I was 7 and I had just borrowed the Monkees debut album from a cousin. I thought the band was still together and playing in the mid seventies. I had no clue they broke up years before. This is one of the songs I would wear out on the album.
The song stands out from the other songs on the album. This isn’t pop…it’s more like a country driven garage rock band song. I truly think Nesmith would made it in the music business with or without the Monkees. He would soon write the Stone Poneys hit “Different Drum” that peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100 in 1967. This song was released on the debut album in 1966.
Mike Nesmith made it clear from the beginning he wanted to write songs. Nesmith was a talented songwriter. The shows creator Don Kirshner set him up to write with Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Michael wasn’t ungrateful and he commented that he liked both of them but he didn’t like being forced to write with someone else. Kirshner resented the rejection, feeling that a nobody like Nesmith should have flipped over the opportunity to work with two songwriting legends. In the end though we did get this song.
Kirshner didn’t like having the band do anything but sing and act in the show. That didn’t last long with Nesmith leading them…by the third album the Monkees were playing their own instruments and writing some songs.
I just listened to it again for the first time in years and every nuance and word came back to me instantly. This was my first “favorite” Monkee song.
This was an album track not released as a single.
Sweet Young Thing
I know that something very strange
Has happened to my brain
I’m either feeling very good
Or else I am insane
The seeds of doubt you’ve planted
Have started to grow wild
And I feel that I must yield before
The wisdom of a child
And it’s love you bring
No that I can’t deny
With your wings
I can learn to fly
Sweet young thing
People try to talk to me
Their words are ugly sounds
But I resist all their attempts
To try and bring me down..
Turned on to the sunset
Like I’ve never been before
How I listen for your footsteps
As you knock upon the door
And it’s love you bring
No that I can’t deny
With your wings
I can learn to fly
Sweet young thing
And it’s love you bring
With dreams of bluer skies
And all these things
When I see it in your eyes
Sweet young thing
Sweet young thing
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
still stands out as great this one, I’ve considered entering it into an online monthly music contest I take part in, just to see what young music fans would make of it. Oddly it wasn’t one I noticed much at the time (I was 9 when the show was on UK TV) or on repeats in the 70’s – I mean I liked it, and I know I liked it, but I wasn’t mad on it the same way I was with other Nesmith tracks like You Just May Be The One. It wasn’t until I got the CD albums that it struck a real chord with me.
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It’s a strange song isn’t it? It was quite different and I think it might resonate with young fans. I watched them in the 70s also…and like I said…I thought they were still together.
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Not half bad! A new one to me…fun video too. We’ve said it before – they didn’t get enough respect. Because they didn’t play all the instruments on all their songs? Because they didn’t write all their songs? Who did back then besides the Beatles, Who, Stones or Kinks? the Beach Boys didn’t “play” on their best record, Elvis hardly wrote anything he sung (if anything at all), Motown would have been a ghost town if not for writers like Holland-Dozier-Holland… yet people pick on the Monkees. Go figure.
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It’s an odd song now that I listen to it with mature ears…I love it still but it is different. They should get noticed in the Hall of Fame but that probably won’t happen as long as Wenner has anything to do with it…but the bottom line is…they made some of the best pop records in the 60s.
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The adoring fans of 60s music and bands would be shocked to learn many of them didn’t play their own instruments on their first few records. It’s not that they weren’t musicians, the labels were spending big bucks on sessions and wanted the best sound they could get, thus the Wrecking Crew was born. I took my younger sister to a Monkee’s concert in Dallas. Sure they could play and sing, but their musicianship was no better than a garage band on a Sunday afternoon. They were lucky young men to land that gig milk it into old age.
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I agree The Byrds and other bands didn’t play on their earlier records. Nesmith was the real talented one to me.
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I never had one, but I do remember some people wearing those double button shirts. I don’t think that I ever heard this Monkees song before and I used to watch the TV show, but it is kind of nice.
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I always wanted that green stocking cap with the buttons.
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Reblogged this on Love and Love Alone.
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Thank you!
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Welcome
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That’s an interesting back story to the song and the band. They were lucky to come out from under those constraints and achieve success on their own merits and terms.
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They were lucky that they had some success and clout. Their secret weapon was Nesmith. I’m a big Monkees supporter because they are the reason I picked up a guitar…that didn’t do the world any favors but others such as REM and other bands were influenced also.
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Lol’ing at ‘didn’t do the world any favors’. But of course it did. 🙂 They were the right thing at the right time for many of us. All I could do was sing along to their theme song, and Last Train to Clarksville. But I loved their music and personalities.
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They sure made it look fun to be in a band.
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I don’t recall hearing that tune before, but I’m also not exactly an expert when it comes to The Monkees – not bad at all. The clip is entertaining as well!
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For an album track it’s pretty good… Christian the guys came over today and we played in my garage…fun times! That is why I’m running late.
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Awesome, happy for you, Max!
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Davy Jones (?) looks tiny in that top image – like a 10-year-old child who wandered into the photo shoot!
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I’m sure Nesmith would have made it on his own. If anything, The Monkees (the show, not the band they became) held him back, thanks to Kirshner.
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That John is a great way to put it.
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Great choice. Any Monkees song is okay by me. Now I want to hear some more.
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I’ve liked Mike Nesmith and the songs he has written for a long time. They played such goofballs is why they weren’t taken seriously I think.
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That might be it…they did end up influencing a lot of bands.
I’m catching up Lisa…the guys came over and we played…for only the second time in the past year.
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Awesome on getting the guys together to play! I met my baby granddaughter today. Talk about happy! It was 80 outside today so we all sat out in the yard.
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That is awesome Lisa! It is a day you will never forget. Yes it was warm here also. I’m really happy for you Lisa.
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This song is new to me as well. The instrument that sounds like a fiddle gives it a bit of a Celtic vibe.
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I never thought of it that way but you are right.
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