About
Written by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, Me and My Monkey is one of the most ambitious and enigmatic songs on Escapology. Blending narrative storytelling with dark humour and symbolism, it follows a surreal tale of Williams and a gun-wielding monkey on a doomed escapade through Las Vegas. Clocking in at over seven minutes, the track fuses jazz, Latin and cinematic influences, standing as one of his boldest compositions.
Williams conceived it as a modern morality play about addiction, paranoia and inner conflict. The “monkey” — both companion and curse — serves as a metaphor for dependency and self-destruction. Lines such as “I don’t know why I’m doing this, I don’t know what I’ve done” reveal a man haunted by his own impulses, while the song’s shifting tempo mirrors the volatility of its subject matter.
I wanted to write a story song like Johnny Cash’s A Boy Named Sue. The monkey’s a bandido on the run — but really, he’s me, the part of me that won’t behave.Robbie Williams
Performed live during his 2003 and 2013 tours, the song became a cult favourite for its drama and eccentricity. Following the 2017 Las Vegas shooting at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, which features in the lyric, Williams retired it from his live set out of respect for the victims. Me and My Monkey remains a career outlier — a surreal masterpiece that merges wit, danger and vulnerability in a single, feverish narrative.
Lyrics
And with his dungarees and roller blades
Smoking filter tips
Reclining in the passenger seat of my
Super-charged jet black Chevrolet
He had the soft-top down he liked the wind in his face
He said: 'Son you ever been to Vegas?' I said 'No'
He said: 'That's where we're gonna go you need a
Change of pace'
And we hit the strip with all the wedding chapels
And the neon signs
He said: 'I left my wallet in El Segundo' and
proceeded to take two grand of mine
We made tracks to The Mandalay Bay Hotel
Asked the bell boy if he'd take me and my
Monkey as well?
He looked in the passenger seat of my car and
With a smile he said
If your monkey's got that kind of money sir,
Then we've got a monkey bed!
Me and my monkey
With a dream and a gun
I'm hoping my monkey don't point that gun at anyone
Me and my monkey
Like butch and the Sundance Kid
Trying to understand why he did what he did
Why he did what he did
We got the elevator, I hit the 33rd floor
We had a room up top with the panoramic views
like nothing you'd ever seen before
He went to sleep in the bidet and when he awoke
He ran his little monkey fingers through yellow pages
Called up some escort services and ordered
Some okey doke
Forty minutes later there came a knock at the door
In walked this big bad ass baboon into my bedroom
with three monkey whores
Hi! My name is Sunshine - these are my girls
Lace my palm with silver baby and oh yeah
they'll rock your world
So I watched pay-per-view and polished my
shoes and my gun
Was diggin' old Kurt Cobain singing 'bout lithium
There came a knock at the door and in walked Sunshine
'What's up? you'd better get your ass in here boy,
your monkey's having too much of a good time!'
Me and my monkey
Drove in search of the sun
Me and my monkey
Don't point that gun at anyone
Me and my monkey
Like Billy The Kid
Trying to understand why he did what he did
Why he did what he did
Got tickets to see Sheena Easton
the monkey was high
Said it was a burning ambition to see her
before he died
We left before encores, he couldn't sit still
Sheena was a blast baby but my monkey was ill
We went to play black-jack kept hitting twenty three
Couldn't help but notice this Mexican just
staring at me
Or was it my monkey? I couldn't be sure
It's not like you'd never seen a monkey in
roller blades and dungarees before
Now don't test my patience 'cause we're not about to run
That's a bad ass monkey boy and he's packing a gun
'My name is Rodriguez', he said with death in his eye
'I've been chasing you for a long time amigos and
now your monkey's gonna die!'
Me and my monkey
Drove in search of the sun
Now me and my monkey
We don't wanna kill no Mexican
But we've got
Ten itchy fingers, one thing to declare
When the monkey is high
You do not stare, you do not stare
You do not stare
Look's like we've got ourselves a Mexican
stand-off here boy
And I ain't about to run
Put your gun down boy
How'd I get mixed up with his fuckin' monkey anyhow
Credits
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Vocalist
Robbie Williams -
Songwriter
Robbie Williams, Guy Chambers