Video Classics: 'Monkey Man' - The Rolling Stones

To honor WNEW's legendary Firecracker 500, every day we are highlighting the music that populated the 1991 and 1996 lists, with classic videos, live performances and little-known facts about the songs and how they came to be...

Coming in at Spot #421 on the 1996 Firecracker 500 is Monkey Man, by the Rolling Stones, a dense and bluesy number. It also contains one of the very few self-referential lyrics in the entire Stones catalog: "I hope we're not too messianic or a trifle too satanic — we love to play the blues"

It's also another song whose lyrics are vague enough to engender speculation as to their true meaning (almost an epidemic among classic rock songs). As Wikipedia notes ...

Some commentators think that the song refers to the Stones' use of drugs at the time of composition. Many fans may best remember the song for its centre and ending. An extended guitar solo by Keith Richards takes over from Mick Jagger's singing near the middle of the song and leads into an arching piano solo by Nicky Hopkins. Jagger resumes singing with the refrain of "I'm a monkey". At one point near the end he begins to scream and wail the line, displaying his vocal range.

A "monkey man" is a man who has sex with a married woman (refer to Blind Boy Fuller's song Pistol Slapper Blues). Jagger is implying that he will have sexual intercourse with married women, innuendo.

Have memories of this song or the Firecracker 500? Add your thoughts to the comments below or take a look at Video Classics past...