7 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Monkeys Uptown Lyrics
I knew you well, I know you best
A baby mouth and I the breast
A lazy bone, an eagle eye
Circling a city that's higher than the sky
And it's looking like you better do what they say
Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around
Heaven's a name and the river is brown
With all the mud and the rain, it never settles down
It never settles down
Your baby left you unimpressed
But no one likes a beggar slightly overdressed
Trouble comes in funky clothes
You can always find a razor lying in the road
And it's looking like you better do what they say
Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around
Heaven's a name and the river is brown
With all the mud and the rain, it never settles down
It never settles down
I knew you well, I know you best
Everybody owes something to everybody else
Gabriel gave me some news to give to you
Maybe taken for granted, you've nothing better to do
And it's looking like you better do what they say
Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around
Heaven's a name and the river is brown
With all the mud and the rain, it never settles down
It never settles down
A baby mouth and I the breast
A lazy bone, an eagle eye
Circling a city that's higher than the sky
Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around
Heaven's a name and the river is brown
With all the mud and the rain, it never settles down
It never settles down
But no one likes a beggar slightly overdressed
Trouble comes in funky clothes
You can always find a razor lying in the road
Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around
Heaven's a name and the river is brown
With all the mud and the rain, it never settles down
It never settles down
Everybody owes something to everybody else
Gabriel gave me some news to give to you
Maybe taken for granted, you've nothing better to do
Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around
Heaven's a name and the river is brown
With all the mud and the rain, it never settles down
It never settles down
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
i believe that most of these lyrics are right, except i feel that when it states, "Those monkeys uptown, I told you not to fuck around", i dont think it should be 'I' but rather, they perhaps. i just dont think it sounds like he says I. thanks for the full lyrics though.
"a baby mouth denied the breast"
Are we sure it's "Those monkeys uptown, I told you not to fuck around" and not "Those monkeys uptown THAT told you not to fuck around"?
Cant post
Firstly, I think these 2 lines should be:
So now having clarified that, I can start with my analysis, if anyone has any other ideas or anything to add I would love to discuss!
From my interpretation of this song the narrator knows the person the song is talking about, maybe it’s someone from their childhood who has turned to religion.
The person the song is about is, imo, a woman with an unwanted pregnancy, so the lines "a baby mouth denied the breast" and "your baby left you unimpressed" are meant in a literal sense. The woman didn’t want to have the baby but was pressured into not aborting, which is what the line "Gabriel gave me some news to give to you: ‘I knew you well, I know you best Everybody owes something to everybody else Never take him for granted, you've nothing better to do’" means especially coming from a person of the church aka the woman's "childhood friend"
This interpretation leads me to believe that the “Monkeys uptown” somehow represent the church, so the line “Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around” is also meant literally.
The woman seems to be in a depressive state, “A lazy bone” I understand as not physical laziness but loss of motivation, but “eagle eyes” on the other hand, tells us that she is painfully aware of her situation and helplessness, which is probably what's causing her depression.
“Circling a city that’s higher than the sky” - I’m not sure about this line, but I think the city might be the church, since it’s always to be respected and it dictates morals, her circling it might mean she doesn’t feel a part of it anymore
“And it's looking like you better do what they say Those monkeys uptown, they told you not to fuck around” - after the intial interpretation I think this part is self-explanatory, fuck around also being meant literally…
“Heaven’s a name and river is brown” - her current reality is bleak and unfulfilling, “the river is brown” compared to this, heaven is only a promise that is used to control and uphold this bleak reality
“With all the mud and the rain, it never settles down” - not sure but it never settling down could mean that in her depressive state she sees no end to her suffering in sight
“Your baby left you unimpressed But no one likes a beggar slightly overdressed” - so here we also notice that the first line is meant literally, and the second is an implication of her asking for too much when she had the audacity to get pregnant in the first place - if she didn’t want to raise a baby she shouldn’t have “fucked around”
“And trouble comes in funky clothes” - something that seems harmless at first but leads to trouble, maybe the man she slept with?
“You can always find a razor lying in the road” - I think she might feel that the razor might be her only escape, but considering the previous line, it could also mean that you might find trouble anywhere, maybe about how she met the guy that got her pregnant
“I knew you well, I know you best” - as mentioned I think this is someone who has known her for a long time and is now part of the church
“Everybody owes something to everybody else Gabriel gave me some news to give to you: "Never take him for granted, you've nothing better to do"” - I think now this line become very clear, she owes her life to raising her baby now that she’s pregnant she doesn’t have anything else going on according to this friend, so she might as well keep and raise the child.
But no one likes a beggar slightly overdressed How true! haha
Just a fun song to listen to...
I hear:
Heaven's a name...
[Edit: Summer in Savannah is the Electric Avenue referenced tune.]