This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
They're driving long nails into coffins
You've been having sleepless nights
You've gone as quiet as a church mouse
And checking on your rights
The boss has hung you out to dry
And it looks as though
They'll punish the monkey
And let the organ grinder go
You've been talking to a lawyer
Are you going to pretend
That you and your employer
Are still the best of friends?
Somebody's going to take the fall
There's your quid pro quo
They'll punish the monkey
Punish the monkey, yeah
They'll punish the monkey
And let the organ grinder go
Here comes a policeman
He won't be sidetracked
He's asking about a smoking gun
He's after the facts
It's a quiet life from here on in
You've dropped your poison cup
The telephone is ringing
But you're not picking up
Time's up, Sir Lord Flunkey
And everybody knows
They'll punish the monkey (punish the monkey)
Punish the monkey, yeah (punish the monkey)
Punish the monkey
And let the organ grinder go
Ooh, punish the monkey (punish the monkey)
Punish the monkey, yeah (punish the monkey)
Punish the monkey
And let the organ grinder go
Punish the monkey
Punish the monkey
Punish the monkey
Yeah, they'll punish the monkey
You've been having sleepless nights
You've gone as quiet as a church mouse
And checking on your rights
The boss has hung you out to dry
And it looks as though
They'll punish the monkey
And let the organ grinder go
You've been talking to a lawyer
Are you going to pretend
That you and your employer
Are still the best of friends?
Somebody's going to take the fall
There's your quid pro quo
They'll punish the monkey
Punish the monkey, yeah
They'll punish the monkey
And let the organ grinder go
Here comes a policeman
He won't be sidetracked
He's asking about a smoking gun
He's after the facts
It's a quiet life from here on in
You've dropped your poison cup
The telephone is ringing
But you're not picking up
Time's up, Sir Lord Flunkey
And everybody knows
They'll punish the monkey (punish the monkey)
Punish the monkey, yeah (punish the monkey)
Punish the monkey
And let the organ grinder go
Ooh, punish the monkey (punish the monkey)
Punish the monkey, yeah (punish the monkey)
Punish the monkey
And let the organ grinder go
Punish the monkey
Punish the monkey
Punish the monkey
Yeah, they'll punish the monkey
Lyrics submitted by bars.of.a.rhyme
Punish The Monkey Lyrics as written by Mark Knopfler
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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An organ grinder is a street performer who plays a street organ and, in old times, sometimes had a trained monkey to scamper around with a cup for coins. Now they often use stuffed or brass monkeys in an homage to those days.
That being said, to me, that makes "punish the monkey" means the little guy gets punished, while "let the organ grinder go" means the person with the power gets away with it. I think this could be applied to many things, from criminal enterprise to the government. It often seems the lackeys get punished heavily, and the guys pulling the strings get off with little or no punishment.
I don't believe this song is about Scooter Libby, tka2013 (though i don't know who, if anyone, it specifically refers to).
"They're driving long nails into coffins"
means they are smoking a lot of cigarettes (coffin nails). something you might do in a stressful office environment.
"You've been having sleepless nights You've gone as quiet as a church mouse And checking on your rights"
means what it says.
"The boss has hung you out to dry And it looks as though Punish the monkey And let the organ grinder go"
Your boss is going to let you take the blame for something. You (the monkey) are not the person in power. The boss (organ grinder) is going to get away with whatever wrong-doing was done.
"you've been talking to a lawyer Are you gonna pretend That you and your employer Are still the best of friends"
The executive who will probably be blamed is getting a lawyer. There will probably be a lawsuit, but nobody is admitting it yet.
Here comes a policeman He won't be sidetracked He's asking 'bout a smoking gun He's after the bad
"It's a quiet life from here on in You dropped your poisoned cup The telephone is ringing But you're not picking up"
Should say "dropped your poison pill", which is also a corporate expression. Refers to effect of hostile takeover on the acquired company (stock options vest, that sort of thing - which is "poison" to the acquiring company). Hinting at more difficulties with keeping the job.
@jorbru Actually, the phrase IS "You've drunk your poisoned cup," a reference to the death of Socrates by drinking a CUP of highly poisonous hemlock, as decreed by of his Athenian critics.<br /> <br /> Socrates was an ancient (~300 BCE) Greek philosopher famous for telling the truth at all costs, so when his critics brought him up before a kangaroo court and demanded he recant his heresies, he chose the other option offered to him -- drinking from the poisoned cup...
Love this song
Would love to hear some interpretations
Given the timings I suspect MK was inspired to some degree by the events surrounding the death of WMD expert David Kelly who leaked data to the BBC. He was scape goated by the Blair Government and subsequently committed suicide.
u2nspenserfan You are exactly right.. I believe the same thing.. and with "Here comes a policeman, He won't be sidetracked" hes possibly talking about corruption in police or atleast I apply this to the US.
It is obvious to me that the monkey is a symbol for punishing someone completely innocent while letting the bad person go.
The policeman is asking about a smoking gun. Why would he do that? Is the gun still smoking in his oppinion? Yes he seems to be corrupted, "He is asking about the facts".
But who is the person described in the lyrics? It seems to me it is someone who has been overpowered
Yup, I think that this describes how political corruption is usually handled. Some low-level functionary is found, implicated and then all the public venom is directed at him. Kind of like how everyone is fascinated by the monkey's antics, forgetting that everything the monkey does, he learned from the organ grinder. - v
I would think the song refers to Scooter Libby, the fall guy in the George W Bush administration's leakage of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Libby was the only member of the adminstration who was convicted of perjury among other things for his role in the leak and subsequently pardoned by President Bush.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_Libby
Tom Brady and coach= Organ Grinder - suspended equipment guys = Monkey.