(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes channels his simian muse with the story behind the song.)
I wrote “Monkey Planet” in 1996 after watching a complete “Planet of the Apes” marathon on late-night cable. I originally saw the film in a theater when I was five years old, and the image of the Statue of Liberty on the beach stayed with me a long time afterward, even if I didn’t fully understand it at the time. I later saw all of the films in the series multiple times. One of my favorites is “Escape from the Planet of the Apes,” the one in which Cornelius and Zira return to the Earth in the early ’70s, and from which the picture on the sleeve was taken.
The lyrics were inspired by a little-known Kinks song called “Animals in the Zoo,” which appeared on the soundtrack to a very forgettable 1971 film called “Percy.” The song features myself on acoustic guitar and vocals, Peter Miesner on lead guitar, Tim Day on drums, and all three of the Fisher brothers, Keith, Glen and Mark, on keyboards, bass and slide guitar, respectively. The record was the only single issued on Keith’s Spun Records label (1994-1997).
— Ray Brandes
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I like this song so much — I asked Ray to let me post it months ago, and I’m glad we finally connected the dots.
“Planet of the Apes” was a seminal simian experience for me as well. When all the bomb-worshippers pull off their faces in “Beneath the Planet of the Apes”?? Yeeeeeek! I think I crawled under my seat at the theater.
Ray I like this song too and the cover design is retro-kitsch coolio -- I noticed it when you posted to your other site. Nice fonts!
Never been a huge ape fan thanks to Charlton Heston (groan) tho’ I love Soylent Green —“it’s PEOPLE!” you eat ’em. hahaha.
Didn’t watch the sequel either but me and my sisters all had Planet of the Apes masks when we were little and somewhere in my mom’s garage there’s a picture of us wearing ’em with our baby doll jammies.
Cool song, Ray…I like it! Kinda reminds me of Elvis Costello a little.
Ray, very cool song indeed. Nice insidious groove pulling me along through some funky changes. I can see Elvis C in there, but you also have some Graham Parker or John Hiatt working there -- both of whom are great. This is so much better than most of the stuff I hear now. Time for you to put out some more vinyl.