“’Apeman’’ Meets Walt Whitman” is a cover of The Kinks song with lines from Walt Whitman (Song of Myself, 32). Tom and I have explored The Kinks many times and played “Apeman” often over the years. Now, in 2025, as times grow darker, I’m thinking I need a survival fantasy. Ray Davies provides this one for me. Since “I don’t feel safe in this world no more,” I need a mental escape from ‘the crazy politicians.” One answer, as Ray Davies suggests, is to “sit in the trees and eat bananas all day.” Or in Walt Whitman’s words, to “turn and live withanimals.”
Tom and Mike played this track live to a drum track—then added a lot of stuff including the reference to Walt Whitman. Mike did the final mix.
Text of Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 32
https://poets.org/poem/song-myself- 32
Mike Opitz Song Writing and Theory Project 