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Tom Waits – Misery Is the River of the World Lyrics 18 years ago
As far as the latter part of his career is concerned this is one of the highlights.
The higher that the monkey can climb
The more he shows his tail

these first three lines I believe refer to humanity as "the monkey". The higher it climbs, the more we think of ourselves as great, the more civilization advances. the more we show our tail. That is the more our bad deeds and mistakes stretch out behind us.

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