{"id":147327,"date":"2025-03-21T08:25:54","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T08:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/americanstudies-march-21-2025-scopesstudying-part-man-part-monkey\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T08:25:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T08:25:54","slug":"americanstudies-march-21-2025-scopesstudying-part-man-part-monkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=147327","title":{"rendered":"AmericanStudies: March 21, 2025: ScopesStudying: \u201cPart Man, Part Monkey\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[100 years
\nago this month, the Tennessee General Assembly passed the Butler
\nAct<\/a>, prohibiting public school teachers from teaching evolution. So
\nthis week I\u2019ll AmericanStudy that law and the famous
\ntrial<\/a> it produced, leading up to a weekend post on current attacks on
\neducators.]<\/p>\n

On three
\nlayers to the monkey-centered content and tone in Bruce Springsteen\u2019s
\nunder-appreciated gem<\/a> (one of my wife\u2019s favorite Boss songs):<\/span><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Humorous Intent: I don\u2019t think Bruce has
\nwritten a funnier verse than this song\u2019s first: \u201cThey prosecuted some poor
\nsucker in these United States\/For teaching that man descended from the
\napes\/They coudla settled that case without a fuss or a fight\/If they\u2019d seen me
\nchasin\u2019 you sugar through the jungle last night\/They\u2019da called in that jury and
\na one two three\/Said part man, part monkey, definitely.\u201d I have to believe that
\nBruce, who has a delightful sense of humor in and about his work (and in life
\nin general), began writing this song with precisely that straightforward thought\u2014that
\nthis was a really funny premise and twist on relationship songs (he apparently
\nfirst wrote and recorded it during the Tunnel of Love<\/i> sessions, when he
\nwas focused on such subjects). Plus, as my wife would insist I add, \u201cthese
\nUnited States\u201d is one of Bruce\u2019s funnier individual turns of phrase in any
\nsong. <\/span><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>Human Impulses: I can count on one hand the
\nBruce songs that don\u2019t have multiple layers, though, and it\u2019s the way in which each
\nverse in this song takes us to a new place that makes it as great as it is. The
\nopening lines of the second verse connect the song\u2019s central image very fully
\nto Tunnel<\/i>\u2019s raw, honest, and frequently dark portrayal of marriage: \u201cWell
\nthe church bell rings from the corner steeple\/Man in a monkey suit swears he\u2019ll
\ndo no evil\/Offers his lover\u2019s prayer but his soul lies\/Dark and driftin\u2019 and
\nunsatisfied.\u201d When the song\u2019s speaker then asks the \u201cbartender\u201d what he sees
\nand the bartender responds, \u201cPart man, part monkey, looks like to me,\u201d that repeated
\ntitular image is no longer just a funny depiction of the quest for sex or love\u2014it\u2019s
\na reflection of some of the most natural yet most destructive human impulses,
\nthe most animal and unattractive parts of ourselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span>The Heart of the Issue: After a very sexy
\nbridge, the song\u2019s final verse takes us to a logical but still I would argue
\nunexpected place\u2014back to the Scopes monkey trial, and to the heart of that
\ntrial\u2019s debates. \u201cWell did God make men in a breath of holy fire?\/Or did he
\ncrawl on up out of the muck and fire?\/The man on the street believes what the
\nBible tells him so\/Well you can ask me, mister, because I know\/Tell them
\nsoul-sucking preachers to come on down and see\/Part man, part monkey, baby that\u2019s
\nme.\u201d By the heart of the issue, I do mean in part questions of religion and
\nevolution, of what we believe about where we come from. But I also and
\nespecially mean the question of whether we believe because of the myths we\u2019re
\ntold by traditional \u201cauthorities,\u201d or believe based on our own critical perspectives
\non and understandings of the world as it is. And I\u2019m with Bruce\u2019s speaker (and
\nClarence Darrow, and Scopes): to believe based on the myths we\u2019re told is, ultimately,
\nsoul-sucking. <\/span><\/p>\n

21st<\/sup>
\ncentury contexts this weekend,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What
\ndo you think? <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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