Hey Hey We're The Monkees!

Five Little Monkeys
(Author Unknown)

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Four little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

One little monkey jumping on the bed
He fell off and bumped his head
So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

No little monkeys jumping on the bed
None fell off and bumped his head
So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said
Put those monkeys back in bed!

What's up with musicians and monkeys, anyway? Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits paints the picture in "Money For Nothing" of musicians as often viewed by the general public..."he's "banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee...oh that ain't workin'."

Since the 1960s there's been a proliferation of songs and bands built around the monkey motif. And it started with The Monkees.

Four of the six Monkees albums (featuring the original foursome) rose to #1 on the Billboard charts. They had the top selling single of 1967 in "I'm a Believer" (made a hit again in 2001 as part of the popular movie, Shrek, recorded by Smash Mouth).

The Monkees "outsold The Beatles and Elvis Presley" combined in that same year, according to Wikipedia, setting the stage for serious musical monkey "business" in the decades since.

Hey Hey We're The Monkees Lyrics
(Words and Music by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart)

Here we come
Walking down the street
We get the funniest looks from
Everyone we meet.

Hey, hey we’re the Monkees,
And people say we monkey around.
But we’re too busy singing,
To put anybody down.

We go wherever we want to,
Do what we like to do.
We don’t have time to get restless,
There’s always something new.

Hey, hey we’re the Monkees,
And people say we monkey around.
But we’re too busy singing,
To put anybody down.

We’re just trying to be friendly,
Come watch us sing and play.
We’re the young generation,
And we got something to say.

Hey, hey we’re the Monkees,
You never know where we’ll be found.
So you’d better get ready,
We may be comin to your town.

Hey, hey we’re the Monkees,
And people say we monkey around.
But we’re too busy singing,
To put anybody down.

SIDEBAR: Michael Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, was the inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid.

Visit The Monkees website.

Shock The Monkey Lyrics
(Words and Music by Peter Gabriel)

Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life

Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out' the trees
Now I'm on my knees
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey

Fox the fox
Rat the rat
You can ape the ape
I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take any more
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Wheels keep turning
Something's burning
Don't like it but I guess I'm learning

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Cover me, when I sleep
Cover me, when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine
Make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling please
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

Too much at stake
Ground beneath me shake
And the news is breaking

Shock! - watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life

Interestingly, Martin Page ("We Built This City" - Starship - which has the dubious distinction of being on The Worst Songs of All Time compilation album -- it was co-written by Bernie Taupin, Peter Wolf and Dennis Lambert), who sounds a lot like Peter Gabriel, recorded his own monkey song, "Monkey In My Dreams," on his 1994 In the House of Stone & Light CD.

SIDEBAR: Some reports have claimed that this song was inspired in part by the famous experiments with monkees conducted by Stanley Milgram and described in his book Obedience to Authority.

Here's a cool new monkey song!

"Monkey In Jeans" by Jacksonville, FL singer-songwriter Chuck Nash:

Monkey in Jeans Lyrics
(Words and Music by Chuck Nash)

i've been taking my time getting nowhere real fast
anything i do right, i'll [fup] it up. yeah
my potential is great, if i weren't such a clown
wanna come hitch a ride with me on my way down?

i was dropped on my head on the day i was born
i'm surprised that my mother ever claimed me
my brother's all that i'm not, & my sister is swell
i can’t say that i’m doing as well

Chorus
there's a loser running around this city & rumor has it it just might be me
and i might agree
if you get a glimpse, well do start laughing
oh my what a silly sight to see a monkey in jeans

i can go on for days thinking i'll get it right,
but i always end up back at the same place
i try so hard to be cool, but i'm finding so far
that it's really quite hard not to be myself

(Chorus)

get your tickets now, come and gather round
i'm on a real big roll, a real big roll
send 'em through the gates, throw me in my cage
oh boy it's time for the show, here we go
i'm about to show my ass again
make a spectacle of myself for you & all your friends

i've been taking my time getting nowhere real fast
anything i do right, i'll fuck it up. yeah
if i could just find a way not to make such a scene
ah, but then else would i do, it's not like i know another way to be:
it's just me

(Chorus)

More about Chuck Nash here.

Listen to "Monkey In Jeans" by Chuck Nash


• The Arctic Monkeys have been tearing up the Internet music scene in 2006.

• British space metal outfit UFO released The Monkey Puzzle, also in 2006.

• Two-time Grammy winners ("Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group Rap" for "Let's Get It Started" in 2005 and "Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group" in 2006 for "Don't Phunk With My Heart"), "phunksters" the Black Eyed Peas, followed up their 2004 breakout album Elephunk with Monkey Business.

• Gorillaz had a recent smash record, Demon Days.

• The Blow Monkeys had a big hit with "You Don't Own Me," which appeared on the multi-platinum soundtrack album Dirty Dancing in 1987.

• Reggae artist Clint Eastwood recorded "Monkey Man" on his 1983 Stop That Train album. (This of course is NOT the famous actor/director Clint Eastwood -- who also writes songs -- but Eastwood did his own share of monkeying around by making two movies with an orangutan named Clyde, Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980). Both movies were scored by hit songwriter Steve Dorff.

There are literally hundreds of songs about monkeys. There are also dozens of musical acts with the word "monkey" in their name. You can find them all at AllMusic.com.

Our favorite monkey song? "Monkey See-Monkey Do" by Michael Franks, from his brilliant jazz-flavored 1976 album, The Art of Tea (which also includes "Popsicle Toes" -- do monkeys have cold feet?).