Grateful Dead - Monkey And The Engineer Lyrics






Once upon a time there was an engineer.
Drove a locomotive both far and near.
Accompanied by a monkey that would sit on a stool
Watching everything the engineer would do
One day the engineer wanted a bite to eat,
He left the monkey sitting on the driver's seat,
The monkey pulled the throttle, the locomotive jumped the gun
And did 80 miles an hour down the mainline run.

Big locomotive right on time, big locomotive coming down the line.
Big locomotive No. 99, left the engineer with a worried mind.

The engineer called up the dispatcher on the phone,
To tell him all about his locomotive was gone.
Dispatcher got on the wire, switch operator to the right,
Cause the monkey's got the main line sewed up tight.
The switch operator got the message on time,
Said there's a Northbound livin' on the same main line,
Open up the switch I'm gonna let him through the hole,
Cause the monkey's got the locomotive under control.

Big locomotive right on time, big locomotive coming down the line.
Big locomotive No. 99, left the engineer with a worried mind.





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Grateful Dead Monkey And The Engineer Comments
  1. B.... M....

    I love tragedy narrowly averted. My favorite Dead song. Got the Zen Tricksters with Rob Rocco to play it at New York Avenue in Farmingdale in the 90's. Then the cops made us all stand outside checking ID's, but I got my Monkey. Taking this song to my grave. I called it first, but I share. No worries,

  2. A.... ....

    i used to listen to this all the time

  3. F.... G....

    Jesse Fuller composition

  4. e.... ....

    Look up the videos of Jesse Fuller performing this.....he was a SF Bay Area guy, and he wrote the song. "Lone Cat" was a one man band

  5. F.... ....

    1:25 jerry doesn’t sound so good in ‘80

  6. K.... ....

    I used to sing this to my kids when they were babies.

  7. M.... :....

    🎶🚂🐒

  8. J.... N....

    great tune

  9. D.... ....

    Number 99

  10. M.... F....

    Does anyone know what song preceded this one in the live performance?

    M.... F....

    Little Sadie :)

  11. C.... R....

    I remember laughing whenever my dad would sing this song to me when I was little✌️🖤

  12. p.... s....

    33 People who hate the Dead came in here just to say they hate us.

  13. r.... p....

    Timeless!🥀💀🥀

  14. J.... S....

    My little girl used to love this song Soo much . Now the horror

  15. G.... W....

    ive played this song to all my childrens delite

  16. M.... J....

    Bounce my 1 month old to this

  17. U.... M....

    love it !!

  18. H.... H....

    I LOVE this song !!! Not sure why .

  19. G.... R....

    Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby Bobby <3 <3

  20. M.... S....

    Now we're gonna do a song about tragedy uhh narrowly averted.

    God damn I love Bobby weir

  21. J.... E....

    My first show!

  22. V.... ....

    Originally a Jesse Fuller song.

  23. G.... R....

    Bobby's eyes shining like diamonds <3

  24. W.... ....

    My dad always used to sing this to me when I was little

  25. F.... v....

    This is another great one.

  26. A.... S....

    I was at this show - one from the memory vault!

  27. M.... ....

    Mike and moly brought me here....thank those fat guys....

  28. O.... G....

    pickin and grinnin' love these boys

  29. s.... ....

    This song with Brent, yes.

  30. a.... ....

    Thank you for posting. Great dead tune.

  31. M.... N....

    Thank you Clint, even though we don't give a crude about each other anymore, you still taught me very much.

  32. J.... N....

    A wonderful Jesse Fuller tune.

  33. N.... C....

    Stupid engineer didn't take the reverser handle with him...

  34. B.... C....

    So glad you're still around, Phil!

  35. L.... G....

    Great Song Great Concert I was There

  36. M.... ....

    My parents used to sing this to me and my siblings when we were kids brings back memories

  37. J.... D....

    If u haven't seen it, Netflix has a great docu about Bob. He is the man, without a doubt!!

  38. D.... V....

    Once upon a time there was an engineer.
    Drove a locomotive both far and near.
    Accompanied by a monkey that would sit on a stool
    Watching everything the engineer would do
    One day the engineer wanted a bite to eat,
    He left the monkey sitting on the drivers seat,
    The monkey pulled the throttle, the locomotive jumped the gun
    And did 80 miles an hour down the mainline run.

    Big locomotive right on time, big locomotive coming down the line.
    Big locomotive no. 99, left the engineer with a worried mind.

    The engineer called up the dispatcher on the phone,
    To tell him all about his locomotive was gone.
    Dispatcher got on the wire, switch operator to the right,
    Cause the monkeys got the main line sewed up tight.
    The switch operator got the message on time,
    Said theres a northbound livin on the same main line,
    Open up the switch Im gonna let him through the hole,
    Cause the monkeys got the locomotive under control.

    Big locomotive right on time, big locomotive coming down the line.
    Big locomotive no. 99, left the engineer with a worried mind.

    D.... V....

    De Viking

    D.... V....

    90 miles an hour

    D.... V....

    Thanks a lot. 🕊👏👏👏🕊

  39. P.... K....

    great run from radio city music hall

  40. J.... R....

    I think Phil wasn't late. His equipment was malfunctioning. He was pissed!

    J.... R....

    That's exactly right. They were having problems with his bass at the start, "tragedy".

  41. k.... e....

    This can't be an "official" release with such a crappy mix. I've noticed this guy puts "official" on his videos to get more hits, which is a pretty cheap way to do it. Just like those fools who put "HD" on regular sound.

    k.... e....

    kenneth elber there used to be a better version of the whole show up on here that was deleted after this guy put all these up. Happened with a few shows.

  42. D.... D....

    my dad played this all the time when I was really young. There must be a dead head gene :/

    D.... D....

    +Brian Dickmann phil wasnt late. he was there the whole show. although he did take a short break during the start of this song.
    what he was doing, only he really knows.

    D.... D....

    @stephen chase sniff sniff toke toke

    D.... D....

    Drew Dickmann My Dad did too. Sorry for your loss.

  43. S.... U....

    The Fonz......is cool !! ;)

  44. L.... L....

    Heard this before, great song and performance but the intro was great as well, lol

  45. g.... y....

    always liked this one 

    g.... y....

    One of my favorites.

    g.... y....

    Bill Murray

    summer cAmp