Hey Hey…Let’s all wake up to the Monkees on this quarantined morning. It’s hard to resist this song…it’s fun and reminds me of the intro to their television show…which is a good thing.
This was the first song written and recorded for The Monkees TV series, which ran on NBC 1966-1968. Written to introduce the Monkees and used as the theme song for the show.
It was written by the songwriter/producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who were hired to write three songs for the show’s pilot, including the theme. When they wrote it, the cast had not been chosen and they had very little direction…the show was pitched as “An American version of The Beatles” and loosely based on the Beatles movie A Hard Day’s Night.
Peter Tork: “I always thought the song worked fine as the theme song for the TV show. But I never allowed us to sing it in public,” “The whole idea of standing up there and singing, ‘We’re wonderful/We’re the wonderful ones/And our names are The Wonderful Ones,’ was too self-congratulatory. What we do now is, the backing band plays [the music] and Micky and I come out onstage to it. I can’t ever see us singing ‘Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees!’ I couldn’t bear it.”
From Songfacts
The finger snaps and “here we come” line were influenced by the Dave Clark Five song “Catch Us If You Can,” where they sing, “Here we come again, catch us if you can.”
The Monkees didn’t play on their early albums, so very often the only band member to appear on a song would be its lead vocalist, which in this case was Micky Dolenz. This song was produced by the song’s writers, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, who had members of their band, the Candy Store Prophets, play the instruments. The backing credits are as follows:
Micky Dolenz: vocal
Tommy Boyce: backing vocals
Wayne Erwin, Gerry Mcgee & Louie Shelton: guitar
Larry Taylor: bass
Billy Lewis: drums
Gene Estes: percussion
Turns out this song works very well in a documentary about actual monkeys: It was used to open the 2015 Disney film Monkey Kingdom.
The Monkees Theme
Here we come
Walkin’ down the street
We get the funniest looks from
Everyone we meet
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down
We go wherever we want to
Do what we like to do
We don’t have time to get restless
There’s always something new
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down
We’re just tryin’ to be friendly
Come and watch us sing and play
We’re the young generation
And we’ve got something to say, oh
Any time
Or anywhere
Just look over your shoulder
Guess who’ll be standing there?
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down
Whaaa, one time!
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
And people say we monkey around
But we’re too busy singing
To put anybody down
We’re just tryin’ to be friendly
Come and watch us sing and play
We’re the young generation
And we’ve got something to say
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees
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The Monkees were my first musical love. Still love them. Mike was my favorite. Still is.
Yes, Mike was the most talented one…plus the wool hat was cool.
I think I said this before, but I love the stills they showed I think it was at the end of the show? Maybe the beginning.
I think at the end…the outro with “For Pete’s Sake” playing
Here ya go
Hmmmm, from what I’m seeing my comment isn’t showing up and neither is this in your feed? Weird!
Let me take a look
That is weird Lisa…try clearing the history from your browser…I see them
I found it in control panel. Should the settings be at clear the browser every time? Or one of the others?
Yes! This is it, thank you! How do I clear history from browser? Sorry, not tech savvy.
Are you using Chrome? If you are…there are 3 dots on top of each other in the top right of your browser…click on them…go to history….clear it
No, I use firefox.
Try this…I don’t have firefox but this might help you with that problem.
Thanks, Max! I deleted something, we’ll see if it helps.
I hope it does….I have to do that sometimes to different browsers.
YAY!!!!! Everything is showing up now. Thank you very much. This makes me think the rest of the comments got through as well 🙂
Cool!
Thanks for the reminder, Max. This song and their TV show was a staple for me during my teens!
The shows are on MeTV Sundays at 5 PM Eastern, and we never miss them. We saw them when they were first-run, and it’s been so long it’s like they’re brand new. They ended up being a pretty good band…
They did end up being good and making some fine pop records
MeTV is COOL!
one of the great TV themes ever. Love Peter Tork’s comment on why they didn’t play it live though!
Yea Peter made sense by not doing it.
Ah, the memories this evokes.
I’m 8 years old again.
Got a few years on you. My first band, at age 14, covered “Last Train to Clarksville.” The Monkees’ version was, as I recall, better known.
I was 8 in 1975 when I first saw the reruns. I didn’t know that they were long gone until a cousin told me….then I heard the Beatles and I was lost.
I love that song…I live a few miles from Clarksville…wrong one I think.
Hey! Hey! Does a perfect job of selling the TV series.
OK my comment just disappeared 🙁
I just replied to it…see if you get my reply?
Only in my comments section. This response isn’t showing up either from my POV at your blog.
While as somebody who believes in music craftsmanship I have somewhat mixed feelings that The Monkees essentially started out as a fake band, I just love many of their songs. Plus, eventually, they became “real” musicians and learned how to play their instruments.
That redeems them somewhat…by the third album they were playing their own insturments. I have to admit something… The reason I wanted to play in a band was because they made it look so much fun! Well it’s not as fun as they show lol.
After I found the Monkees…I heard the Beatles and I was lost for good. I have to wonder how many kids in a lot of generations they inspired to pick up an instrument? That is one thing they did do…I have to say.
The Monkees were SO much fun. And, I love their music. I always think of Davy being on The Brady Bunch. I had such a crush on him.
I watched that episode not long ago! Every episode he would have that twinkle in his eye lol.
How strange that Peter Tork had that attitude about singing it in public, after all they were intended to be a fun, mostly tongue-in-cheek group… odd taking it that seriously!
I have fond memories of The Monkees and this song (and I’m a Believer). 🙂
When I was 8 this show made want to play music. It was reruns and I had no clue they were gone in 75.