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.
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.