A novelty monkey love song, 1914.
words and music by Arthur Fields & Walter Donovan
The sheet music:
Accompaniment track:
Lyrics
- ‘Way down in the Congoland
Lived a happy chimpanzee
She loved a monkey with a long tail
(Lordy, how she loved him)
Each night he would find her there
Swingin’ in the coconut tree
And the monkey gay, at the break of day
Loved to hear his Chimpie say:
Chorus
“Aba daba daba daba daba daba dab”
Said the Chimpie to the Monk
“Baba daba daba daba daba daba dab”
Said the Monkey to the Chimp
All night long they’d chatter away
All day long there were happy and gay
Swingin’ and singin’ in their hunky tonkey way
“Aba daba daba daba daba daba dab”
Means “Monk I love but you”
“Baba daba dab” in monkey talk
Means “Chimp I love you too”
Then the big baboon one night in June
He married them and very soon
They went upon their aba daba honeymoon
- Well, you should have heard that band
Play upon their wedding day
Each Chimp and Monkey had nutshells
Lordy, how they played them
And now it is every night
High up in the coconut tree
It’s the same old thing, with the same old swing
When the Monk and Chimpie sing:
Chorus
“Aba daba daba daba daba daba dab”
Said the Chimpie to the Monk
“Baba daba daba daba daba daba dab”
Said the Monkey to the Chimp
All night long they’d chatter away
All day long there were happy and gay
Swingin’ and singin’ in their, hunky tonkey way
“Aba daba daba daba daba daba dab”
Means “Monk I love but you”
“Baba daba dab” in monkey talk
Means “Chimp I love you too”
One night they were made man and wife
And now they cry “This is the life”
Since they came from their aba daba honeymoon
Sung here by Fred Feild: