But it's the first thing I thought of when I'd heard that New Orleans giant Dave Bartholomew (born in 1918) died this week. Because he wrote with Fats Domino and arranged and produced most of the Fat Man's legion of hits, Dave Bartholomew's own music--especially 1957's "The Monkey"--has been all but forgotten.
In short, it's a brilliant tune, co-written with Pearl King, that took a back seat to the A-side of Bartholomew's single, "The Shufflin' Fox." Like the best of Willie Dixon or Bo Diddley, "The Monkey" is downhome philosophizing over a nagging guitar vamp, combining the evils of the world with a bit of absurdity, hitting a home run in the process.
It starts as the monkey "speaks his mind," saying that the idea is going around that humankind ("mankind" in those days) "descended from our noble race," which to a civilized ape is a "big disgrace." The monkey then contrasts our ridiculous human culture with the integrity of his brethren in a series of observations, starting with, "no monkey ever deserted his wife/starved her baby and ruined her life," and ending with "no monkey ever used a gun or a club or a knife/to take another monkey's life."
If that's not enough ill will, there's a bit in the song where Bartholomew notes how monkeys would never build a fence around a coconut tree, letting the coconuts rot rather than distributing them. It's an analysis that humankind seems to have forgotten in its own feeble rush to self-satisfaction and ownership of things that should be available to all. And I'll bet that if it had been written in 2019, "The Monkey" would speak to the indefensible things the U.S. is doing to would-be immigrants in disease-ridden detention centers.
I'll forgive Dave Bartholmew for writing that "Little Girl Sing Ding-a-Ling" song circa 1952 that Chuck Berry modified (I'm being charitable here) and took to the top of the charts in the 1970s. Instead, I want to thank him for being responsible for "Blue Monday," "Ain't That a Shame," "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday," "Poor Me" and so many extraordinary Fats Domino hits that still stand up today.