Song 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
'Course he went to Vietnam
Found out the hard way
Nobody gives a damn

Thought that they'd find freedom
Just across the Jersey line
Hopped into a stolen car
Took Highway 99

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

The undercover cop
He never liked the Monkey Man
Even back in high school
Wanted to see him in the can

Jan got married at fourteen
To a racketeer named Bill
Made secret plans with the Monkey Man
From a mansion on the hill

It was out on Thunder Road
Tweeter at the wheel
Pulled into paradise
You could hear the tires squeal

It was Jan who'd told him many times
"It was you to me who'd taught
In Kingston everything'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 standin'
Never saw them when they fell

Some place by Rahway prison
They ran out of gas
The undercover cop cornered 'em
Said, "You didn't think that this could last"

Jan jumped up out of bed
Said, "There's some place I gotta go"
She took the gun out of the drawer
And said, "It's best that you don't know"

An ambulance rolled up
State Trooper close behind
Tweeter took his gun away
And messed up his mind

The undercover cop was found
Face down in a field
The Monkey Man was on the bridge
Using Tweeter as a shield

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

The town of Jersey City
Is quieting down again
I'm sitting in a gambling club
Called The Lion's Den

The TV set is blown up
Every bit of it is gone
Ever since the night
When they showed
That the Monkey Man was on

Maybe I'll go to Florida
Set myself some sun
There ain't no more opportunity here
And everything's been done

Sometimes I think of Tweeter
Sometimes I think of Jan
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 standin'
Never saw them when they fell

Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty

The duration of Tweeter and the Monkey Man is 3:47 minutes and seconds.