genius is because he can write these lyrics and only Dylan knows the meaning of. I don't buy that; indeed I had an English class in College where we spent the first 4 weeks debating the meaning of certain Dylan songs. That's not, IMO what makes him a genius. Putting together a song that sounds like it makes sense but doesn't is clever not genius. Putting together an album like Blood on the Tracks, now THAT'S genius.

... nope,, post was in reference to bluz dudes comment about 'some' of dylans songs,, notice at the end i typed, 'this anint one of em' ......

soundcheck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ... nope,, post was in reference to bluz dudes
> comment about 'some' of dylans songs,, notice at
> the end i typed, 'this anint one of em' ......


I totally agree

BTW, I was kidding above about
poetic lyricsim in Stones songs!
in case that was unclear...

(See edit.)
Anyway... I guess we know
enough about this one song...

Minkey!

OK Bluzdude, I had the "hit" canceled, told the hitman to take the day off tomorrow... (Dude, I was half joking. I don't quite have the nuances down on this internet contraption...... Sorry if I sounded like a mean hombre, Dylan has to fight his own battles....)

HelterSkelter, I know I can come off pretty brash (is that a word?) at times, and sometimes my opinions get the best of me. BTW, I remember when I first heard "It ain't me Babe" by Dylan, I thought Dylan had real class covering such a great Turtles Song, (LOL)

I thought that "It ain't me Babe" was a Sonny and Cher song...

It ain't me babe vs. I got you, babe

me kidding again
sorry..

why don't you and helter just talk
and I'll say good night..
good night

Sleep tight schillid

i never saw you i only heard of you ...love this song....my friends love it too



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-30 11:02 by rooster.

Elvis Costello had something to say on the subject:

Monkey To Man

A long time ago, our point of view
Was broadcast by Mr. Bartholomew
Now the world is full of sorrow and pain
It’s time for us to speak up again

You’re slack and sorry
Such an arrogant brood
The only purpose you serve is to bring us our food
We sit here staring at your pomp and pout
Outside the bars we use for keeping you out

You’ve taken everything that you wanted
Broke it up and plundered it and hunted
Ever since we said it
You went and took the credit
It’s been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man

Every time that man struggles and fails
He makes up some kind of fairytales
After all of the misery that he has caused
He denies he’s descended from the dinosaurs

Points up to heaven with cathedral spires
All the time indulging in his base desires
Ever since we said it
He went and took the credit
It’s been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man

Big and useless as he has become
With his crying statues and his flying bomb
Goes ‘round acting like the chosen one
Excuse us if we treat him like our idiot cousin

He hangs up flowers and bells and rhymes
Hoping to hell that someone’s forgiven his crimes
Fills the air with his pride and his praise
He’s big disgrace to our beastly ways

In the fashionable nightclubs and finer precincts
Man uses words to dress up his vile instincts
Ever since we said it
He went and took the credit
It’s been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man

sweetcharmedlife Wrote:

> So EG,were you at the '03 Wembly show?

Friday, 29 August, 2003.

[www.iorr.org]

One of the very best Stones performances I've ever seen.
I feel very lucky to have picked that date as I could
afford to attend only one show in London that week.
I did try for Astoria but could not score a ticket.

Spent eleven great days touring southeastern England,
doing the usual touristy things, and of course,
checked out the "ultimate bachelor pad" at 102 Edith Grove.
Also caught the Mick Taylor gig at the 100 Club the
night before the Stones show.

as much as i appreciate those first four costello albums, boy, it sucks reading anybody elses lyrics after going all the way through "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding (ty spud)...
seems like trite couplets compared to the mercury blast of dylan's brilliance in that period; that's timeless visionary writing of the highest order imo. and 'pop' music is very lucky this guy came along and just raised the bar for everyone in the musical universe.
remember that footage in 'don't look back' after Donovan sings his songs and Dylan tells him "good song!" then picks up the guitar to do the one he's working on, and just sits there full on eye contact at Donovan and the small group of people in the hotel room, and just drives it, explosive intensity...

i wonder if that's the song he was typing furiously on in several scenes in 'don't look back'...
whew...no offense to costello fans, but what dylan is doing here is beyond song writing per se...it's stratospheric stuff...i guess everyone already knows...but i find dylan one of the few songwriter who actually 'reads' really well, and that as many times as i've heard it; it just blew me totally away again...

if u asked dylan what it as about he would ask you if you listened to it and if you said yes he would say well that's what it's about...
i mean, he already put it down...oh man did he...

Guess the songwriter:

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a gypsy queen,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle all dressed in green,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle 'til the moon is blue,
Wiggle 'til the moon sees you.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle in your boots and shoes,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, you got nothing to lose,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, like a swarm of bees,
Wiggle on your hands and knees.

Wiggle to the front, wiggle to the rear,
Wiggle 'til you wiggle right out of here,
Wiggle 'til it opens, wiggle 'til it shuts,
Wiggle 'til it bites, wiggle 'til it cuts.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead,
Wiggle - you can raise the dead.

Wiggle 'til you're high, wiggle 'til you're higher,
Wiggle 'til you vomit fire,
Wiggle 'til it whispers, wiggle 'til it hums,
Wiggle 'til it answers, wiggle 'til it comes.

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like satin and silk,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a pail of milk,
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, rattle and shake,
Wiggle like a big fat snake.

Lukester Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it is about sex and drugs.....the
> reference to lemon squeezer is a blues reference
> to sex (cumming?...blow job?) that dates back to
> Robert Johnson, as Rockman said. Zeppelin used
> that reference too of course. The monkey implies
> a "monkey on your back" which is a slang term for
> an addiction to heroin (or other drugs, but
> usually referred to as a heroin addiction). The
> rest of the lyrics are the product of a very
> creative imagination.
>
> This is one of my favorite Stones songs and I had
> the pleasure of seeing it live for the first time
> in Nashville in November 2002, almost exactly five
> years ago today. Thanks schillid for the very
> thought provoking memory.

This one is on the money, I think. The "monkey on the back" thing.