The monk the monk the monk

Subject: The monk the monk the monk
From:
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 05:25 AM

Does anyone know a song that has a chorus that ends: "the monk, the monk, the monk"? It also says something about an animal (elephant or rhinocerous?) combing its hair in the moonlight or something like that.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Quincy
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 05:28 AM

Hi Jay,
Try this!
Animal Fair
best wishes, Yvonne

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Quincy
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 05:33 AM

Found more verses!!
Clicky
^^
regards, Yvonne

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Noreen
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 06:45 AM

Oh but........ We've always sung:

But what became of the monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey....

And there's no skunk in the 'English' version:

The monkey fell out of his bunk
And slid down the elephant's trunk...

Noreen

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Ferrara
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 03:49 PM

Well, the way real people (including my father) sang it before the PC mania hit was, "The monkey he got drunk, And sat on the elephant's trunk, The Elephant sneezed and Fell on his knees, And that was the end of the monk, the monk, the monk, and that was the end of the monk."

This is how the first verse is given in Quincy's version, actually.

The skunk is to make it more PC, I guess.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 05:53 PM

I searched the blue DigiTrad box for [animal fair] and came up with nothing, but SuperSearch found it in the Digital Tradition here (click) (with a drunk monkey). There's a thread on the song here (click).
Joe Offer-

link fixed:-)
- elf/joeclone -

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Barbara
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 06:22 PM

Yeah, I learned it with a drunk munk, too. My mother sings it that way.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Susan of DT
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 06:57 PM

But it is right here in the Digital Tradition

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: 2feathers
Date: 30 Sep 00 - 10:10 PM

My late husband usedd to sing this. I remember a few lines "I went to the animal fair The birds and the beasts were there A big baboon by the light of the moon Was combing his long brown hair The monkey he got drunk And slid down the elephant's trunk the elephant sneezed and fell on his knees And what became of the monk, the monk, the monk..."

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 04:39 AM

Our baboon has auburn hair.... a tad more romantic.....

LTS

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From:
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 05:14 AM

Wow, guys, thanks! I wasn't sure I'd get even one reply, much less 10! You were all very helpful. Next time I "put a couple of my best people on it", I'll have to include this Web site. Thank you.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 11:26 PM

LTS, I learned auburn hair, too, even though I'm Amurrican. I believe it's in Jerry Silverstein's beginning folk guitar book. And Jay, pull up a cookie and join Mudcat -- it's easy, free, and fun. (Warning: may be addictive...)

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Amos
Date: 01 Oct 00 - 11:58 PM

Auburn was definitely the original. And no skunks.

A

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 02 Oct 00 - 12:11 AM

My Mom sang this one to me when I was two or three.The imagery was striking to me,with an eerie,dreamlike quality (the big baboon by the light of the moon combing his auburn hair).I always got a little upset about the end of monk.Impressionable tot,I was.

Subject: ADD: The Ecumenical Fair (parody)
From: DonMeixner
Date: 02 Oct 00 - 12:39 AM

The Ecuminical Fair, By Don, Greg, Geof, and Bekka Meixner, made up on the ferry from Cape Vincent to Wolfe Island and Kingston Ontario in the summer of 1990

At the ecuminical fair,

The nuns and priests were there,

Congregations crooned a gospel tune

with the Hell-Fired preachers there.

You aught to have the monk!

The barrels of wine he drunk.

The Bishop wheezed and feel to his knees

as he prayed for the soul of the Monk,

the monk, the monk

He prayed for the soul of the monk.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: GUEST,aspoonojello
Date: 07 Jul 03 - 10:56 PM

You guys are GREAT! I wanted to do an Art project based on this song my grandfather used to sing and never thought I'd find anything about it!! It took me 2 min. online to find this thread! thanks!!

Lonesome EJ I have the same memories of this song, almost scarry!

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: GUEST,laurel
Date: 08 Mar 10 - 10:07 PM

Here's how we learned it (in 5th grade music class--ca. 1970)

I went to the animal fair
The birds and the beasts were there
The gay baboon by the light of the moon
was combing his auburn hair
The monkey he got drunk
And sat on the elephant's trunk
The elephant sneezed
and fell on his knees
And that was the end of the monk
(the monk, the monk ,the monk,
the monk, the monk, the monk, the monk)

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: GUEST,Don Meixner
Date: 08 Mar 10 - 11:38 PM

When my Mom sang this to the kids in my house I had never heard of Auburn hair. The only Auburn I ever heard of was the small city of Auburn, NY about 15 miles from where we lived. I remember thinking the monkeys head was covered with a little city in the hair and his fleas drove very small cars.

What a mind.

Don

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: GUEST,Guest, Candy Burnett
Date: 25 Sep 11 - 01:04 PM

I'm nearly 70, and have been looking (not very diligently, I'll admit) for the words to this song, since my grandfather used to sing it to me when I was very little. Remembering it as "The Monkey Song" and not "The Animal Fair", I was very glad to finally find it here. Thank you. And I do believe the words are "auburn hair" as baboons are pretty much an auburn color.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: CapriUni
Date: 25 Sep 11 - 01:24 PM

Okay. Now I'm going to have this song stuck in my head... Does anyone know the origin? Who wrote it? Etc.?

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 25 Sep 11 - 02:23 PM

Never had this one sung to me as a child, but I remember Richard Dreyfus singing it onscreen in The Big Fix.

Lin

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: PHJim
Date: 25 Sep 11 - 08:59 PM

I seem to recall Jesse Fuller singing this on an old vinyl record from the sixties. Anyone else remember this? It also had San Francisco Bay Blues on it.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Reiver 2
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 03:02 PM

My dad's mother used to sing this to me when I was a youngster. She sang it as "The Animal Fair" version posted by Guest Laurel, word for word except it was an "old baboon" with no indication of his sexual orientation. He DID have auburn hair! Brings back a lot of happy memories!

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: PHJim
Date: 26 Sep 11 - 11:56 PM

I don't know how old Laurel is, but Laurel's version also made no mention of the baboon's sexual orientation. When this song was written, the word "gay" meant happy or carefree.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jun 14 - 03:03 AM

We went to the animal fair the birds and the bee's were there the old raccoon by the light of the moon was combing his golden hair the monkey he got drunk and sat on the elephants trunk the elephant sneezed and fell to his knees and that was the end of the monk the monk the monk.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 27 Jun 14 - 10:05 AM

my dad used to sing this to us, slightly different version, back in the 1950's

I went to the animal fair
The animals all were there
The big baboon by the light of the moon
Was combing his auburn hair
The monkey, he got drunk
And sat on the elephant's trunk
The elephant sneezed
And fell on his knees
And that was the end of the monk, the monk, the monk.

it was a big favorite of ours... lol and the only way to stop my brother's incessant "you wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsident"... aaahhhhh!!!!

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: bassen
Date: 27 Jun 14 - 10:45 AM

And I was the one who started the other thread that Joe posted a link to. That was in 1998... I've been hanging around here longer than I realized!

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jun 14 - 11:54 AM

If I'm not mistaken, a bit of that song was used in the 1959 film Face of Fire starring James Whitmore and Cameron Mitchell. Whitmore played a popular handyman named Monk who is horribly scarred in a fire and is then shunned by nearly all of the townspeople. I was very young, but I think that was my first exposure to the song. (The film was an adaptation of the story "The Monster" by Stephen Crane.)



Jay

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 27 Jun 14 - 12:00 PM

GUEST above was cookie-less me.

J.

Subject: RE: The monk the monk the monk
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Jun 14 - 02:48 PM

My twins' dad used to sing this. Auburn hair, no skunk, monk monk monk.