The lyrics are: ==== Judging by the look on the organ-grinder, He'll judge me by the fact that my face don't fit. It's touching that the monkey sits on my shoulder. He's waiting for the day when he gets me ==== These lyrics talk about an “organ grinder” which is a person who performs on a street corner with a box strapped to his shoulders that plays music when he turns the handle, and a dancing monkey (usually in a uniform) who performs and then collects money from the crowd in his hat. There is an image of this on the Wikipedia page for an organ grinder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_grinder So in the song the lyrics talk about a monkey on the person’s shoulder. I don’t think the monkey on his shoulder is meaningful, I think he’s just describing the surroundings. Note: there is a phrase “monkey on my back” which is an idiom to describe an addiction that weighs a person down and that is hard to quit (like heroin or alcohol) but it does not sound like the song lyrics are talking about this.