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 & The Monkey Man’ was Tom Petty and Bob sitting in the kitchen, Jeff and I were there too, but they were talking about all this stuff which didn’t make sense to me – Americana kind of stuff. And we got a tape cassette and put it on and transcribed everything they were saying and wrote it down. And then Bob sort of changed it, anyway. That for me was just amazing to watch ’cause I had very little to do with writing that [song] at all – except Jeff and I remembered a little bit that [Bob] did that he’d forgotten – which became that chorus part. It was just fantastic watching him do it because . . . he had one take warming himself up and then he did it for real on take two. The rest of us had more time but Bob had to go on the road and we knew he couldn’t do any more vocals again, so we had to get his vocals immediately. And on take two he sang [it] right through, and then what he did was he changed some of the lyrics maybe in about four places he changed a couple of lines and improved them, and dropped these lines in and that’s it – just as it was done and written. And the way he writes the words down! Very tiny, like a spider’s written it . . . It’s just unbelievable seeing how he does it.
– George Harrison, to Roger Scott, 1989
Tweeter and the Monkey Man by Bob Dylan and Tom Petty
– a great story song
The Traveling Wilburys was a “supergroup” consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. The song is supposedly co-written by all 5 members – all of the album’s songs are credited to The Traveling Wilburys. However, it is believed that Bob Dylan was the primary writer of this song, which is one of the very few Traveling Wilburys tracks that has Dylan singing lead vocals on while the rest of the band singing backup. Roy Orbison is not singing at all on this track. Here is Goerge Harrison’s take on who wrote the song:
‘Tweeter and the Monkey Man’ was by Tom Petty and Bob. Well, Jeff and I were there too, but we were just sitting there around in the kitchen, and he was for some reason talking about all this stuff that didn’t make much sense to me, you know, it was that Americana kinda stuff and we got a tape cassette and put it on and then transcribed everything they were saying.- George Harrison (The Travelling Wilburys, the true story)
Tweeter and The Monkey Man – The Travelling Wilburys:
Tweeter and the Monkey Man by Bob Dylan and Tom Petty
– a great story song
The Traveling Wilburys was a “supergroup” consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. The song is supposedly co-written by all 5 members – all of the album’s songs are credited to The Traveling Wilburys. However, it is believed that Bob Dylan was the primary writer of this song, which is one of the very few Traveling Wilburys tracks that has Dylan singing lead vocals on while the rest of the band singing backup. Roy Orbison is not singing at all on this track. Here is Goerge Harrison’s take on who wrote the song:
“‘Tweeter and the Monkey Man’ was by Tom Petty and Bob. Well, Jeff and I were there too, but we were just sitting there around in the kitchen, and he was for some reason talking about all this stuff that didn’t make much sense to me, you know, it was that Americana kinda stuff and we got a tape cassette and put it on and then transcribed everything they were saying.” – George Harrison (The Travelling Wilburys, the true story)
Tweeter and The Monkey Man – The Travelling Wilburys:
