Interpretations:One Dozen Monkeys
- Song
- Lyrics
- Interpretations
- Credits
- Guitar Tab
- Bass Tab
- Chronology
This song has a twisting and whimsical plot about unabashed exploration and the strife that comes from one's discoveries and adventures, under the loose allegorical cloak of none else than the classic game Donkey Kong. It follows a girl who enjoys taking different looks at herself and seeing herself in different perspectives (11, one more than 10, one less than 12, aka a dozen). She is minding her own business invested in herself (all this playful philosophical self-thought and cupcake-eating). All of a sudden, though, her introspectively exploratory life is intruded upon by a barrel of monkeys.
It is relevant now to compare this setup to that of Mario and Donkey Kong. Mario is an Italian character, caught up inexplicably in the foreign environment of a construction site. While Mario's attention is brought to attention by the taking of his girlfriend, the narrator is similarly introduced to the world of monkeys through no choice of her own, unknowingly answering the door to the postman with no intention of being involved in the journey that follows.
So, the monkeys proceed to climb higher into the trees. (This obviously is meant to mirror Donkey Kong being placed several levels above our beloved protagonist.) While Donkey Kong throws barrels at Mario to send him to his doom, They Might Be Giants cleverly have the narrator of this song put the monkeys into the barrel, quite a reversal. 11 of the monkeys go off into the trees to basically leave her alone. The single one left, Larry, can be seen as a parallel to Princess Peach being rescued, and the narrator now has a companion; Mario wins. ~ magbatz 18:04, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
Wow, that's a wonderful interpretation! I was just coming here to point out the reference to Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys. Also I love this girl's singing!
