The Rolling Stones - Monkey Man | REACTION/REVIEW

[@vicprovost2561]

One of their best songs on one of their very best albums, Let It Bleed, has been in rotation at this address since it came out. They simply are one of the best and still touring in 2024, 62+ years and still rocking, freaking amazing! From their great 2023 album, Hackney Diamonds, do Sweet Sounds of Heaven with Lady Gaga helping out. No band in my lifetime has had a longer or greater career. Enjoy! 🎵🎸🎤🎸🎹🎷🎶

[@Jamesscearce]

The Stones have created some of the greatest song intros of all time, this is one the best...

[@rayezzo8889]

"Well I hope we're not too messianic or a trifle too satanic. " What a great line

[@FrankUli]

everything the Stones ever done was in my opinion awesome, I can't get enough of your venture into the oldies, Biz you rock, thanks for sharing this great tune with all of us.

[@starfire6122]

I feel the same!✌️💞

[@lewismaddox4132]

The Monkey refers to an addiction to Smack.

[@pb68slab18]

Monkey on yer back!

[@lukeleia7616]

The Stones were a big time smack/Heroin/Dope band among other substances. Keith allegedly had his entire blood supply replaced in prep for a tour. Whether it helped a quick clean out, who knows.😢

[@stayclean777]

​@@lukeleia7616Monkey Man, despite the 1st verse "junkie" reference - **not really true** - and despite the expression "monkey on your back" (re. addiction), is not about drugs at all. Monkey Man is an old blues expression for gay, a pose Mick played with in the 70's... starting I think in '69 with this song.

[@lewismaddox4132]

​@@stayclean777, you sound like you have some insight which l always appreciate. However, why is he then glad she is a monkey woman...too?

[@nuts45150]

Recorded in April 1969, the song's introduction features distinctive vibraphone, bass, guitar, and piano. Richards plays main riff and slide guitar solo, Jagger provides vocals, producer Jimmy Miller plays tambourine, Nicky Hopkins plays piano, Charlie Watts provides drums, while Bill Wyman plays vibraphone and bass. Wyman's vibraphone is mixed onto the left channel together with Hopkins' piano.

[@nuts45150]

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote "Monkey Man" as a tribute to Italian pop artist Mario Schifano, whom they met on the set of his movie Umano Non Umano! (Human, Not Human!)

[@Lexwell_Lavers]

Great album. Beggar's Banquet to Some Girls albums is their creative peak.

[@ohfour-seven6228]

The Stones were always the funkiest of the classic rock bands. From the same album, check out Live With Me and the fantastic title cut, Let It Bleed. Both have a fantastic groove. Amazing album!

[@stonehobson2487]

The "Monkey Man" was an Italian artist they knew who made independent films and painted. Schifano or something. He lived a wild life, as described in the schlyrics. A lot of alternative artists were written about back then, like Warhol, Lou Reed, Frank Zappa.

[@whoneedssantawhenthereisgr1724]

One of my favorites, I like this era of the Stones.

[@Gordy63]

Greatest rock band ever IMO. The run from Beggars Banquet to Exile on Main Street continues to feed my soul 50+ years after they were released! Amazing stuff. I suggest a deep cut next from the Exile album - “Ventilator Blues” - so gritty, raw and awesome!

[@Rocknroll-ig5iy]

Ventilator blues one of my favorites just describes the whole scene at the time

[@davidwolfson7060]

I just love how all the food groups are added with the music blues and rock in this song. It smacks hard, cold and hot. It is so real like too. Pure Genius!!! Thanks, Rolling Stones.

[@Brandi6666]

This is the only stones era that i truely appreciate❤️🤘somegirls album is killer too. James browns style all over

[@deeg8849]

3:09 just listen to that f-in groove

[@susanmurray7654]

Deep cuts!!!! Takes me back to listening to ALbUMS! Liner notes cover art and sometimes a poster or lyrics! Those were the days my friends. No ear buds, big fat puffy headphones! Lots of times Ibeas too young to understand all the references but the music was always banging!

[@JoeSmith-ey2xp]

That riff is f'ing FIRE!

[@gtplumbing2004]

I f-in love this song. It never gets old. Imagine sitting in a garage with your friends and busting out this song.

[@dead_beat_poet]

'I'm a cold Italian pizza' will always be one of the greatest lyrics of all time

[@ScottDeBerg]

“Salt of the Earth”, with lead vocals from Keith Richards, is also a highlight off this superb album.

[@ohfour-seven6228]

Love that song! Beggar's Banquet is one of my all time favorite albums.

[@davescurry69]

No, "Salt Of The Earth" is the closing track on BEGGARS BANQUET. And while Keith does song the opening verse, Mick sings the rest - and bulk - of the song.

[@ohfour-seven6228]

Beggars Banquet is one of my only two on a desert island picks, the other being Music From Big Pink by The Band.@@davescurry69

[@kerryknight228]

It’s off Beggar’s Banquet.

[@maryellenazack4466]

R & R circus 🎪

[@Bigfrank88]

Gimme Shelter gets all the credit but the bit with Monkey Man in Goodfellas is ‘chefs kiss’

[@clifton8929]

Great song, and as always, I stay to the end to hear your amazing and entertaining commentary. People need to watch your videos right to the end. The Big Sou BizMatik is excellent from the start to the finish.

[@patrickvecchio8138]

You really picked a great one here 👍

[@johnbordach4195]

The guitar, the guitar, the guitar! ...and the piano.

[@dougieyou]

This is the Stones at their best....RAW....RAW>>> "I'M A Monkey Baby """"... this rocks like no other stones song...love the piano....

[@FantomWireBrian]

And Taylor would never have been without Keith. Taylor added some sugar, but sweetness has nothing to do with this tune. It still gives me the chills 😛❗

[@deeg8849]

The single greatest rock n roll band ever - forever and ever

[@johnhearne1674]

great reaction! it's like i'm hearing the song for the first time when i hear you break it down. amazing! many thanks to you.

[@hollywoodpotato5289]

FUCK YEAH! Stones Forever!

[@jhamler1]

I love the Stones' deep cuts. One you oughta check out next is called FINGERPRINT FILE. Super groovy waist-level funk from their Seventies era.

[@mikecaetano]

Banger! Charlie Watts, RIP. "Monkey Man" is the underrated masterpiece from their Let It Bleed album. The studio version is haunting, edgy, and funky, with an instrumental passage that pointed the way for the second half of Derek & The Dominos "Layla" to walk a year or so later. The lyrics reflect on the decadence and debauchery of the rock and roll lifestyle The Rolling Stones led in the sixties. Social prudes back then likely tossed "monkey man" at them as an epithet in the same vein as those racist fools in Europe who sometimes throw bananas at Black soccer players. Those fools wish so badly that we human beings were angels, yet their behavior betrays the fact that ultimately we are all apes.

[@doplinger1]

One of my favorites!

[@JohnLancaster-b5x]

"Monkey on your back" meant you were struggling with heroin back in the sixties.

[@leemcclements8889]

Zeppelins Nobody's Fault But Mine also references the Monkey on the back

[@Tuesdays_Gone]

@@leemcclements8889Skynyrd’s song, THAT SMELL references that too.

[@stayclean777]

Jagger wasn't into heroin, this song isn't about dope. It never actually references "monkey on my (or your) back", despite the teaser line "all my friends are junkies". Keith tho (surprise!) explicitly refers to "that damn monkey" in the opening track of his 2nd solo l.p. Main Offender. It's a great track..."999" (the British equivalent of our 911).

[@Michael-md1pf]

Definitely in the top 5 Rolling Stones songs.

[@marymargaretmoore9034]

Love this song and this album!

[@BluesJammer69]

The older Stones albums are the best! love it!

[@leemcclements8889]

Not a big Stones fan, but I love this song! You are killing it tonight!

[@billfish7359]

More Stones & Thank You!!!

[@RJ-oy7cq]

He's saying we are all just monkeys...though we think are more.

[@petermorgan5303]

That's a banger Biz! Thank you

[@jasperstreak7865]

MONKEY MAN IS MY FAVORITE STONES TUNE., HANDS DOWN🏆

[@ronaldelliott4373]

Love this album. Great request, and of course great reaction. 😎

[@donevans2299]

Great tune, great album

[@John_Locke_108]

Perhaps my favorite Stones record.

[@cletushouse906]

Saw them do this live. Haven’t been the same since.

[@stonehobson2487]

Hilarious.

[@lathedauphinot6820]

I LIKE this song. Funky + Rock & Roll + I don’t know, Country? With keyboard master Nicky Hopkins = The Rolling Stones. Thank you for this. Maybe some “Stray Cat Blues” sometime? It sounds like it would fit right in in swinging Atlanta.

[@jasonmccluskey3623]

Here we go!

[@savorsalvagescent2300]

Glad I “found” your channel… really enjoying listening. This is one of my favorite albums, find it perfect + visceral. This really set the tone in “Goodfellas.” It’s about drugs, heroin… “all my friends are junkies…” and “monkey on the back” is once you’ve formed a habit. But I’d put money on them having done a little swingin’, back then, too. Ha!

[@musicairplanes4884]

My favorite Stones album.

[@joescott8877]

Came for the reaction, stayed for the wild AF story, lmao! "Back to the song," lol! Seriously, tho, back to the song, I think "Monkey" means "addict," maybe , as early on Mick sings "All my friends are junkies!" as you may recall. Whatever he's singing about, the groove is there, and this is from the best period of the Stones (approx 1967-1973) ever!

[@slimpickins9124]

Ya man, this is my "Desert Island" album. If I was marooned on a desert island & I had only one record album for eternity it would be this one...."Let It Bleed".

[@paulprendergast3184]

Biz, a great song off of a great album! Suggest you listen to Get Yer Ya Yas Out. It's a live album from the tour right after this album. Pure 🔥 🔥

[@patricklenehan1778]

Those Vibes..!

[@captjeter2]

love the guitar intro

[@margaretmericle6469]

Awesome reaction as always.

[@jamesoconnor9027]

This song Rules!

[@things.mostlytrue]

love it

[@jdemarco]

Goodfellas brought me here!

[@kengunter6903]

This is a good 1 Biz.

[@Gravel-Idle]

This whole album is fire and i love this track. Great review

[@cindyfalstrom7231]

Excellent...

[@ErikaSMHS]

Hell yes 🙌🏻 Even if it’s about drugs. The groove.

[@sukie584]

Keith playing electric & slide on this.Before Mick Taylor replaced Brian..

[@chuckyoneill9029]

Beatles Stones,😊

[@jackndan6603]

Nice Bizz,love this song. Rock on man!!!😃

[@dt1064]

I've heard this song many times but never knew the title. Just liked the sound and beat.

[@lfader]

Charlie Watts dropin' the Samsonite 👑💥👑

[@Micknkeithable]

Only Mick Jagger can pull off this song. Only Jagger

[@larryh.5229]

I believe this is my fav Stones song👍

[@pb68slab18]

Mick really wanted to be the 5th Monkee!

[@josepheastman1719]

I think he's responding to critics saying the stones are uncivilized, crass, even devil worshippers. So he is kind of comically ,tongue in cheek,calling himself a monkey and hopes stones fans are monkees too.

[@carlmasiello3879]

Keith Richards plays all the guitar parts

[@Lexwell_Lavers]

Richards weaving with himself. With the absence of Brian Jones and no one to replace him Keef did it all. I believe Richards also played most if not all guitar on Beggar's Banquet with Jones to strung out to play or even show up.

[@doriwiljt]

Great song and album. ☮️

[@freeforever6971]

The stones!

[@ERIC-65]

Watts hits the Hi hat on the 3 here ! He seldom did !

[@KimLong-v4i]

Sway. Moonlight Mike. I've Got the Blues

[@Mookeedo]

Check out Far Away Eyes. Different vibe again.

[@SonicProfessor_a.k.a._T._Andra]

Nope. ...while this may be one of numerous, simultaneous meanings/references in this song ..."Monkey" is a "reverse flip" on the expression: "Monkey on your back." "Monkey on your back," initially, just expressed: a problem. A continual problem, one that someone has a problem getting rid of or getting away from (etc.). By the point in time that THIS was written, the expression "monkey on your back" had become a common euphemism for: a problem with/an addiction to heroin (H, thereby, being "the monkey.") That-is-to-say: horse wasn't the ONLY possible "monkey" ...however, among such subsegments of the populace such as: musicians, fashion models, 🤷🤷 ...the most common usage would have been: a reference to a heroin problem (or someone with one). ...So, my understanding of this was always that: The protagonist in the song is so dope-fiending now that he's happy he's with a woman who is in the same situation/state-of-mind. -Otherwise they couldn't 'understand' each other/be around one another/enjoy each others' company (although addicts DON'T enjoy company, at all! Solely: the company of the horse! 🤦😭 ...I am not certain of all of the chronological specifics, here ...but Keith (absolutely) and Mick, as well, ...Keith was heavy on the dope and Mick was. either, "coming out of" a deep dive, trying to avoid going 'back in' or starting to fall back in, already. This was just prior to the "major cocaine phase," as well ... So: "Monkey Man" is, most probably, a dope fiend.

[@Micknkeithable]

He was compared to a performing monkey by a British press writer. He wrote about the perception of the OG rock star

[@davescurry69]

Great choice Biz. The Stones closed out the '60's with arguably the greatest album of that decade. LET IT BLEED is as close to perfect an album as you will find. Check out the title track and the awesome "Midnight Rambler".

[@MikeWalsh-f1g]

Biz I have a suggestion for another kind of obscure but awesome Stones song that has that witty or peculiar lyrics: Jigsaw Puzzle.

[@deeg8849]

Monkey ain’t about swinging, monkey is a reference to drugs and the energy off the smack. Sure it grooves, but it has a whole other vibe as well (triffle too satanic)

[@PeaceandQuiet12345]

YES THANK YOU!!! NOW WE ARE TALKING. AS I HAVE TOLD YOU NEVER EVER EVER AS GOOD AS WHEN MICK TAYLOR WAS THEIR LEAD GUITARIST. DO ALL THE MICK TAYLOR YOU CAN

[@hog7203]

If I could only own one Stones' album I think it would be Let It Bleed.

[@kevinryan9251]

You blew your chance man, 😂 BTW the song is about having a monkey on his back (addiction)

[@fredtello]

they should play this at the Super Bowl as the black national anthem

[@carolbaumgart3773]

Do this song live with Lisa Fischer….amazing

[@lfader]

🌟 Gretsch 🌟

[@67lenzo]

Check out far away eyes

[@roadwary]

This had to be remixed because the vocals are drowned out by the music unlike the original

[@mojobag01]

Two long adverts to get to this shit.

[@FantomWireBrian]

Proof that Keith has always been the man on guitar. Taylor provided his Keith influenced guitar work, just too smooth and not as rough as Keith. Rock n roll was never meant to be smooth. Rough and in your face. Any guitar player who thinks this is just a simple song are simple themselves. Brilliant guitar playing and 👍👍 to Charlie and the rest on this 😛❗

[@deeg8849]

2:34. Stones Grooves got ya. I see how it took ya

[@deeg8849]

2:01. But I pulled on through

[@sharonschuetzler6698]

Handsome.... Try "Wild Horse's.... Be Well....

[@PeaceandQuiet12345]

MICK TAYLOR !!!!!!!!

[@jebrindle9380]

'Monkey' from the French word manque, meaning lacking.

[@things.mostlytrue]

evolution sond

[@jamesbogacki4453]

Hand of Fate by the Stones .Monkey Man is about Heroin its nothing new I new older guy who spent 35 years of his life in 5 to 7 year sentences in prison.He died a couple yesrs ago he was 82 years old

[@larryh.5229]

I think that the Mick Taylor era was the dirtiest and best👍

[@verribarry]

Maybe mean-tall was bi.

[@rb9628]

Lesbian story kept me waiting. Find out it has nothing to do with the song 😂