In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
My monkey gets busy sometimes
My monkey’s got a lot of stuff he’s gotta think about
My monkey gets tired sometimes
My monkey wishes he was something you could do without
Cause every monkey needs alone time
To eat bananas in the sunshine
It’s feast or famine it’s a fine line
It doesn’t mean my monkey doesn’t love you
[My monkey butler Brian Dennehy screwed up again and he’s sorry]
[My monkey he loves you My monkey loves you very much]
[My monkey says My monkey says]
[My monkey says he’s sorry he’s a monkey but he’s got to be a monkey and there’s nothing he can do]
My monkey gets frazzled sometimes
My monkey has an ulcer and a stressful time at work
My monkey gets bitter sometimes
My monkey’s not the only one who’s acting like a jerk
And while he doesn’t like to name names
And he’s not trying to assign blame
It’s hard to focus on his own game
It doesn’t mean my monkey doesn’t love you
[My monkey butler Brian Dennehy screwed up again and he’s sorry]
[My monkey he loves you My monkey loves you very much]
[My monkey says My monkey says]
[My monkey says he’s sorry he’s a monkey but he’s got to be a monkey and there’s nothing he can do]
My monkey gets angry sometimes
My monkey says a lot of things he doesn’t really mean
My monkey gets lucky sometimes
My monkey thinks that you’re the bestest girl he’s ever seen
He says he’ll stay with you for always
It doesn’t matter what the job pays
Cause everybody has their bad days
It doesn’t mean my monkey doesn’t love you
[My monkey butler Brian Dennehy screwed up again and he’s sorry]
[My monkey he loves you My monkey loves you very much]
[My monkey says My monkey says]
[My monkey says he’s sorry he’s a monkey but he’s got to be a monkey and there’s nothing he can do]
It doesn’t mean my monkey doesn’t love you
My monkey’s got a lot of stuff he’s gotta think about
My monkey gets tired sometimes
My monkey wishes he was something you could do without
Cause every monkey needs alone time
To eat bananas in the sunshine
It’s feast or famine it’s a fine line
It doesn’t mean my monkey doesn’t love you
[My monkey butler Brian Dennehy screwed up again and he’s sorry]
[My monkey he loves you My monkey loves you very much]
[My monkey says My monkey says]
[My monkey says he’s sorry he’s a monkey but he’s got to be a monkey and there’s nothing he can do]
My monkey gets frazzled sometimes
My monkey has an ulcer and a stressful time at work
My monkey gets bitter sometimes
My monkey’s not the only one who’s acting like a jerk
And while he doesn’t like to name names
And he’s not trying to assign blame
It’s hard to focus on his own game
It doesn’t mean my monkey doesn’t love you
[My monkey butler Brian Dennehy screwed up again and he’s sorry]
[My monkey he loves you My monkey loves you very much]
[My monkey says My monkey says]
[My monkey says he’s sorry he’s a monkey but he’s got to be a monkey and there’s nothing he can do]
My monkey gets angry sometimes
My monkey says a lot of things he doesn’t really mean
My monkey gets lucky sometimes
My monkey thinks that you’re the bestest girl he’s ever seen
He says he’ll stay with you for always
It doesn’t matter what the job pays
Cause everybody has their bad days
It doesn’t mean my monkey doesn’t love you
[My monkey butler Brian Dennehy screwed up again and he’s sorry]
[My monkey he loves you My monkey loves you very much]
[My monkey says My monkey says]
[My monkey says he’s sorry he’s a monkey but he’s got to be a monkey and there’s nothing he can do]
It doesn’t mean my monkey doesn’t love you
Lyrics submitted by saturnfly
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His monkey loves you
The narrator has hurt the feelings of the girl he loves and can't admit it in the first person, so he uses his monkey as the subject.
It seems to me that the most obvious interpretation of this is that he is just referring to himself in the 3rd person. Either that or he actually has a monkey. Either/or.
i think that the monkey is his subconscious desires/impulses. the uncivilized/evolved part of his brain. he loves her but he still needs and want's thing himself
He definately has a monkey. [My monkey butler Brian Dennehy screwed up again and he’s sorry] The phrasing points out that the voice legitimataly has a monkey butler. He named the monkey after award winning actor Brian Dennehy due to the fact that he played Clarence Darrow in the movie Alleged, a movie about the Scopes Monkey Trial. This is probably just to point out how rediculous the monkey is in this whole situation. The person seriously owns a monkey and has an abundance of relationship problems that result from him owning a monkey, he uses as a butler. However, He also has problems with his relationship which are caused by his own character which he refuses to take blame for, and instead tries to push it onto the monkey who is completely innocent. As shown by the humanification of the monkey. This allows him to place all the blame on a monkey, who because he is a monkey, can't be blamed.
It's also possible that the voice represents fundamentalists and the audience would be Modernists and they're both fighting about a monkey which symbolizes evolution and just exists unknowing of their relationship, and representing truth.