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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Signifying monkey</span></span>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">For the literary theory text by <a href="Henry_Louis_Gates%2C_Jr." class="mw-redirect" title="Henry Louis Gates, Jr.">Henry Louis Gates, Jr.</a>, see <a href="The_Signifying_Monkey" title="The Signifying Monkey">The Signifying Monkey</a>.</div>

<p>The <b>signifying monkey</b> is a character of <a href="African-American_folklore" class="mw-redirect" title="African-American folklore">African-American folklore</a> that derives from the <a href="Trickster" title="Trickster">trickster</a> figure of <a href="Yoruba_mythology" class="mw-redirect" title="Yoruba mythology">Yoruba mythology</a>, <a href="Esu_Elegbara" class="mw-redirect" title="Esu Elegbara">Esu Elegbara</a>. This character was transported with Africans to the Americas under the names of <a href="Eshu" title="Eshu">Exu</a>, Echu-Elegua, <a href="Papa_Legba" title="Papa Legba">Papa Legba</a>, and Papa Le Bas. Esu and his variants all serve as messengers who mediated between the gods and men by means of tricks.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The <a href="Signifying" class="mw-redirect" title="Signifying">signifying</a> monkey is "distinctly Afro-American" but is thought to derive from Yoruban mythology, which depicts Echu-Elegua with a <a href="Monkey" title="Monkey">monkey</a> at his side.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Numerous songs and narratives concern the signifying monkey and his interactions with his friends, the <a href="Lion" title="Lion">lion</a> and the <a href="Elephant" title="Elephant">elephant</a>. In general, the stories depict the signifying monkey insulting the lion, but claiming that he is only repeating the elephant's words. The lion then confronts the elephant, who in turn physically assaults the lion. The lion later realizes that the monkey has been <a href="Signifyin'" title="Signifyin'">signifyin'</a> and has duped the lion, and as a result the lion angrily returns to <a href="Castrate" class="mw-redirect" title="Castrate">castrate</a> the monkey and renders him unable to reproduce.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="In_popular_culture">In popular culture</h2></div>

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<p>The signifying monkey appears in the following:

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<ul><li>"The Jungle King (You Ain't Done a Doggone Thing)", a 1947 song by <a href="Cab_Calloway" title="Cab Calloway">Cab Calloway</a> and <a href="Mort_Dixon" title="Mort Dixon">Mort Dixon</a> (also recorded by <a href="Willie_Dixon" title="Willie Dixon">Willie Dixon</a> as "Signifying Monkey")</li>

<li>"Straighten Up And Fly Right", a song written by <a href="Nat_King_Cole" title="Nat King Cole">Nat King Cole</a> and Irving Mills and one of the first vocal hits for the King Cole Trio</li>

<li>"The Signifying Monkey", a song by <a href="Smokey_Joe_Baugh" title="Smokey Joe Baugh">Smokey Joe Baugh</a>, released by <a href="Sun_Records" title="Sun Records">Sun Records</a> as a 7" single in 1955</li>

<li>"<a href="Jo_Jo_Gunne_(song)" title="Jo Jo Gunne (song)">Jo Jo Gunne</a>", a 1958 song by <a href="Chuck_Berry" title="Chuck Berry">Chuck Berry</a></li>

<li>"The Signifying Monkey", a song by <a href="Oscar_Brown_Jr." class="mw-redirect" title="Oscar Brown Jr.">Oscar Brown Jr.</a> from the 1960 album <i>Sin & Soul... and Then Some</i></li>

<li>"Signifyin' Monkey", performed by <a href="Johnny_Otis" title="Johnny Otis">Johnny Otis</a> and his band from the 1968 album <i>Cold Shot</i></li>

<li>"The Signifying Monkey", a comedy routine by <a href="Rudy_Ray_Moore" title="Rudy Ray Moore">Rudy Ray Moore</a>, from the 1971 album <i>This Pussy Belongs To Me</i></li>

<li>"The Signifyin' Monkey", a 1977 song by Marcus Van Story</li>

<li>"King Monkey Rapp", a 1980 song by King Monkey (Jimmy Thompson).</li>

<li>"Signifying Rapper", a 1988 song by <a href="Schoolly_D" title="Schoolly D">Schoolly D</a></li>

<li>"The Signifying Monkey", a song by <a href="Sam_the_Sham" title="Sam the Sham">Sam the Sham</a> from the 1993 album <i>The Wooly Bully Years</i></li></ul>

<p>It was referenced and can also be heard in the 1990 movie <i><a href="House_Party_(film)" class="mw-redirect" title="House Party (film)">House Party</a></i>. The father played by Robin Harris mentioned the character Dolomite to his son Kid. He is disappointed that Kid would rather go to a party than stay home with his dad and watch the show. The dad then starts reciting the Signifying Monkey routine as he walks away. The routine can also be heard as the dad has fallen asleep and Kid sneaks out the door (having been now grounded for an incident at school) to attend the party.

</p><p>In the 1981 George A. Romero film <i><a href="Knightriders" title="Knightriders">Knightriders</a></i>, the following is sung at a post-tournament campfire gathering:

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</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>(Verse:) <i>Said the signifyin' monkey / To the lion one day / There's a great big elephant / Down the way / Going around talking / I am sorry to say / 'Bout you mama / In a scandalous way / He's talking 'bout your mama / And your grandma too / He ain't got too much respect for you / You wanna chat? I sure am glad / Cos what he said bout you mama / Made me mad</i> (Chorus:) <i>Signifyin' monkey / Stay up in your tree / You is always lyin' and signifyin' / But you better not monkey with me.</i></p></blockquote>

<p>In the 2019 <a href="Craig_Brewer" title="Craig Brewer">Craig Brewer</a> film <i><a href="Dolemite_Is_My_Name" title="Dolemite Is My Name">Dolemite is My Name</a></i>, the following verse is used by filmmaker <a href="Rudy_Ray_Moore" title="Rudy Ray Moore">Rudy Ray Moore</a> (played by <a href="Eddie_Murphy" title="Eddie Murphy">Eddie Murphy</a>) in his debut standup show:

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<blockquote class="templatequote"> <p><i>Way down in the jungle deep / the lion stepped on the signified monkey's feet.</i></p></blockquote><p> (0:16:33)

</p><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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<li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Henry_Louis_Gates" class="mw-redirect" title="Henry Louis Gates">Gates, Henry Louis</a>, "The Blackness of Blackness: A Critique on the Sign and the Signifying Monkey", in <a href="Julie_Rivkin" title="Julie Rivkin">Julie Rivkin</a> & Michael Ryan (eds), <i>Literary Theory: An Anthology</i>, Blackwell, 1998, p. 988.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Gates, "The Blackness of Blackness", in Rivkin & Ryan (1998), p. 989.</span>

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<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Myers, D. G. "Signifying Nothing". <i>New Criterion</i> 8 (1990): 61.</span>

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