Tweeter And The Monkey Man

Bob Dylan © 1990

Traveling Wilburys VOL 1 sessions, Dave Stewart Studios, LA CA - 1-17.may.1988  

Tweeter and the monkey man were hard up for cash
They stayed up all night sellin' cocaine 'n' hash
To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jane
For reasons unexplained she loved the monkey man.

Tweeter was a boy scout before she went to Vietnam
And found the hard way, nobody gives a damn
They knew  they found freedom just across the Jersey line
So they hopped into a stolen car, took highway 99.

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standin', never saw them when they fell.

The undercover cop never liked the monkey man
Even back in childhood, he wanted to see him in the can
Jane got married at 14 to a racketeer named Bill
She made secret calls to the monkey man from a mansion on the hill.

It was out on thunder road, Tweeter at the wheel
They crashed into paradise, they could hear them tyres squeal
The undercover cop pulled up an' said, "Every one of you is a liar
If you don't surrender now, it's gonna go down to the wire."

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standin'
Never saw them when they fell.

An ambulance rolled up, a state trooper close behind
Tweeter took his gun away an' messed up his mind
The undercover cop was left tied up to a tree
Near the souvenir stand by the old abandonned factory.

Next day was hangin' day, the undercover cop's in pursuit
He was takin' the whole thing personally, he didn't care about the loot
Jane had told him many times, "It was you to me who taught
In Jersey anything's legal as long as you don't get caught."

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standin'
Never saw them when they fell.

Some place by Rahway prison they ran out of gas
The undercover cop had cornered them, said, "Boys you didn't think that this could last"
Jane jumped out of bed, said, "There's some place i gotta go"
She took a gun out of a drawer and said, "It's best if you don't know."

The undercover cop was found face down in a field
The monkey man was on the river bridge usin' Tweeter as a shield
Jane said to the monkey man, "I'm not fooled by Tweeter's curl
I knew him long before he ever became a Jersey girl."

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standin'
Never saw them when they fell

Now the town of Jersey city is quietin' down again
I'm sittin' in a gamblin' club called The Lion's Den
The tv set been blown up, every bit of it is gone
Ever since the nightly news show that the monkey man was on.

I guess i'll go to Florida an' get myself some some sun
There ain't no more opportunity here, everything's been done
Sometimes i think of Tweeter, sometimes i think of Jane
Sometimes i don't think about nothin' but the monkey man.

And the walls came down all the way to hell
Never saw them when they're standin'
Never saw them when they fell.