‘Shock the Monkey’ is a song by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. It was released in September 1982 as the first single from his fourth self-titled studio album, issued in the US under the title Security.
The song peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number one on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song was Gabriel's first Top 40 hit in the US. In the UK, the song charted at number 58. According to AllMusic, the song has a "relentlessly repeated hook" that "sounded nothing like anything else on the radio at the time". Billboard called it a "mysterious but infectious track...which melds synthesizers, distinctive vocal and dance rhythms to fresh effect." This was the first Peter Gabriel single to chart higher in America than in his native UK. His American breakthrough came in 1986 with the album So and single "Sledgehammer."
Due to its title and the content of the music video, the song is frequently assumed to be either an animal rights song or a reference to the famous experiments by Stanley Milgram described in his book Obedience to Authority (1974). It is neither, but the Gabriel song ‘We Do What We're Told’ from his fifth studio album So (1986) does deal directly with Milgram. Gabriel has described ‘Shock the Monkey’ as "a love song" that examines how jealousy can release one's basic instincts; the monkey is not a literal monkey, but a metaphor for one's feelings of jealousy. Gabriel has mentioned that the song's lyrical motif was inspired by King Kong's lightning powers in the film King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962).
Audiences at the first WOMAD festival got a preview of "Shock The Monkey" in July 1982 when Gabriel played it in his set along with other tracks from the Security album, which was released a few months later. WOMAD (World Of Music, Arts And Dance) has become a vibrant cultural exchange for those looking to broaden their horizons, but that first festival was a financial calamity, losing so much money that Gabriel, who helped organize it, had to stage a Genesis reunion concert to pay off creditors.
Label – Geffen
Songwriter – Peter Gabriel
Producers – David Lord, Peter Gabriel
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Cover me when I run
Cover me through the fire
Something knocked me out the trees, now I'm on my knees
Cover me, darling, please
[Chorus]
Hey, hey, hey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?
Hey, hey
[Verse 2]
Fox the fox, rat on the rat
You can ape the ape, I know about that
There is one thing you must be sure of
I can't take anymore
Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey
Hey, hey, hey
[Chorus]
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?
Hey, hey
Shock the monkey
Hey, hey, hey, yeah
[Post-Chorus]
Monkey
Wheels keep turning
A monkey
Something's burning
Monkey
Don't like it, but I guess I'm learning
Shock, shock, shock
Watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Shock, shock, shock
Watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
[Verse 3]
Cover me when I sleep
Cover me when I breathe
You throw your pearls before the swine, make the monkey blind
Cover me, darling, please
[Chorus]
Hey, hey, hey
Monkey, monkey, monkey
Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey?
Hey, hey
Shock the monkey
Hey, hey, hey, yeah
[Post-Chorus]
Monkey
Too much at stake
A monkey
Ground beneath me shake
Monkey
And the news is breaking
Shock, shock, shock
Watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
Shock, shock, shock
Watch the monkey get hurt, monkey
[Outro]
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey, hey, hey
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey to life (Huh, huh, huh)
Shock the monkey to life
Shock the monkey (Shock the monkey) (Huh, huh, huh)
Shock the monkey (Shock the monkey) (Huh, huh, huh)
Shock the monkey (Shock the monkey) (Huh, huh, huh)
Shock the monkey (Shock the monkey)
Shock the monkey (Shock the monkey)
Shock the monkey (Shock the monkey)
Shock the monkey
Shock the monkey to life