[5] Davies may have been inspired by the prostitute character Polly Garter from Under Milk Wood,[6] a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
[9] Author Mark Doyle suggests that in addition to Garter, the woman addressed in "Monica" may have been inspired by fellow Under Milk Wood character, Gossamer Beynon, the local school teacher whom all the men in town desire.
[12][a] Author Johnny Rogan suggests Davies often used calypso as a contrast against his more serious songwriting and compares its "Acapulco-style beat" to another of his songs on Village Green, "Starstruck".
[6] Kitts thinks the calypso rhythm is meant to suggest that the song takes place in the narrator's fantasy and emphasise that he actually only possesses Monica in his mind.
[4] Author Ken Rayes describes the song's arrangement as "celebratory" in its incorporation of Caribbean rhythms, jazz tempo changes and a playful vocal from Davies suggesting a schoolboy-like innocence.
[17] In his preview of the album for New Musical Express magazine, critic Keith Altham wrote that "Monica" is an example of "the beauty of [Ray Davies]" in that "you are never quite sure when to take him seriously".
[23] Among retrospective commentators, Miller considers "Monica" "the flimsiest thing" on the album,[3] and Morgan Enos of Billboard placed it last in his ranking of the songs.