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Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse
Posted by Sharon M. on October 08, 2005
In Reply to: Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse posted by Sig Paulson on October 07, 2005
: Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse. There is a song by Warren Zevon by this title. In it he talks about "Going to a party in the center of the earth. (It's about going to hell.) Also, there was an article in the newspaper by this title about public employees retirement. Does anyone have any idea what this means?
My search for "Monkey wash, Donkey rinse" did not yield any coherent results that might explain this saying. However, I did come up with a few fragments that might hint at the meaning, if not all of it:
1) I came across an article, bearing the same heading, and which disucsses the procedings of a legal case. Its end might suggest the meaning or the mood behind the saying: "So, just when you thought you had a thorough grasp of everything, ____ comes along to confuse you more. Sigh. The beat goes on".
2) According to "O'Byrne Files Dictionary of New Words and Expressions" on the net,
the expression "Monkey bath" means A bath so hot, that when lowering yourself in, you go: "Oo! Oo! Oo! Aa! Aa! Aa!".
Other than these two reference, most of the information gathered leads to the song that you have mentioned. The sites which I encountered generally describe the song as "nonsenical", and might it just be Zevon's word-juggling that produced this expression after all? Otherwise I don't really know what else it might mean.
Sharon.
