Back to top

Tweeter and the Monkeyman

Written by 
Tabbed by 

Recorded May 1988 during the first Traveling Wilburys sessions, and included on Traveling Wilburys vol. 1
 

  .     :   .   .   .     :   .   .   .     :   .   .   .
------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
----0-|-3---0---0-0-----|---------------0-|-3---0---0-0-----|
--3---|-------3---------|-----------0-3---|-------3---------|
        
Am                              G
Tweeter and the Monkey Man were hard up for cash.
            F                    Am
They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash
      Am                       G
To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan.
    F                       Am
For reasons unexplained, she loved the Monkey Man.
        
Tweeter was a boy scout before she went to Vietnam
And found out the hard way nobody gives a damn.
They knew that they found freedom just across the Jersey Line,
So they hopped into a stolen car, took Highway 99.
        
        Am               Em7
And the walls came down, all the way to hell
      D                                     Am
Never saw them when they're standing, never saw them when they fell
        
          Am                D     Am
    .     :   .   .   .     :   .   .
--------|-----------------|-2-2---0---
--------|-----------------|-3-3---1---
--------|-----------------|-2-2---2---
--------|-----------------|-0-0---2---   x2
------0-|-3---0---0-0-----|-------0---
--0-3---|-------3---------|-----------
        
The undercover cop never liked the Monkey Man
Even back in childhood he wanted to see him in the can
Jan got married at fourteen to a racketeer named Bill
She made secret calls to the Monkey Man from a mansion on the hill.
        
It was out on Thunder Road, Tweeter at the wheel.
They crashed into paradise, they could hear them tires squeal
The undercover cop pulled up and said "Everyone of you's a liar
If you don't surrender now, it's gonna go down to the wire.
        
And the walls came down, all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing, never saw them when they fell
        
An ambulance rolled up, a state trooper close behind
Tweeter took his gun away and messed up his mind
The undercover cop was left tied up to a tree
Near the souvenir stand by the old abandoned factory
        
Next day the undercover cop was hot in pursuit
He was taking the whole thing personal, he didn't care about the loot
Jan had told him many times it was you to me who taught
In Jersey anything's legal as long as you don't get caught
        
And the walls came down, all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing, never saw them when they fell
        
Someplace by Rahway Prison they ran out of gas
The undercover cop had cornered them said "Boy, you didn't think that this could last"
Jan jumped out of the bed, said "There's someplace I gotta go"
She took a gun out of the drawer and said "It's best if you don't know"
        
The undercover cop was found face down in a field
The monkey man was on the river bridge using Tweeter as a shield
Jan said to the Monkey Man, "I'm not fooled by Tweeter's curl
I knew him long before he ever became a Jersey girl"
        
And the walls came down, all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing, never saw them when they fell
        
Now the town of Jersey City is quieting down again
I'm sitting in a gambling club called the Lion's Den
The TV set been blown up, every bit of it is gone
Ever since the nightly news show that the Monkey Man was on
        
I guess I'll go to Florida and get myself some sun
There ain't no more opportunity here, everything's been done
Sometime I think of Tweeter, sometime I think of Jan
Sometime I don't think about nothing but the Monkey Man
        
And the walls came down, all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing, never saw them when they fell

And the walls came down, all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standing, never saw them when they fell
        

Contact

Corrections, additions, questions? Contact me