Mr. Monkey Suit

Mr. Monkey Suit

"I don't want your botheration... get away, leave me be!"
--Chuck Berry

1. Monkey Suit / Plastmatics
2. Monkey Man / The Specials
3. Monkey Cage / Felix da Housecat
4. Monkey Talk / Lene Lovich
5. Monkey Business / Sly & Robbie
6. One Monkey Don't Stop No Show / Big Maybelle
7. One Monkey / Goodie Mob
8. Monkey To Man / Elvis Costello & The Imposters
9. Monkey In Your Soul / Steely Dan
10. Monkey See-Monkey Do / Michael Franks
11. Too Much Monkey Business / Chuck Berry
12. Brass Monkey / Beastie Boys
13. Bad Monkey / Richard Thompson
14. Monkey Man* / David Byrne
15. Do The Monkey / King Curtis
16. Shock The Monkey / Don Ho
17. Brass Monkey (Original) / Wild Sugar
18. Can Your Monkey Do The Dog? / Rufus Thomas
19. Mickey's Monkey / Martha Reeves & The Marvelettes
20. Monkey Man* / Rolling Stones
21. I Ain't Gonna Be Your Monkey Man / Willie Dixon
22. The Monkey Speaks His Mind* / Dave Bartholomew

* added to the 8tracks version [Mr. Monkey Suit 2.0]

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Okay Michele and Joshua, here it is. The Plasmatics track was a perfect answer to Michele's monkey suit moniker. Lots of great stuff here. I've been looking to put this Chuck Berry track on a mix for about a year. The Don Ho cover of "Shock The Monkey" is oddly, strangely brilliant! Martha and the Marvelettes kick Smokey's ass on this cover of "Mickey's Monkey." Man, is Motown cool! I always laugh when I hear Michael Franks--how can someone so square-sounding be so funky? Too perfect that I get Chicago House and Sly & Robbie on one mix. The Beastie Boys cover and Wild Sugar original is a nice touch here. I love the Big Maybelle track--cool stuff. We close with Willie Dixon, American R&B bass hero songwriter genius. Oh, and the photo above is original photo art by G-Fab (chimp photo found online, Warholized by yours truly).

MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS: This mix is going to take the award for most vanity listens.* I just love this thing. In the office, in the car, here at home. Geez. So, more random thoughts. Love the transition from Big Maybelle to Goodie Mob. "One monkey don't stop no show," indeed! The Elvis Costello track is just fantastic. I tune him out for years at a time, but what a great band and a great song. Check out the video below: jugglers, bikini dancers, cops, funny subtitles, whew! "Verse Two: Wherein the Monkey Explains Evolution To The Lesser Species." Love the gorilla vacuuming at the end. The Plasmatics track is just perfect. That's Michael Rose, formerly of Black Uhuru singing on the Sly & Robbie track--fantastic vocal, reminds me of Cheb Khaled a little bit. I love that reggae thing where the singer catches you off guard by yelling "yeah" at just the right time. The Richard Thompson track is very recent (Sweet Warrior, 2007). Great guitar solos--that guy is amazing. "Bad Monkey" is great anthem to saying no to codependence. "He goes from joy to suicide about fifteen times a day / Here's the thing to scream aloud from a hundred miles away..." I'm not coming on the roller coaster with you! [insert brilliant guitar solo. ]





Years ago I would have thought that this Elvis Costello video was really, really, really sexist. I think I still do. That didn't stop me from posting it here, you notice. It's hysterically funny. I think Elvis actually gets hit in the face with a juggling pin. And the gold wallpaper... the gold wallpaper! Gotta dig the self-referential This Year's Model reference at the beginning.

In other news, I made a serious error with the "Shock the Monkey" cover. That isn't Praga Khan, it's Don Ho! That's right... Don *freakin'* Ho! Check it out:





* "Vanity Listen" is the term I coined for listening to your own mix. It's a variant of the term "Vanity Google," which is the practice of Googling yourself (which is not very gratifying if you have a common name like Steve Robinson).