Today’s slow drag is with “Monkey to Man,” from “The Delivery Man,” released in 2004. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. As with the album that this infectious piece is found on, it feels as if it were written in an expansive universe, a universe where each word represents so much more than what each syllable is meant to represent. Never has the notion that Mr. Costello’s genius often stems from standing on the shoulders of giants been clearer or more cutting in its remarks. It’s a loquacious updated tale that takes on big issues as it maintains a surprisingly rigid rhyme scheme throughout. A long time ago, our point of view Was broadcast by Mr. Bartholomew And now the world is full of sorrow and pain And it's time for us to speak up again Now for a reminder of the backstory to this tale. The above-mentioned Mr. Bartholomew is Dave Bartholomew, a famed New Orleans R&B pioneer. His song, “The Monkey,” is a mystified rebuke that asserts that “there’s a certain rumor that just can’t be true / that man descended from our noble race / why the very idea is a big disgrace.” Now, it’s time for the monkeys, from Mr. Costello’s imagined point of view, to “speak up again.” You're slack and sorry / Such an arrogant brood The only purpose you serve is to bring us our food We sit here staring at your pomp and pout Outside the bars we use for keeping you out Notice these lines, so structured, so cunning in their delivery. Slack/sorry/arrogant. The dominating point of view, the bars that humans view as keeping someone or something else in can quite often benefit from keeping others out. The imprisoned pity their captures. The rebuke, clever and cutting, continues. You've taken everything that you wanted Broke it up and plundered it and hunted Ever since we said it You went and took the credit It's been headed this way since the world began When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man Still following the aabb structure, we now have a cc structure tagged onto the end, serving as a bit of a chorus. Wanted/hunted, said it/credit; these rhymes bend and elongate in order to fit together smoothly. The control Mr. Costello has over his pen is as enviable as it is singular. Every time man struggles and fails He makes up some kind of fairytales After all of the misery that he has caused He denies he's descended from the dinosaurs More aabb structure, this time with a swipe at evolution deniers. Perhaps our opposable thumbs have made us a bit cocky over the last 200,000 or so years. Yeah, Mr. Bartholomew’s monkeys speak their mind, “no monkey ever deserted his wife / starved her baby and ruined her life” Points up to heaven with cathedral spires All the time indulging in his base desires Ever since we said it He went and took the credit It's been headed this way since the world began When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man Landing haymakers, all the while keeping within his tight rhyme scheme. In addition to opposable thumbs, it’s the human’s charming base desires that continue to elevate ourselves in our own mind. Indulge in what you’d like; they’re always a church spire somewhere to repent to. But, “…you’ve never known a mother monk to leave her babies with others to bunk / and passed them on from one to another ‘til they scarcely knew who was their mother.” “Yeah, the monkey speaks his mind.” Big and useless as he has become With his crying statues and his flying bomb Goes 'round acting like the chosen one Excuse us if we treat him like our idiot cousin Still speaking of evolution without causing an argument, still staying within the rhyme scheme he’s set for himself; Mr. Costello gently points toward instruments of war and religion as part of the mess the monkeys so called “idiot cousins” have found themselves in. It’s a bridge like this that makes me suspect these words were written in an expansive universe unto itself. Four lines, yet laced with nitroglycerin. He hangs up flowers and bells and rhymes Hoping to hell someone's forgiven his crimes Fills up the air with his pride and praise He's a big disgrace to our beastly ways "And another thing you will never see / a monkey build a fence around a coconut tree / and let all the coconuts go to waste / forbidding other monkeys to come and taste. Yeah, the monkey speaks his mind.” Their “Beastly ways.” What an exercise in irony. “Here’s another thing a monkey won’t do / go out on a night and get in a stew / or use a gun or a club or a knife and take another monkey’s life / yeah, the monkey speaks his mind.” In fashionable nightclubs and finer precincts Man uses words to dress up his vile instincts Ever since we said it He went and took the credit It's been headed this way since the world began When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man It is a delight to hear these words flow as we witness how closely they echo and answer Mr. Bartholomew’s blueprint. This updated story is a blistering tale of ineptitude, of course bravado, and a worldview that, frankly, just isn’t quite right. “yes, man descended, the worthless bum / but brothers, from us he did not come / yeah, the monkey speaks his mind. — Dig it Again, this has been a slow drag with “Monkey to Man” from 2004’s “The Delivery Man.” It’s a stand-alone piece that wasn’t so much inspired by “The Monkey” as it was possessed by it. Both songs, “The Monkey” and “Monkey to Man” delight, charm, and sting in equal measures. Both are told from a keen point of view, challenging long held misnomers of compassion and sophistication. And that’s it for today’s slow drag, my friend. Thank you for listening. Check the show notes for links to “The Monkey,” the music video for “Monkey to Man,” which uses slightly different lyrics, and a bit more about Dave Bartholomew, whose work I’ve quoted throughout. He’s a man who has a staggering 4,000 songs credited to him. He died at age of 100 in 2019. By comparison, Mr. Costello has somewhere around 700 songs to his credit. And, pointing up to cathedral spires, here’s hoping he sees his 100th birthday as well. I encourage you to re-listen to Episode 16 and 17 of “Slow Drag with Remedy,” “I Might Recite a Small Prayer,” and “The Quickening Art,” a slow drag with “Bedlam,” as well as the supplement to that episode. And Episode 27, “Or Maybe I Really Love You,” a slow drag with “Needle Time.” Both episodes are slow drags with more gems from “The Delivery Man.” So, until next time, adieu, my little ballyhoo. Comments are closed.
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AboutSlow Drag with Remedy is an Elvis Costello podcast appreciation. It's an exploration of linguistics, language, poetry, and clever wordplay as framed by the peerless poetry of the modern-day master, Elvis Costello. Slow Drag by Song
Poor Napoleon Alibi Church Underground The Big Light Georgie and Her Rival Joe Porterhouse No Hiding Place 20% Amnesia All This Useless Beauty Let Him Dangle King of Thieves Damnation's Cellar Stripping Paper Pidgin English Riot Act Bedlam The Quickening Art Luxembourg Chemistry Class Living in Paradise My Mood Swings Waiting for the End of the World Little Atoms Two Little Hitlers Crimes of Paris You Tripped at Every Step Needle Time Men Called Uncle Peace in Our Time The Loved Ones I Almost Had a Weakness Our Little Angel Invasion Hit Parade Turpentine Miracle Man A Voice in the Dark The Greatest Thing Satellite Hand in Hand Clubland Tart Glitter Gulch Stations of the Cross Science Fiction Twin Possession This Sad Burlesque Flutter and Wow Soul for Hire After the Fall Blue Chair Monkey to Man Mouth Almighty Watch Your Step ...This Town... Distorted Angel Worthless Thing No Dancing Miss Macbeth Charm School Poor Fractured Atlas Brilliant Mistake My Little Blue Window Suspect My Tears Coal Train Robberies Fish 'n' Chip Papers I Hope You're Happy Now Man Out of Time 13 Steps Lead Down Go Away Sweet Pear The Name of This Thing is Not Love Jimmie Standing in the Rain The Deportees Club The Birds Will Still Be Singing Starting to Come to Me Pay It Back Five Small Words Pretty Words Radio Silence Human Hands Night Rally I'll Wear It Proudly Motel Matches Drum and Bone Harpies Bizarre Nothing Clings Like Ivy Why Won't Heaven Help Me Next Time 'Round The River in Reverse A Room with No Number Clown Strike The Invisible Man My Most Beautiful Mistake All the Rage The Town Where Time Stood Still Episode of Blonde e of Blonde No Flag A Slow Drag with Josephine That Bridge I Burned Sour Milk Cow Blues You Little Fool Spooky Girlfriend Suit of Lights There's a Story in Your Voice Dishonor The Stars The Other Side of Summer Mischievous Ghost They're Not Laughing at Me Now White Knuckles Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind? Black and White World The World and His Wife
God's Comic The First to Leave Green Shirt The Man You Love to Hate Lip Service American Gangster Time Blame It on Cain The Spell That You Cast Lipstick Vogue The Difference Stella Hurt Tears before Bedtime |