Tweeter and The Monkey Man lyrics

Tweeter and the Monkey Man were hard up for cash

They stayed up all night selling cocaine and hash

To an undercover cop who had a sister named Jan

For reasons unexplained she loved the Monkey Man

Tweeter was a boy scout before she went to Vietnam

And found out the hard way nobody gives a damn

They knew that 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 standing, 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

Jan got married at fourteen 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 tires squeal

The undercover cop pulled up and said "Everyone of you's 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 standing, never saw them when they fell

An ambulance rolled up, a state trooper close behind

Tweeter took his gun away and messed up his mind

The undercover cop was left tied up to a tree

Near the souvenir stand by the old abandoned factory

Next day the undercover cop was hot in pursuit

He was taking the whole thing personal, he didn't care about the loot

Jan 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 standing, never saw them when they fell

Someplace by Rahway Prison they ran out of gas

The undercover cop had cornered them said "Boy, you didn't think that this could last"

Jan jumped out of the bed, said "There's someplace I gotta go"

She took a gun out of the 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 using Tweeter as a shield

Jan 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 standing, never saw them when they fell

Now the town of Jersey City is quieting down again

I'm sitting in a gambling club called A 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 and get myself some sun

There ain't no more opportunity here, everything's been done

Sometimes I think of Tweeter, sometime I think of Jan

Sometimes I don't think about nothing but the Monkey Man

And the walls came down, all the way to hell

Never saw them when they're standing, never saw them when they fell

• Artist:Traveling Wilburys
• Album:Traveling Wilburys vol.1 (1988)