"Space Monkey" by John Prine

John Prine has been one of my favorite songwriters since the 60's. His gritty voice and the raw honesty of his lyrics have profoundly affected many listeners, including myself.

I recently ran across the lyrics of a song that he wrote called "Space Monkey". The lyrics are listed below. You can find this song on John's "Live On Tour" album - Release Date: 04/08/1997, Label: OH BOY, Catalog No.: 120015.

You can hear a sample of this song on the Barnes & Noble website at Space Monkey.

You can access the John Prine website at John Prine Website.

"Space Monkey" by John Prine

Space Monkey, Space Monkey
What you doing out there?
Why it's dark as a dungeon
Way up in the air.

Come gather round me
You little monkeys
And a story I'll tell
About a brave young primate
Outer space knew him well.

He was born at the top
Of a big old tree
Way back in 1953.

He could swing through the jungle and hang by his toes
Till they took him to Russia cause they could I suppose.
They dressed him up in a spacesuit and it started to snow.
Shot him off in a rocket where no man would go.

Space Monkey Space Monkey
What you doing out there?
Why it's dark as a dungeon
Way up in the air.

There'll be no one to greet you
When you get back home.
No hammer or sickle
You'll be on your own.

He had plenty of Cuban bananas
And loads of Spam
But he found great difficulty trying
To open the can.

One day he slipped on a banana peel
And the ship lost control.
It spun out of orbit
And shot out the black hole.

It's been four decades now,
That's nine monkey years.
That's a long time for a Space Monkey
To confront all his fears.

Space Monkey Space Monkey
What you doing out there?
Why it's dark as a dungeon
Way up in the air.

There'll be no one to greet you
When you get back home.
No hammer or sickle,
You'll be all on your own.

Space Monkey, Space Monkey
It's time to get real.
The space race is over,
How does it feel?

Cold War's had a heatwave,
Iron Curtain's torn down.
They've rolled up the carpet
In Space Monkey town.

Now Leningrad is Petersburg
And Petersburg's hell.
For a card-carrying monkey
With a story to tell.

The Space Monkey was reportedly last sighted
About a half a block off of Red Square
In a karaoke bar
Having a few drinks with some of his friends.

There was the dog that flew Sputnik
And a blind red-headed, one legged parrot
Who had done some minor research
For Dow Chemical.

They were drinking American Vodka
Imported all the way from Paducah, Kentucky
And reportedly had their arms around each other's shoulders
Singing."Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end".

Space Monkey, Space Monkey
There's nothing to do,
But it's better than living
In a Communist zoo.

There'll be no one to greet you
When you get back home.
No hammer or sickle
You'll be all on you own .