SIGNIFYIN' MONKEY
{Oscar Brown, Jr.}

Said the signifyin' monkey to the lion one day:
"Hey, dere's a great big elephant down th' way
Goin' 'roun' talkin', I'm sorry t'say,
About yo' momma in a scandalous way!"

"Yea, he's talkin' 'bout you' momma an' yo' grandma, too;
And he don' show too much respect fo' you.
Now, you weren't there an' I sho' am glad
'Cause what he said about yo' mamma made me mad!"

Signifyin' monkey, stay up in a yo' tree
You are always lyin' and signifyin'
But you better not monkey wit' me.

The lion said, "Yea? Well, I'll fix him;
I'll tear that elephant limb by limb."
Then he shook the jungle with a mighty roar
Took off like a shot from a forty-four.

He found the elephant where the tall grass grows
And said, "I come to punch you in your long nose."
The elephant looked at the lion in surprise
And said, "Boy, you better go pick on somebody your size."

But the lion wouldn't listen; he made a pass;
The elephant slapped him down in the grass.
The lion roared and sprung from the ground.
And that's when that elephant really went to town.

I mean he whupped that lion for the rest of the day
And I still don't see how the lion got away
But he dragged on off, more dead than alive,
And that's when that monkey started his signifyin' jive.

The monkey looked down and said, "Oooh wee!
What is this beat-up mess I see?
Is that you, Lion? Ha, ha! Do tell!
Man, he whupped yo' head to a fare-thee-well!

"Give you a beatin' that was rough enough;
Yu s'pposed to be king of the jungle, ain't dat some stuff?
You big overgrown pussycat! Don't choo roar
Or I'll hop down there an' whip you some more."

The monkey got to laughing and a' jumpin' up an' down,
But his foot missed the limb and he plunged to the ground.
The lion was on him with all four feet
Gonna grind that monkey to hamburger meat.

The monkey looked up with tears in his eyes
And said, "Please, Mr. Lion, I apologize,
I meant no harm, please let me go
And I'll tell you something you really need to know."

The lion stepped back to hear what he'd say,
And that monkey scampered up the tree and got away.
"What I wanted to tell you," the monkey hollered then,
"Is if you fool with me, I"ll sic the elephant on you again!"

The lion just shook his head, and said, "You jive....
If you and yo' monkey children wanna stay alive,
Up in them tress is where you better stay"
And that's where they are to this very day.

Signifyin' monkey, stay up in yo' tree
You always lyin' and signifyin'
But you better not monkey wit' me.

-snip-

{Source: Linda Goss and Marian E. Barnes, editors, Talk That Talk, An Anthology of African-American Storytelling {New York; Simon & Shuster; 1989; pp 456-457}