Monterey Lyrics

Performed by The Animals

Monterey Track #12 4:15
Eric Burdon & The Animals
(Burdon, Weider, Jenkins, McCulloch, Briggs)
Album- The Best Of Eric Burdon And The Animals
Original release A side December 1967 Polygram

Note: Song ref: Monterey Pop Festival June 16-18 1967
For a good Live Performance audio: refer to Rhino 4 Disc CD - Vairous Artists
'The Monterey International Pop Festival'
Transcriber: Awcantor@aol.com (Anita W. Cantor)


The people came and listened
Some of them came and played
Others gave flowers away
Yes they did
Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey

Young gods smiled upon the crowd
Their music being born of love
Children danced night and day
Religion was being born
Down in Monterey

The Byrds and the Airplane
Did fly
Oh, Ravi Shankar's
Music made me cry

The Who exploded
Into violent light (yeah)
Hugh Masekelas music
Was black as night

The Grateful Dead
Blew everybody's mind
Jimi Hendrix, baby
Believe me
Set the world on fire, yeah!

His majesty
Prince Jones smiled as he
Moved among the crowd
Ten thousand electric guitars
Were groovin' real loud, yeah

If you wanna find the truth in life
Don't pass music by
And you know
I would not lie
No, I would not lie
No, I would not lie
Down in Monterey

Hu! huh-huh!

Alright!

<Instrumental>

Three days of understanding
Of moving with one another
Even the cops grooved with us
Do you believe me?
Yeah!

Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey, yeah
Down in Monterey
Down in Monterey, yeah

I think that maybe I'm dreamin'!

Monterey!

Monterey-yeah!

Down in Monterey

Did you hear what I said?

Down in Monterey

That some music

Monterey
FADES-
I said
Monterey, Monterey, Monterey
Yeah-yeah, hey-hey-hey
A-ay, a-ay, a-ay-a-ay

~

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Thanks to Barry for submitting Monterey Lyrics.


Historical context | Reviewer: Dr.Dan | 5/19/11

I was 12 when this came out and the music at the time pissed off the establishment. It was so righteous to hear the names of OUR bands being honoured by the Animals -- the Who, Stones, Hendrix. People singing about US rather than Sinatra and strangers in the night. Wally needs some historical context to understand how important this was as WE celebrated our coming out.

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JUST HEARD THIS "BLAST" FROM THE PAST | Reviewer: "BRUCE | 2/5/10

I had't heard this in a million years.Bought back alot a memories... read earlier posts dating back to Wally... (well every one has an opinion I suppose and we got to hear Wally's... NEXT..LOL )I'm glad the song makes no sense to him...thats how the universe works to keep in balance. Its the music and the performance so just tune out next time it comes on the radio and I will listen for the 2 of us. Peace out Dude

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My world would never be the same | Reviewer: Dave | 6/19/09

Where and how old were you June 1967? I was 18 in L.A. I got a contact experience through this perfect song,stoked when it came on the radio. Wally, it's about the picture not the poetry, the energy not the meter, the breakthrough, not the train wreck. Though I did not attend I made up by visiting the central coast for decades before eventually moving to MONTEREY (and I'm not dreaming).

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Peace and Understanding | Reviewer: Bill | 11/8/07

Monterey, one of the great freedom rock songs, extols the virtues of a wondrous period of time and the music that was such an integral part of it. If you weren't there, you should work to understand it. Peace.

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Great Nastalgia | Reviewer: George | 10/21/07

Everyone knows about Woodstock. Relativly few have herd of the Monterey Pop Festival that took place two years earlier, in the summer of love. Yes, 1967. Learn about this event in just 2 minutes! When Eric Burdon wrote this, it was a pretty good song. Today, it sounds dated. Cliche' if you will. But that's the beauty of it. A trip down memory lane for over the hill hippies. Especially those who live on the west coast!

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Monterey | Reviewer: kerry | 7/8/07

You are right; the lyrics in this song are not the best. But this song is so energetic and fun in capturing the essence of the Monterey Pop Festival where some of the best bands played. Any band and any song played and/or written for this festival is amazing.

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Possibly The Worst Song Review Ever Written | Reviewer: Tim Henry | 6/1/07

Anyone by the name of 'Wally' should not be allowed to review any song.

What parent would humiliate a child with such a name?

Wally Cox must have had too many psychedelics in the 1960's since the song does not start off with "in the beginning"

Wally never heard of alliterative verse, a metrical pattern involving varied numbers of syllables but a fixed number of strong stresses in each line of a verse.

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Possibly The Worst Song Ever Recorded | Reviewer: Wally Van Riper | 2/22/07

Everytime "Monterey" comes on the radio my first instinct is to change the station. But, somehow it's like passing a train wreck and not being able to look away. It's so bad I have to listen. The lyrics make me cringe. Whoever wrote this song apparently had never heard of "poetic meter". Can someone explain to me why Eric Burdon whispers "In the beginning......." at the start of the song? It makes no sense. The instruments sound like some non-musicians came into the studio and began playing with them. I'm a fan of The Animals but this song should never have been written or recorded.

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Monterey! | Reviewer: anya | 1/12/07

I was living in Hawaii at the time this song came out and I remember being so excited by the passion and energy of my favorite singer, eric Burden. The song captures the whole era in a way that none of the flaky psychedelic songs do.

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