Organ Grinders, Dancing Monkeys and the McGee Fee

By Bob Cardoza:

My son Joe has asked me to share a recent holiday rant, which he now refers to as “The McGee Fee”, with his blog readers and being still overcome with holiday joy, I am happy to do so.

First, I must give credit to our singer/songwriter friend Inge Berge for introducing us to his Dancing Monkey theory. Isn’t that, after all, really what the public wants from its performing musicians when at the local pub for an evening of song and dance? Dancing monkeys doing the same old song and dance over and over again, week after week? The songs we all know and love?

Dancing monkeys date back to the 1800’s and performed on the streets with organ grinders, who hand cranked their instruments to produce music. The monkey would collect money from the crowd in a tin cup. If you wanted to hear another song, you put money in the tin cup. If you wanted the monkey to dance faster, you put more money in the cup. If you wanted the monkey to dance as fast as he could, you put all your money in the cup.

Today, few musicians understand the value of the tin cup the way the 19th century organ grinders did. In the age of free music downloads, the tin cup is more important than ever. Either the monkey or the organ grinder should answer all song and dance requests with a shaking of the tin cup, real or imaginary. If someone wants to hear a particular song, they should put even more money in the cup. To hear a song that the grinder is noted for, let’s use “Bobby McGee” for example, making the monkey dance as fast as he can, then they should put all their money in the cup.

Given the current economic gloom, the sad state of pub musician wages and the very few times Janis Joplin had to actually sing the song live herself, I think the “Bobby McGee Fee” should be $100 per performance. To sing this song for any less would be doing the dancing monkeys of the 1800’s a huge disservice. For almost a hundred years, they danced the streets until finally being banned for violent attacks on people who wouldn’t put money in their cups.