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Monkey Gone to Heaven (2:54)

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“Monkey Gone to Heaven” is a song by the American 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 this big organic toilet. Things get flushed and repurified or decomposed and it’s this big, dark, mysterious place”, Black Francis later said, “It’s also a very mythological place where there are octopus’s gardens, the Bermuda Triangle, Atlantis, and mermaids.
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Pixies on the letterman show, playing Monkey gone to heaven, dec13 2004

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