He was an accident waiting to happen   Most accidents happen at home   Maybe he should have gone out more often   Maybe he should have answered the phone      Hip-shakin' shoutin' in gold lamé   That's how he earned his regal sobriquet   Then he threw it all away   For a porcelain monkey      He threw it away for a porcelain monkey   Gave it all up for a figureine   He traded it in for a night in Las Vegas   And his face of velveteen      From a shotgun shack singing Pentacostal hymns   Through the wrought iron gate to the TV room   He had a little world, it was smaller than your hand   It's a rockabilly ride from the glitter to the gloom      Left behind by the latest trends   Eatin' friend chicking with his regicidal friends   That's how the story ends   With a porcelain monkey      He threw it away for a porcelain monkey   Gave it all up for a figureine   He traded it in for a night in Las Vegas   And his face of velveteen      Hip-shakin' shoutin' in gold lamé   That's how he earned his regal sobriquet   Then he threw it all away   For a porcelain monkey      He threw it away for a porcelain monkey   Gave it all up for a figureine   He traded it in for a night in Las Vegas   And his face of velveteen