Top 10 ‘monkey’ songs

This week saw the release of the latest in the Planet Of The Apes franchise ”ËœThe Rise of The Planet Of the Apes’ ”“ The film is essentially a prequel explaining how our nearest relatives got so damn clever. The primates featured are smart and in the remainder of the films we see them get smarter still, until we are herded like cattle and treated to a like of servitude; however, smart as our cousins might have become they don’t appear to have discovered rock ”Ëœn’ roll – or is that on the Directors Cut?

So here we list ten tracks featuring all things primate as a mark of respect to our cousins.

1. Pixies ”ËœMonkey Gone To Heaven’ ”“ Appeared on the bands 1989 album ”ËœDoolittle’ and examined environmentalism and biblical numerology, no less.

2. Toots & The Maytals ”ËœMonkey Man’ ”“ Initially released in 1969, and climbed into the UK Top 40, the song was a not so subtle swipe at the bands producer Leslie Kong. The song has more recently been covered both The Specials and Amy Winehouse.

3. National Velvet ”ËœSex Gorilla’ ”“ In 2003 Canada’s (only goth band?) National Velvet for reasons best known to themselves opened their ”ËœCourage’ album with the track ”ËœSex Gorilla’. Apparently the track was called ”ËœSarsaparilla’ but when played live it was frequently mis-heard as sex gorilla ”“ oh how they must all have laughed”¦.

4. Noise Box ”ËœMonkey Ass’ ”“ 1995 release by Seattle based EBM/Industrial band Noise Box. Sadly we have no idea why they play such close attention to our cousin’s nether regions…

5. Pest ”ËœChimps’ ”“ Appeared on the 2005 Ninja Tune released album ”ËœPat Pong’ ”“ Another track we are struggling to find some details about, anyone got a few clues?

6. Elvis Costello ”“ Mr McManus is obviously a man who appreciates his cousins for on his 2005 ”ËœClub Date ”“ Live in Memphis’ DVD he featured two tracks with ”Ëœmonkey’ in the title; ”ËœMonkey To Man’ and ”ËœThe Monkey’

7. The Beastie Boys ”ËœBrass Monkey’ ”“ Taken as a single from the 1987 ”ËœLicenced To Ill’ album ”“ The title refers to a strong alcoholic drink, and is mentioned numerous times throughout the song.

8. The Kinks ”“ 1971 and The Kinks released ”ËœApeman’ ”“ the Ray Davies composed track has Davies fed up with the modern world and declare that he wants to “sail away to a distant shore and make like an apeman”. He also expresses how man created our problems and, given half a chance, he would leave the cities and traffic to live in the jungle.

9. Peter Gabriel ”ËœShock The Monkey’ ”“ Released in 1982, and mistakenly believed to be an animal rights song; Gabriel states that the song is “a love song that examines how jealousy can release one’s baser instincts; the monkey is not a literal monkey, but a metaphor for one’s feelings of jealousy”

10. Devo ”ËœGo Monkey Go’ – Not surprising for a band devoted to the theory of devo-lution, that they name check those only a few genes behind us in the evolutionary ladder. ”ËœGo Monkey Go’ was actually used in the theme to the 2005 film ”ËœThe Powerpuff Girls’