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
That 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 the beach
Then I'd be holding your hand

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
That 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
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 the 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
That 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, Manchester Uni Paper, February 2000).

Cameo’s 'Word Up' is an influence ("If you feel excited throw your hands into the air", DWM / "Wave your hands in the air like you don't care", Word Up).

At the end of a studio performance of Dolphins Were Monkeys from 2000, Ian cites the influence of 'Nowhere To Run' by Martha Reeves and The Vandellas on this track by singing "Nowhere to run to baby, nowhere to hide".

* Brown has been mis-quoted here possibly or means 'Mesonychid'. Mesonychids are an extinct order of even toed carnivorous ungulates (hoofed animals) which looked like wolves. These animals possesed unusual triangular teeth that are similar to those of whales. For this reason, scientists had long believed that whales evolved from a form of Mesonychid. This is Sinonyx, a member of an extinct group of carnivorous mammals called Mesonychids that lived approximately 50 million years ago.

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