Posted by lon [ 69.28.12.190 ] on March 20, 2006 at 00:08:22:
In Reply to: Re: New vocalist: Pamela Luss posted by manualblock on March 19, 2006 at 21:08:20:
These subject lines are starting to look kind of goofy but
I'm going to reply here on the care and feeding of the
Signifying Monkey which was just a phrase that popped into
my head in the earlier post but has some relevance.
You see, the Signifying Monkey started out as a 'toast'.
Toasting was the earliest predecessor of rap according to
things I've read from places like Rounder Records (but I have
no original research.) Round likely still has this in
their catalog. Rounder Records is in Cambridge Mass.
You see, back in those days --early 80's -- when the
records were coming our way, Rounder Records compiled a
album full of toasts under the title "Ups On The Farm" I think.
The toasts were gathered from prison inmates in much the
same way that whatshisface John Simon (?) did in Apallachia to
record the original musics of the hill peoples.
Well anyway, the Signifying Monkey was one of the original
toasts-- folklore. That's why there's The Monkey, The Elephant,
The Buzzard, etc.
Unfortunately these oral traditions based on The Dozens
contain many expletives. The Monkey has been fed over the
years by entertainers as diverse as Oscar Brown Jr, Rudy Ray
Moore, Johnny Otis and Nat "King' Cole.
Right here I'll make another pitch for the value of point
to point file sharing because without it I'd have no access
to the couple of Signifying Monkey routines that Rudy Ray
(The Human Dynamo) Moore does-- one as a duet with Big Daddy Kane!
--> Important note: Big Daddy will be covered under
it's own well-deserved heading. Not Big Daddy
Kane, Big Daddy (plain).
These materials would be lost or extremely isolated if
some individuals had not posted them from their record
collections.
The Monkey even has a book written about it by a big time
black literature historian which I can prob'ly find yet
because it is only a couple years old.
I suppose the first Monkey you hear is always the
favorite. First one I heard was from a quintet called
"Snatch and the Poontangs" which was later identified for
me as Johnny Otis working under a pseudonym.
The most accessible version of the Monkey toasts was
written by Oscar Brown Jr. who recently passed away:
"Said the Signifying Monkey to the lion one day,
There's a big bad elephant coming down your way.
He talked about your mother and your sister too,
And he didn't show too much respect for you.
Lastly, the the Signifying Monkey and Nat King Cole:
the song "Straighten Up And Fly Right" is another
take on this 'monkey business.'
This is all oral history: just things I remember.
I am no book author myself but I'd be glad if these musings
didn't go down the black hole of web authorship along with other
stuff I have written. Problem with net authorship is that the
search tools are so poor. But a look at the wiki for
Signifying Monkey if there is such a thing would be worthwhile.
Perhaps the wiki has these things already.
More when manualblock asks me something....
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