Songfacts®:

• Robbie Williams told the story of this song to The Mail on Sunday: "I had a conversation with a girl in a pool in Singapore. She said, 'How do you write a song?' I said,'You write about anything that comes to mind: give me two things and I will write a song for you this afternoon.' She said, 'Monkeys and rollerblades.'"
• Before performing this song at his residency at Knebworth House in August 2003, Williams called it "a cautionary tale." The lyrics appear to be about Williams' tendency to engage in self-destructive behavior as a result of his fame, with the "monkey" referring to the British singer's past cocaine addiction. Williams struggled with cocaine dependency throughout his early career, and checked into rehab to overcome it in 1997.
• Speaking to Music Week in June 2010, Williams' longtime collaborator Guy Chambers said "Me and My Monkey" was written "literally five minutes before we went on stage in Taiwan."
• This is a track from Williams' fifth solo album, Escapology, which went to #1 in eight countries. "Me and My Monkey" wasn't released as a single, but still went on to become a live fan favorite.
• Throughout the 2024 Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, the star is portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee. While "Me And My Monkey" doesn't appear in the film, both the song and the biopic depict journeys that are unpredictable and often tumultuous, mirroring the ups and downs of Williams' career in the music industry.