"Dance Monkey" by Tones and I is shimmying all the way up to No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week (dated Nov. 2) after spending three weeks on the chart. The Australian artist, whose real name is Toni Watson, erupts on the snappy alternative track, exposing how entertainers are treated like monkeys who are constantly being harassed to dance and perform more only to find satisfaction within themselves.
"I wrote this song about being a busker and realizing that you can definitely tell that people are so entertained now by the click of a button now or a swipe," Watson said in an interview with Australian radio station Triple J. "And when you’re playing live shows, I can see that, and I think there were a lot of times when I was busking where there were a lot of people in your face, like, 'More, more! Go again, again, again!'"
The singer-songwriter also told Apple Music about her manager's fear that "Dance Monkey wouldn't blow up the way it did. "People were trying to write songs to knock Lil Nas X off his perch; I didn't try to do that," she wrote on the preview page of her upcoming EP The Kids Are Coming. "I wrote this song before his song ['Old Town Road'] was even released. 'Dance Monkey’ showed me that I'm good enough. I have confidence in the songs that I've written and I'm not going to change anything.”
Check out the lyrics and quirky music video below.
Take your hand, my dear, and place them both in mine
You know you stopped me dead when I was passing by
And now I beg to see you dance just one more time
Ooh I see you, see you, see you every time
And oh my I, I like your style
You, you make me, make me, make me wanna cry
And now I beg to see you dance just one more time
So I say
Dance for me, dance for me, dance for me, oh, oh, oh
I've never seen anybody do the things you do before
They say move for me, move for me, move for me, ay, ay, ay
And when you're done I'll make you do it all again
I said oh my god I see you walking by
Take my hands, my dear, and look me in my eyes
Just like a monkey I've been dancing my whole life
And you just beg to see me dance just one more time
Ooh I see you, see you, see you every time
And oh my I, I like your style
You, you make me, make me, make me wanna cry
And now I beg to see you dance just one more time
So I say
Dance for me, dance for me, dance for me, oh, oh, oh
I've never seen anybody do the things you do before
They say move for me, move for me, move for me, ay, ay, ay
And when you're done I'll make you do it all again
They say
Dance for me, dance for me, dance for me, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
I've never seen anybody do the things you do before
They say move for me, move for me, move for me, ay, ay, ay
And when you're done I'll make you do it all again
Ooh (all again, all again)
Woah-oh, woah-oh, oh
Ooh (all again, all again)
Ah ah, ah ah, ay
They say
Dance for me, dance for me, dance for me, oh, oh, oh
I've never seen anybody do the things you do before
They say move for me, move for me, move for me, ay, ay, ay
And when you're done I'll make you do it all again
They say
Dance for me, dance for me, dance for me, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
I've never seen anybody do the things you do before
They say move for me, move for me, move for me, ay, ay, ay
And when you're done I'll make you do it all again
All again
Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Toni Watson