THIS might be the biggest oversight of this page so far. This song, when I first heard it on CFNY in the early 1990s, changed my life. It was lighthearted, fun, and lyrically clever. And you KNOW this post is going to be a doozy!!!
It also changed the way I looked at green dresses.
Written by Steven Page and Ed Robertson - the two vocalists - which should suprise no one - it takes a call-and response style and adds a lot of eccentric romantic purchases, many of them references to REAL purchases that Michael Jackson made. You never connected that set of dots, did you? But yeah, he bought Joseph Merrick's remains and a monkey. Haven't you always wanted a monkey?
The dialog pieces are different in every live performance because, no joke, they're made up as they go along. It's just banter.
The song was never released as a single, but became a HUGE HUGE hit anyway.
I can't even justify a studio version of this song for this post. I start with this 1996 live performance, where they react to the rides around them.
In 2000, the band performed the song at Farm Aid and were complementary to fine organic foods.
Then there's this Page/Robertson performance where they pick on the TV host in a stripped-down manner.
Then there is this 2008 performance where they have a special guest star on accordion.
Of course, Steven Page left the group and it's never been the same, but there's still a lot of banter. The whole band gets into it now. This show happened to be in Cincinatti, Ohio. If this concert happened today, it would probably cost 25% more.
But really, it was their reunion at the 2018 Juno Awards that got me. The shoutout to Maestro Fresh-Wes was a nice touch.
I have never wanted a monkey.
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