When Michael Jackson rescued Bubbles,
Was it the start of Jackson’s troubles?
The Wacko Jacko moniker stuck,
But Michael didn’t give a good fuck.
He had love. Unconditional love.
Primordial primate love.

Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.

Bubbles had had a rotten childhood, too,
Raised in a cancer clinic worse than a zoo.
He feared for his life, his death almost certain.
Lymphoma, carcinoma would bring down his curtain.
Then this man-boy walked into his room.
He had a fake nose; he saved Bubbles from doom.
He gave him bananas, he gave him love,
He let him try on his Thriller glove.

“My chimp Bubbles is a constant delight”
Bubbles slept in a crib next to Michael at night.
He used Michael’s toilet, ate Michael’s food,
Lived Michael’s life, shared Michael’s mood.
He knew how to moonwalk and met Liz Taylor.
He watched as the gloved one wrestled with failure.
Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.
He really knew what was goin’ on.
He looked around.
He figured it out. He loved Michael.

Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.

Michael started to hang out with boys
And Bubbles became just one more toy.
He watched as the boys now shared Michael’s bed,
He cried as he lost his Neverland cred.
Just one more monkey in the zoo.
On Michael’s payroll with nothing to do.
In the entourage with the crazy emu.

Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.
He had good instincts.
He knew that Michael was going down.
He was the only being Michael could trust.
But Michael didn’t know it.
Then one day Jackson heard that Prince
Was using Bubbles for an ESP fix,
Channeling bad stuff
To hex Michael’s career,
Destroy his music; make him fear
Bubbles and mankind and all but the boys
In the Neverland bedroom; his only joys.

Bubbles was through.
Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.
Bubbles saw he was going to lose it all.
Bubbles was going to lose Michael.

Michael planned a party for Bubbles
With Benji and Lassie and Cheeta as guests.
But madness stalked Bubbles; he needed a rest.
He spit and he growled and he stomped and he screamed.
Michael was faithless in Bubbles’ dream.
He didn’t want Cheeta or Liz or Benji,
He wanted Michael; he wanted Daddy.

Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.
He was powerless. Big and muscular and powerful.
An animal. But powerless.

Bubbles moved out and into the wild
To a ranch far away from his Neverland child.
He thought about Michael every day.
The bananas, the bed, the child-like play.

One afternoon his keeper said:
Bubbles, your man-boy celebrity’s dead.
The Demerol got him, Bubbles thought.
I feared it would; the pain was fraught
With terror...shot up in error...look in the mirror.

Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.
Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.
Bubbles knew what was goin’ on.