The Poet, the Wife and the Monkey
This song is based loosely on a period in the life of anarchist poet and songwriter, Léo Ferré, who in the 1960s kept a pet chimpanzee named Pépée. The chimp was treated as if human, dining at the table and sleeping in its own bedroom, dressed in pyjamas. In time, Pépée became something of a tyrant, which drove a wedge between the poet and his resentful wife, who eventually saw resolution when Pépée suffered accidental injury: she had a neighbour shoot it, and her husband subsequently divorced her (and also wrote a requiem for the chimpanzee). Leon's story doesn't follow the facts slavishly, but instead weaves an engaging tale of jealousy in which the wife is deposed by the monkey's presence, and shoots it out of spite. The narrative reads like a novelette, and one is keen to discover where the story is leading.
"It goes without saying that this bizarre tale cannot possibly have any basis in reality. Nevertheless, curious listeners might like to check out a song by the French songwriter and poet Leo Ferré, called, if I remember rightly, 'Lament for a Dead Monkey'." - LR (sleevenotes to Wo Sind Die Elefanten?, 1991)
"'The Poet, the Wife and the Monkey' is my interpretation of a strange but true incident in the life of the poet and songwriter Leo Ferré. The song he wrote for his dead monkey is called Pépé." - LR (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p1)
"I had a picture of [Ferré], his wife and the monkey sitting at the dinner table. Obviously, she got a bit pissed off with this and decided to do away with the monkey. That was the wrong choice! Anyway, he divorced her." - LR (introduction to the song on No Gods No Masters (2014))
"'The Poet, the Wife and the Monkey' is my interpretation of a strange but true incident in the life of the poet and songwriter Leo Ferré. The song he wrote for his dead monkey is called Pépé." - LR (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p1)
"I had a picture of [Ferré], his wife and the monkey sitting at the dinner table. Obviously, she got a bit pissed off with this and decided to do away with the monkey. That was the wrong choice! Anyway, he divorced her." - LR (introduction to the song on No Gods No Masters (2014))
Recordings
Version 1 (1991)
Cover version (2005) By Frankie Armstrong
Version 2 (2011) Live performance, released in 2014
Cover version (2005) By Frankie Armstrong
Version 2 (2011) Live performance, released in 2014