With all the talk about the new disease monkeypox, which might get renamed, and has become a global health emergency, I realized that there have been quite a few songs related to monkeys. (No, not the Monkees, but monkeys.) These songs go all the way back to rock & roll pioneer Chuck Berry, whose fifth single was Too Much Monkey Business. Like many of his songs, this one has been covered numerous times.
The Beatles album entitled The Beatles, but known as the "white album", includes Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey, sung by John Lennon. This raises the question, if "the walrus was Paul", then who was the monkey?
The Rolling Stones 1969 album Let It Bleed includes Monkey Man, on which bassist Bill Wyman also plays vibraphone. Guest musician Nicky Hopkins plays piano.
In 1982, former Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel released his fourth solo album, which was eponymous in the U.K., but entitled Security in the U.S. (His first three albums were also eponymous in the U.K.) The second single from the album, Shock The Monkey, was known for its video.
The aforementioned "Monkey Man" appears to get a reprise in Tweeter And The Monkey Man by the Traveling Wilburys, sung by Lucky Wilbury, a.k.a. Bob Dylan. The song recounts the misadventures of the two title characters and their nemesis the "Undercover Cop".
As I and others have mentioned, the "k" in "monkeypox" is silent. On the other hand, be sure to pronounce the "k" in "monkey". Otherwise, people might think that you're talking about money.
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