Elvis Costello’s ‘Monkey to Man’ has always rubbed me the wrong way, for a couple of reasons.
The first is that, as the first single from his solid 2004 album The Delivery Man, it’s a poor representation of that record. It’s a bit too lightweight and jokey for an album that is steeped in dark blues and country tunes.
My other problem is the way the song botches evolutionary science. Suggesting that humans evolved from dinosaurs? Characterizing our evolution from ancient hominids as making a “jump from monkey to man?”
Elvis Costello should know better. And he probably does, but thought it made for a cleverer song written this way. I disagree.
Was broadcast by Mr. Bartholomew
Now the world is full of sorrow and pain
And it’s time for us to speak up again
You’re slack and sorry, such an arrogant brood
The only purpose you serve is to bring us our food
We sit here staring at your pomp and pout
Outside the bars we use for keeping you out
You’ve taken everything that you wanted
Broke it up and plundered it and hunted
Ever since we said it
You went and took the credit
It’s been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man
Every time that man struggles and fails
He makes up some kind of fairytales
After all of the misery that he has caused
He denies he’s descended from the dinosaurs
Points up to heaven with cathedral spires
All the time indulging in his base desires
Ever since we said it
He went and took the credit
It’s been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man
Big and useless as he has become
With his crying statues and his flying bomb
Goes ’round acting like the chosen one
Excuse us if we treat him like our idiot cousin
He hangs up flowers and bells and rhymes
Hoping to hell that someone’s forgiven his crimes
Fills up the air with his pride and praise
He’s a big disgrace to our beastly ways
In the fashionable nightclubs and finer precincts
Man uses words to dress up his vile instincts
Ever since we said it
He went and took the credit
It’s been headed this way since the world began
When a vicious creature took the jump from Monkey to Man
Meet Me In Montauk 
I have never been particularly fond of this song either. The lyrics didn’t bother me so much, but I just never warmed up to the music. I agree that the rest of the album is markedly better.