Shock The Monkey

"Shock the Monkey" is a 1982 song by Peter Gabriel. It was released as a single and peaked at number 29 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart. The song was Gabriel's first Top 40 hit in the US. In the UK, the song charted at number 58. It was included on Gabriel's fourth self-titled album, issued in the U.S. as Security. As well as its "relentlessly repeated hook" that "sounded nothing like anything else on the radio at the time", the track is known for its popular and somewhat disturbing music video featuring Gabriel (in white face paint) and a frightened-looking capuchin monkey.

Interpretation

Due to its title and the content of the 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. It is neither, although another Gabriel song, "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)", from his 1986 album So, does deal directly with Milgram. Gabriel himself 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.

Peter Gabriel

Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and humanitarian activist who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. His 1986 album, So, is his most commercially successful, selling five million copies in America, and the album's biggest hit, "Sledgehammer", won a record nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards. The song is the most played music video in the history of the station.

Gabriel has been a champion of world music for much of his career. He co-founded the WOMAD festival in 1982. He has continued to focus on producing and promoting world music through his Real World Records label. He has also pioneered digital distribution methods for music, co-founding OD2, one of the first online music download services.

Gabriel has been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts. 
In 1980, he released the anti-apartheid single "Biko". He has participated in several human rights benefit concerts, including Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! tour in 1988, and co-founded the WITNESS human rights organization in 1992. In collaboration with entrepreneur Richard Branson, Gabriel developed The Elders, which was launched by Nelson Mandela in 2007.

Gabriel has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1987, six Grammy Awards, thirteen MTV Video Music Awards, the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards, and in 2007 he was honoured as a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI London Awards for his "influence on generations of music makers". In recognition of his many years of human rights activism, he received the Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in 2006, and in 2008, TIME magazine named Gabriel one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Gabriel was also awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2007, and the Polar Music Prize in 2009.

Shock The Monkey lyrics

Shock the monkey to life

 Shock the monkey to life

 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

 Monkey, monkey, monkey

 Don't you know when you're going to shock the monkey

 Fox the fox

 Rat the rat

 You can ape the ape

 I know about that

 There is one thing you must be sure of

 I can't take any more

 Darling, don't you monkey with the monkey

 Monkey, monkey, monkey

 Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

 Wheels keep turning

 Something's burning

 Don't like it but I guess I'm learning

 Shock! Watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

 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

 Monkey, monkey, monkey

 Don't you know you're going to shock the monkey

 Too much at stake

 Ground beneath me shake

 And the news is breaking

 Shock! Watch the monkey get hurt, monkey

 Shock the monkey

 Shock the monkey

 Shock the monkey to life