Monkey Gone to Heaven
| "Monkey Gone to Heaven" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Pixies | ||||
| from the album Doolittle | ||||
| A-side | "Monkey Gone to Heaven" | |||
| B-side |
"Manta Ray" |
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| Released | March 20, 1989 | |||
| Format | Vinyl record (7", 12"), Compact Disc | |||
| Recorded | November 1988 at Downtown Recorders, Boston, Massachusetts, United States Strings recorded on December 4, 1988, at Carriage House Studios, Stamford, Connecticut, United States |
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| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 2:56 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Black Francis | |||
| Producer(s) | Gil Norton | |||
| Pixies singles chronology | ||||
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"Manta Ray"
"Weird at My School"
"Monkey Gone to Heaven" is a song by the American alternative rock band Pixies and is the seventh track on their 1989 album Doolittle. The song was written and sung by frontman Black Francis and was produced by Gil Norton. Referencing environmentalism and biblical numerology, the song's lyrics mirrored themes that were explored in Doolittle. "Monkey Gone to Heaven" was the first Pixies song to feature guest musicians: two cellists, Arthur Fiacco and Ann Rorich, and two violinists, Karen Karlsrud and Corine Metter.
"Monkey Gone to Heaven" was released as the first single from Doolittle in the United States and United Kingdom. As the band had signed to Elektra Records shortly before, the single also marked their first American and major label release. It was critically well-received; Rolling Stone's David Fricke said "Monkey Gone to Heaven" was "a corrosive, compelling meditation on God and garbage". In the years since its release, the song has received several accolades from music publications.
"Monkey Gone to Heaven"'s main theme is environmentalism. The song mainly deals with man's destruction of the ocean and "confusion of man's place in the universe". "On one hand, it's [the ocean] this big organic toilet. Things get flushed and repurified or decomposed and it's this big, dark, mysterious place", Black later said, "It's also a very mythological place where there are octopus's gardens, the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and mermaids." Francis came up with the song's hook, "this monkey's gone to heaven", long before the song itself was written. The line itself forms a basis for the song, which revolves around man's relationship with the divine and environmentalism. After Francis set the developing lyrics to music, he rushed to lead guitarist Joey Santiago's apartment to play it to him. Santiago later commented on the nascent performance: "It was early in the morning, I was still so tired. [Francis said] 'Hey Joe, I need to come over. I need to show you something.' [...] It was awesome, really good. He had the 'If man is five' part there, and he was laughing. [...] It was hilarious".
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