Description: My brother Nyaminche and I wrote this one for Vriesia, our sister when we were quite small. It is less of a song than a chant - meant to be performed for a specific audience as either a round, or in unison for as long as is necessary to produce the required emotional effect. Usually some sort of interpretive dance is also involved. Audience participation is key.
When we finished this one, Nyaminche and I were almost absurdly proud of it. We still are, really.
The Monkey -------------------------------------------
The Monkey
Monkey on the road
Monkey on the road
He's making funny fa-aces
(Monkey on the road)
He's making 'em at you.
Nothing's too deep for kids... look at the nursery rhymes they already have, like "Ring-a-rosy" and such. Children are far more aware and receptive than many people give them credit for.
Now, we can either take this at face value or we can impose our own interpretations. I like imposing. The monkey often represents the wild or the primitive -- and since, if you're not a creationist, we're supposed to be fairly closely linked, then they can also stand for the childhood version of humankind. By that reading I get a message that in growing up (or evolving) we're forgetting the most important thing: how to laugh at ourselves. We consider others objects of ridicule and somehow think we're above that ourselves. So the monkey pulling funny faces is a reminder that at our most primitive level we are capable of something too often debased by our "learned" culture: humour.
Play, absurdity, silliness -- all are frowned on by those who have "grown up". I would postulate that their growing up is nothing more than imposing artificial notions of what is acceptable, and living on terms dictated by some amorphous other. But then, I don't much feel like growing up, so I'm probably biased...
trully remarkable--I am utterly speachless. I can not dare express a word of correction to such a chant---I can hear it--Monkey on the roaaaaaaaad monkey on the roooooooad he's making fuuuuuny faaaaaaaaaces monkey on the road he's making em' at you yeah
I must admit this one is rather deep perhaps too deep for children, It immediately brings to mind a work by the Beatles (Why don’t we do it in the Road) and like in that song this one leads to many permutations of thought, initially it brings to mind the image of a monkey in the road making faces, but as I read it over and over I seem to be transported to primeval jungles, teaming with reptilian horrors, I see Monkeys who learn to shape and form tools, its like a haze of epochs has lifted from my mind and long dormant racial memories have been unleashed, I see parrots in panic, stalking tigers gazelles fleeing in terror, I behold golden glowing funguses with lipid sheen and vegetation so green it gleams and through it all there are always the staring eyes of a gesticulating primate. Oh and I would not change a thing in this one it is perfect, I am just not sure I would give over the power of these words to a child.
Submission Name: The Monkey
