This was not one of their well-known TV songs.
This was on the soundtrack to their 1968 trippy movie Head. Where else would you find Annette Funicello, The Monkees, and Frank Zappa in the same movie?
They may have been seeking some countercultural acceptance after their show ended. The movie blew the image of the Monkees up…some say deconstruction of the Monkees completely. It was a stream of consciousness black comedy that mocks war, America, Hollywood, television, the music business, and the Monkees themselves.
If kids went into the theater expecting the Monkees TV show…they were in for a big surprise. On the other hand, kids couldn’t watch the movie because of its R rating.
Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote this song and Goffin produced it…even recording a porpoise for good measure.
I’ve watched the movie and it’s interesting but you have to remember what kind of movie it is. Jack Nicolson help write it with the band along with Bob Rafelson. Nicholson hung out with The Monkees for several weeks, even going with them on tour. Once this movie was made, Rafelson abandoned The Monkees and went off to bigger projects, starting with Easy Rider.
Mickey Dolenz – “It wasn’t so much about the deconstruction of the Monkees, but it was using the deconstruction of the Monkees as a metaphor for the deconstruction of the Hollywood film industry”
My, my, the clock in the sky
Is pounding away
And there’s so much to say
A face, a voice
An overdub has no choice
An image cannot rejoice
Wanting to be
To hear and to see
Crying to the sky
But the porpoise is laughing
Goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Clicks, clacks, riding the backs of giraffes for laughs
S’alright for a while
sings of castles
And kings and things that go
With a life of style
Wanting to feel
To know what is real
Living is a, is a lie
The porpoise is waiting
Goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
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Not the apex of my musical experience for the month, Max, but interesting nonetheless.
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Yes it is different… psychedelic is good for the soul every once in a while.
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I seem to gravitate more to the psycho-delic!
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That is because…you are with it Bruce!
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I’d say “That’s very hip” if it didn’t date me.
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I guess the Monkeys overstayed their welcome and it was time to say goodbye.
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Yes and they finished themselves off with this.
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I just listened to Head last week – this song rules.
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Cool and quite trippy! And what a coincidence: Graham from Aphoristical just featured “Goin’ Down”, another very unusual tune by The Monkees. Last but not least, “The Porpoise Song” also shows the versatility of the Goffin-King songwriting partnership!
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I liked this a lot and I know next to zero about the Monkeys. I’m surprised how experimental they were with music and movie-making.
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I’m glad you liked it Matt…they in this period they were out there.
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I knew Daydream Believer and a few other commercial hits, but their psychedelic / experimental songs went under the radar until you introduced them.
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certainly more versatility than many of their 60s contemporaries.
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