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Gorilla Lyrics
He's got arms like legs
He's got hands on his feet
He's got a nose like a doughnut
He's got a tendency to over eat
He don't use tools or weapons
He don't eat meat
He likes to stick to the bushes
Tends to avoid the street
But he rides my El Dorado
When he comes to town
You know he's out there somewhere
Tryin' to track you down
Look up in the sky
Mama that's the one
See the mighty profile
Block the noonday sun
He comes from the heart of darkness
A thousand miles from here
That's the land where they understand
What a woman might like to hear
You know that he loves you baby
For what you really are
His love is a burning hot
As a big old ten cent cigar
Now most of y'all
Have seen a gorilla
In a cage at the local zoo
He mostly sits around contemplating
All the things that he'd prefer to do
He dreams about the world outside
From behind those bars of steel
And no one seems to understand
About the heartache the man can feel
The people stop and stare
But nobody seems to care
It don't seem right somehow
It just don't seem fair
He's still a gorilla
He's got hands on his feet
He's got a nose like a doughnut
He's got a tendency to over eat
He don't use tools or weapons
He don't eat meat
He likes to stick to the bushes
Tends to avoid the street
When he comes to town
You know he's out there somewhere
Tryin' to track you down
Look up in the sky
Mama that's the one
See the mighty profile
Block the noonday sun
A thousand miles from here
That's the land where they understand
What a woman might like to hear
You know that he loves you baby
For what you really are
His love is a burning hot
As a big old ten cent cigar
Have seen a gorilla
In a cage at the local zoo
He mostly sits around contemplating
All the things that he'd prefer to do
He dreams about the world outside
From behind those bars of steel
And no one seems to understand
About the heartache the man can feel
But nobody seems to care
It don't seem right somehow
It just don't seem fair
He's still a gorilla
Song Info
Submitted by
oofus On May 16, 2001
More James Taylor
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Copperline
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I think this song is about the disadvantages black people faced at the time when James Taylor was writing the song.
I was tired so I didn't explain much. The beginning of the song is literally about a gorilla. But there is a literal and abstract interpretation, generally.
Towards the end "the heartache a 'man' " I think he overtly spells it out at that point.
So he's using a gorilla in a cage at a zoo as a metaphor. And this was 1975, wasn't alive then.
JT generally keeps it simple however, he could be a registered member of PETA.
JT generally keeps it simple however, he could be a registered member of PETA.
The best part about James Taylor is the chord voicings he uses. Kind of like John Mayer. He's not your standard G D C guitarist.
Ok, I had to post this. I'm a little drunk so I'm going to be outrageous in the hopes that I get a response from somebody. I don't see my goal being met any other way because most people have never heard this song. But anyways, here we go........ All other responses and all previous commenters are all wrong! Hah ha! This song is probably about 3 common themes that occur in james Taylor's writing; heroin, sex, and most of all, lonliness. The first section is about heroin and the second is about lonliness. James is using gorilla as a metaphor for heroin. He wrote this at the hight of his addiction. "Monkey on my back" is common slang for having a heavy heroin habit. Thus, the gorrilla. A super duper giant heroin habit. The line, "but he rides my el dorado baby, when he comes to town" is describing the draw a junkie has to go back to his habit whenever he's around the drug or around a place where the drug can be found. " Big ol ten cent cigar is a penis reference. I've thought that maybe it's a reference to a loaded syringe with 10 cc's (ten cent cigar) full of heroin, but most likley it's just a penis reference. The second section is about lonliness. James makes himself the monkey isolated in the zoo, all alone. No one understands him behind the bars.