Monkey Gone To Heaven

Pixies [Doolittle]

There was a guy
An under water guy who controlled the sea
Got killed by ten million pounds of sludge
From New York and New Jersey

This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven

The creature in the sky
Got sucked in a hole
Now there's a hole in the sky
And the ground's not cold
And if the ground's not cold
Everything is gonna burn
We'll all take turns
I'll get mine too

This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven

Rock me Joe

If Man is five
If Man is five
If Man is five
Then the Devil is six
Then the Devil is six
Then the Devil is six
The Devil is six
And if the Devil is six
Then God is seven
Then God is seven
Then God is seven

This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven
This monkey's gone to Heaven

Song Strips for small classes

Song strips are simply strips of card, one per line of the song. Shuffle them up and then give out one to each student. Students take turns reading their lines and asking questions if they have any problems with meaning. Repeat the process until all the strips are given out. Next find the title and put it at one end of the table as a starting point. Make sure everyone has their strips laid out so that all are visible and explain the idea of building the song up together. You can mention that you will play the song more than once. Keep playing the song until all the strips are in the right order or very nearly. Finally give out the lyrics sheet and play one more time as required.

Song Strips for large classes

Either put the students into groups of 4-6 and use multiple sets of strips or make one large set. Students aim to stand side by side and display each line in order. If necessary some students can hold two lines, one in each hand. Alternatively the students can aim to walk past a monitor who has a copy of the lyrics. If someone is out of order they can stand to one side and try again when the song is played again. Either way, make sure to go through the song one strip at a time randomly for reading and meaning before playing the song.

Commentary

A rare (for the Pixies) environmentally themed song. Run-time around 3 minutes. The Official Video for the song can be found on YouTube.

See if the students can come up with reasons why man is 5, the devil is 6 and God is 7. The lyrics are deliberately cryptic and intended as surreal. There's not much of a rhyming structure for students to work out but since so many lines repeat one fun exercise is have the students read repeat lines in different ways.

Put up 30th April 2018