So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
I'm a fleabit peanut monkey
And all my friends are junkies
That's not really true
I'm a cold Italian pizza
I could use a lemon squeezer
What you do?
But I've been bit and I've been tossed around
By every she-rat in this town
Have you babe?
But I am just a monkey man
I'm glad you are a monkey woman too
I was bitten by a boar
I was gouged and I was gored
But I pulled on through
Yeah, I'm a sack of broken eggs
I always have an unmade bed
Don't you?
Well I hope we're not too messianic
Or a trifle too satanic
But we love to play the blues
But well I am just a monkey man
I'm glad you are a monkey woman too
Monkey woman too babe
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey
I'm a monkey
I'm a monkey
I'm a monkey
Monkey, monkey
Monkey
Monkey
I'm a monkey
And all my friends are junkies
That's not really true
I'm a cold Italian pizza
I could use a lemon squeezer
What you do?
But I've been bit and I've been tossed around
By every she-rat in this town
Have you babe?
But I am just a monkey man
I'm glad you are a monkey woman too
I was bitten by a boar
I was gouged and I was gored
But I pulled on through
Yeah, I'm a sack of broken eggs
I always have an unmade bed
Don't you?
Well I hope we're not too messianic
Or a trifle too satanic
But we love to play the blues
But well I am just a monkey man
I'm glad you are a monkey woman too
Monkey woman too babe
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey man
I'm a monkey
I'm a monkey
I'm a monkey
I'm a monkey
Monkey, monkey
Monkey
Monkey
I'm a monkey
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Monkey Man Lyrics as written by Mick Jagger Keith Richards
Lyrics © Abkco Music Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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think about it. All my friends are junkies? DRUGS obviously. the stones were huge into drugs. who doesnt know that. this song is about addiction. "im a monkey man" doesnt have anything to do with evolution. anyone who thinks that needs some help. the point is, he has a monkey on his back. hes addicted, but he doesnt necessarily want to give it up. so hes glad this girl doesnt want to either.
gabby, you got it. A "monkey" is a junkie...got a monkey on his back. The "That's not really true" line reminds me of the old joke: <br /> Q. When does a junkie lie? <br /> A. Every time his mouth moves.
@gabbybaybe makes sense to meeee. <br />
@gabbybaybe I figured it definitely had to do with drugs, most likely heroin, but the monkey on your back thing, good call I hadn't up with that one yet, and about the girl, that hadn't dawned in me either. Good observation.
This has the absolute BEST INTRO TO ANY SONG EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER YEAH!
Go listen to it now. Please. This song is far too underrated.
i read somewhere its about some junkie they knew. i mean.... there are only bajillion drug references.
I think you need to look at this song in the context of the entire "Let It Bleed" album and all its country twang. This song is about the Stones coming to the United States and fitting into the mainstream. The Monkey Man IS the Stones, and the Monkey Woman is the United States.This is the only way this line makes sense: "Well, I hope we're not too messianic, or a trifle too satanic. We love to play the blues." They don't want to be thought of as the Beatles, or a bumch of devil worshippers. They're just some guys who like the same music we do.
@johnny_dago This is a good interpretation. "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was out in '67, 'Sympathy for the Devil' was a hit in '68. They had plenty of mainstream hits by then but all the demonic imagery must have garnered them a lot of negative press.
I think this song is Mick and the Stones getting in touch with their primitive roots. The "Monkey Man" that Mick identifies himself here as calls to mind Darwin's theory of evolution and where we came from. The line "I was bitten by a boar, I was gouged and I was gored, But I pulled on through" illustrates the harsh evolutionary struggle and the survival of the fittest. Mostly this song reminds us of our own primal urges and the animal in us all. One of my favourite Stones tunes of all time.
Keith Richards is a brilliant fucking musician.
It's about a gay/bisexual black man on the rebound from a bad relationship. "Monkey Man" is blues slang for a man with very dark skin, and it obviously has racist origins. The jist of the song is that the guy got burned by a male ex-lover and has found a lesbian willing to hook up with him.
He was "bitten" (hurt) by a boar (a stronger male lover) and "she-rats" (bisexual women). He wants someone to gratify him ("lemon squeezer" is someone who masturbates a lot).
The term 'monkey man' is a term that old black bluesmen used in the 1920's and 30's to describe a homosexual black man. If someone asked 'Does he have a girlfriend ?" the reply might be "No, he's a Monkey Man".
i don't think that adds up. the songs on the album are too diverse to come up with a theme (a serial killer, easy women, anti-war protests, death personified, etc).
the line "We love to play the blues" clinches it, and confirms connection to the blues slang throughout the song. the slang just fits too well together to ignore it.
I heard it was a whitty answere to the press, who were saying mick looked like a monkey at the time
i think it's about how drugs and the addiction to drugs can drive you to act primitively and how the need for drugs unlocks the most primitive urges in humans.