Dolphins Were Monkeys

I could be the next to see
That there'll be nobody there
If you feel excited, throw your hands into the air
No one can judge you baby
They don't live your life
I need the resistance
Held by your astrological sign

So now I'm caught in the middle
You're next to me
I swim with the fishes
You come from the sea
The dolphins were monkeys that didn't like the land
Should I be walking a beach
I'll be holding your hand yeah

I could be the next to see
That there'll be nobody there
If you feel excited, throw your hands into the air
No one can judge you baby
They don't live your life
I need the resistance
Held by your astrological sign

So now I'm caught in the middle
You're next to me
No one alive can lock the door to your dreams
Caught in the middle
You're next to me
I swim with the fishes
You come from the sea

The dolphins were monkeys
That didn't like the land
Should I be walking a beach
I'll be holding your hand yeah

If you feel excited, throw your hands into the air
If you feel excited, throw your hands into the air
If you feel excited, throw your hands into the air

No one can judge you baby
They don't live your life
I need the resistance
Held by your astrological sign

Lyrics by:
Brown / McCracken / Wills

Format:
Released February 2000:
Dolphins Were Monkeys (New Version) / Dolphins Were Monkeys (Polydor, DOLPH-1, promo 2-track CD)
Dolphins Were Monkeys (UNKLE Remix) / Dolphins Were Monkeys (UNKLE Instrumental) / Love Like A Fountain (Andy Votel Remix) / Dolphins Were Monkeys (Polydor, DOLPH-2, promo 4-track CD)
Dolphins Were Monkeys (UNKLE Remix) / Dolphins Were Monkeys (UNKLE Instrumental) / Love Like A Fountain (Andy Votel Remix) / Dolphins Were Monkeys (Polydor, DOLPH-3, promo 12")

Released 7th February 2000:
Dolphins Were Monkeys (New Version) / Billie Jean / Dolphins Were Monkeys (Goldfinger Mix) / Dolphins Were Monkeys (CD-ROM Video) (Polydor, 561 637-2, CD1)
Dolphins Were Monkeys (New Version) / Dolphins Were Monkeys (UNKLE Remix) / Love Like A Fountain (Andy Votel's Bespoke-Opus Mix) (Polydor, 561 638-2, CD2)
Dolphins Were Monkeys (New Version) / Corpses (XFM Session) (Polydor, 561 637-7, limited edition 7")

Released 2000:
Dolphins Were Monkeys (Polydor, no catalogue number, promo video)

UK chart position:
#5

Also available on:
Golden Greats (5.04)

Details:

"Scientists will tell you that the dolphin as a warm blooded mammal once lived on the land. The dolphin derives from a creature called the meryciad, which was a monkey like creature that became a dolphin ultimately. And the scientists say that dolphins went back into the sea, was it a conscious decision ? We know that they've got brains, we know that they've got their own language, quite closely linked to human beings, and to monkeys. So the dolphins were monkeys scientifically. It's a known fact."
(Ian Brown speaking to Manchester Uni Paper, February 2000)

Cladogram showing the position of Mesonychia. In his reference to the 'meryciad', Ian has possibly been misquoted, or means Mesonychia. Mesonychia ('Middle Claws') are an extinct order of medium to large-sized carnivorous mammals that were closely related to artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates) and to cetaceans (dolphins and whales). They first appeared in the Early Paleocene, went into a sharp decline at the end of the Eocene, and died out entirely when the last genus, Mongolestes, became extinct in the Early Oligocene. Mesonychids probably originated in Asia, where the most primitive mesonychid, Yangtanglestes, is known from the early Paleocene. They were also most diverse in Asia, where they occur in all major Paleocene faunas. Since other carnivores such as the creodonts and condylarths were either rare or absent in these animal communities, mesonychids most likely dominated the large predator niche in the Paleocene of Asia. One genus, Dissacus, successfully spread to Europe and North America by the early Paleocene. Dissacus was a jackal-sized carnivore that has been found all over the northern hemisphere, but its daughter genus, Ankalagon, from the early to middle Paleocene of New Mexico, was far larger, growing to the size of a bear. Species of the later genus, Pachyaena, entered North America by the earliest Eocene, where they evolved into huge species, surpassing even Ankalagon in size. Mesonychids in North America were by far the largest predatory mammals during the early Paleocene to middle Eocene. The mesonychids bore a strong, albeit superficial, resemblance to wolves. Early mesonychids had five digits on their feet, which probably rested flat on the ground during walking (plantigrade locomotion), but later mesonychids had four digits that ended in tiny hoofs on all of their toes and were increasingly well adapted to running. Mesonychids possess unusual triangular molar teeth that are similar to those of Cetacea (whales and dolphins), especially those of the archaeocetids, as well as having similar skull anatomies and other morphologic traits. For this reason, scientists had long believed that mesonychids were the direct ancestor of Cetacea, but the discovery of well preserved hind limbs of archaic cetaceans as well as more recent phylogenetic analyses now indicates that cetaceans are more closely related to hippopotamids and other artiodactyls than they are to mesonychids, and this result is consistent with many molecular studies. Most paleontologists now doubt the idea that whales are descended from mesonychids, and instead suggest that whales are either descended from or share a common ancestor with the anthracotheres, the semi-aquatic ancestors of hippos. However, the close grouping of whales with hippopotami in cladistic analyses only surfaces upon deletion of Andrewsarchus, which has often been included within the mesonychids. One possible conclusion is that Andrewsarchus is not a mesonychid, but rather closely allied with hippopotamids. The current uncertainty may in part reflect the fragmentary nature of the remains of some crucial fossil taxa, such as Andrewsarchus.

This fine single from Golden Greats bears the influence of Cameo's 'Word Up' ("Wave your hands in the air like you don't care") and 'Nowhere To Run' by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. At the end of a studio performance of Dolphins Were Monkeys from 2000, Ian acknowledges the influence of this Motown classic when he sings "Nowhere to run to baby, nowhere to hide."

 

Dolphins Were Monkeys cover artwork (CD1 & CD2).

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