feature at all during the verses. By the end of the second line of each verse, the cello part joins in, following the bassline closely. As the first verse finishes, the opening chord progression is repeated. This leads into the chorus (where Francis and Deal repeat "This monkey's gone to heaven") with the lead guitar of Santiago playing two notes repeatedly. The two violins play a melody throughout, accompanied by a piano in the background. There is then a short solo by Santiago, who repeats the melody three times, to bridge the chorus and second verse. The second verse and chorus follow the same format. At the end of the second chorus, Francis shouts "Rock me Joe!"; Santiago then begins a guitar solo lasting seventeen seconds, with backing violins for the second half of the solo. After the solo, Francis sings "If man is five" several times. There is no backing, apart from the lead guitar, for several seconds, but then the song's chord progression is heard again. This is repeated for "If the devil is six". At the end of the second chord progression, the song's main backing restarts again, with Francis screaming "Then God is seven" as the chorus approaches. The final repeated chorus of "This monkey's gone to heaven" ends the song as the string section becomes more prominent. Recording and production The band's parts were recorded at Downtown Recorders in Boston, Massachusetts. The string section of "Monkey Gone to Heaven" was recorded while Doolittle was being mixed at Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut. Gil Norton, the album's producer, was inspired to add a string section to the song after seeing Deal plucking the strings of a grand piano during recording. The production team, led by Norton, asked the studio owner John Montagnese to bring in string players for one evening session. The studio was often used for recording orchestral scores for B-movies such as Missing in Action and Silver Bullet. Montagnese hired four classical musicians from a local orchestra for the recording, with the session taking place on the afternoon of December 4, 1988. Arthur Fiacco, a cellist, arrived at Carriage House first. He was dressed in formal black and white attire, having traveled from an afternoon concert. Fiacco was surprised to find there were no scores written for the musicians to play; he then wrote a part based on riffs Francis had shown him.