I remember this one off of their show. I like the vocals in the chorus with this one.
Valleri has an interesting history. This song was brought aboard at the very beginning of the Monkees…but it ended up being their last top ten hit. It was recorded with studio musicians at first and placed in a show but…not on an album because it was being saved for the second one. By the time the thought of using it came around…the Monkees had a new contract and per the contract… they had to play on and produce their album so this version of Valleri couldn’t be used.
When it was played in the show… the public wanted a record of it but now the Monkees would have to record it themselves because of the uprising they did to demand to play on their own records.
A couple of disc jockeys recorded the song off of the show and began to play it. They were playing this taped TV version on their radio shows, something that would happen many years later with the Friends theme. Listeners to the stations airing the rough mix of “Valleri” started writing the Monkees’ distributor Colgems Records, asking where they could buy a copy of the record that they had just heard.
Valleri was re-recorded and produced by the Monkees and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart the songwriters. It was released as a single in March 1968, 13 months after it was first performed on the TV show. Soon after the release, the Monkee’s TV show was canceled and they released their movie and LP Head. Peter Tork left the group in December 1968.
Valleri peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #4 in New Zealand, and #12 in the UK in 1968. The album The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts and #6 in Canada.
Valleri
Valleri I love my Valleri There’s a girl I know who makes me feel so good And I wouldn’t live without her, even if I could They call her Valleri I love my Valleri
Oh yeah, come on
She’s the same little girl who used to hang around my door
But she sure looks different than the way she looked before
I call her Valleri
I love my Valleri
Valleri I love my Valleri
I love my Valleri
I need ya, Valleri
Welcome to the Hanspostcard TV Draft. The remaining 7 rounds will be posted here. I hope you will enjoy it! Today’s post was written by Max from https://powerpop.blog
The Monkees
Does this show compare to All In The Family, Barney Miller, or other great sitcoms? No, it’s not even in the same zip code but it’s an off-beat quirky 1966 show that I have come to appreciate more and more. They influenced music more than other tv shows but its influence is still felt. How many young soon-to-be musicians have watched this show? I was one and it made me want to play music. I soon found other bands to follow …but I never left The Monkees completely. They were not great actors, musicians, or songwriters…although the late Mike Nesmith was a good songwriter. They made music fun…fun is something that I picked up on early on and I ended up playing in many bands.
The comedy was part physical, part Marx Brothers, and pure irrelevance. Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider wanted to build a television show that had elements of A Hard Days Night and cast four musicians/actors. Stephen Stills auditioned for a part and ended up recommending his friend Peter Tork. They ended up being a real band and toured.
The Monkees were four cast members who could all play an instrument and could sing. Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork were working musicians. Davy Jones could play some guitar and drums and Mickey played guitar in a band so they weren’t just actors.
Davy was the cute one, Mike the serious one, Mickey the funny one, and Peter the innocent one. There is no need to describe any episode plots because they are not important. You would have some kind of plot and within the story, a couple of music montages later known as music videos. The show could be surreal and they constantly broke the 4th wall. They had a lot of cutaway scenes that people associate now with Family Guy. The show was shot in color and the sets were vivid.
You could see the difference in the show between the first season and the latter part of the second season. The first was a little more of a slick production…the later part of the second season they had more influence and you could see there were 4 stoned Monkees running amuck. It was much looser and anything went basically.
The Monkees only made 58 episodes from September 1966 to March 1968. After the show came to an end they made a television special and then a very trippy movie called Head. I do not binge-watch the show but I will occasionally need a laugh or to enjoy the same thing I enjoyed at 7 years old.
The Monkees had a big impact on pop culture with not only music but with music videos. The show was their own MTV at the time. Long after the show was over I was 7 years old and watching the three channels we had at the time and I loved The Monkees.
I had no idea The Monkees stopped making the show 7 years before when I watched them. I thought the band was still together and filming shows. Turns out I was watching the show in syndication but I didn’t find out till later. A generation was influenced like I was in the 70s. In the 1980s MTV played a marathon of episodes and their popularity soared yet again. I saw them in 1986 when they reunited and had a new song in the top 40. They also made comeback in the early 90s.
They didn’t play instruments on their first two albums because they were not allowed. Micheal Nesmith was a songwriter and did manage to get a couple of songs on there. Most of the Byrds also didn’t play on their first album…that is the way it was done in the early 60s for some bands. After the success of the show, they were asked to tour. Mickey spent time learning the drums because they wanted Davy Jones upfront and Mickey became a competent drummer. The band became real during the tour.
The Monkees led a revolt and demanded to play on their own albums. It started with their third album Headquarters and went on from there. They still had some top 40 hits after taking over like Daydream Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Valleri, and more.
Mickey Dolenz:“You know, the Monkees becoming a real band, I’ve often said, is like Leonard Nimoy really becoming a Vulcan!”
Mickey Dolenz:“The Monkees are to the Beatles what ‘Star Trek’ is to NASA. They are both totally valid in their contexts.”
The Monkees were such a big influence on me. I picked up a guitar in part because of their influence. The shows were funny…and still are. Once I found The Beatles I was lost forever but the Monkees were important to a lot of musicians through the years.
They made it look fun being in a rock band. No mention of the backbiting and jealousy that goes along with it. For a seven-year-old kid…this was the life I wanted! Living in a cool beach house, playing in a rock band, and driving around in the Monkeemobile!
They had some famous guest stars like Frank Zappa, Liberace, Mike Farrell, Burgess Meredith, Julie Newmar, and Sammy Davis Jr.
I have all of the episodes and once in a while I will play a few and realize again why they are still remembered. Will the show ever be considered among the greats? NO… but it came along at a perfect time and when I need to watch something funny and irrelevant I turn on the Monkees.
I never got famous playing my music but that wasn’t the point. I still get great satisfaction and fun in playing my guitar now…and I can thank the Monkees for that. BTW…where is my beach house and my Monkeemobile?
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”
The Porpoise Song
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
I had something else planned to post but I found out that Mike Nesmith passed away. Nesmith was a big inspiration to me. There is no question…Nesmith would have made it without the Monkees…he was a talented writer, actor, producer, novelist and a very good Texas guitar player. He wrote some great country rock songs, Elephant Parts, and even a hit for Linda Ronstadt’s band The Stone Poneys…Different Drum.
While watching the reruns of the Monkees I bugged my mom to buy me a green wool hat with buttons but you can’t buy them off the shelf. She got me a green stocking cap…it wasn’t the same but I was happy. When the Monkees are mentioned some people cringe but they still have a place in my 5-year-old heart…plus how many bands can say that Jimi Hendrix opened up for them? Although that might be the worst pairing ever.
I’m not saying they deserve to be remembered with the best bands ever. Not at all but they do need to be recognized for their influence on a couple of generations. They influenced a lot of kids to form bands…mostly because of their weekly prime-time television show and ensuing hit singles. In the 80s they had a big comeback with a tour and massive airplay on MTV… I got to see them then…without Nesmith though.
They were a lot of fun. I thought WOW… I must be in a band one day. Little did I know that being in a band was not living in a cool place at the beach and having adventures at every turn…not to mention everyone getting along…it just doesn’t happen that way…but it is a special feeling being in a band with an us against them attitude and a great growing experience.
After I went through the Monkees faze I discovered the Beatles, The Who, Stones, Kinks…anything British but I still have a soft spot for some of the old Monkees songs.
The Monkees basically took A Hard Days Night movie humor and made a television show around a life of a mid-sixties rock band. Kids wanted to form bands after seeing them romp around the screen with girls…who wouldn’t want that gig? Michael Stipe from REM has said he was influenced by them.
They were not allowed to play on their first couple of albums…only sing…The Monkees were put together by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for Screen Gems with two real musicians in the band…Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork… Micky Dolenz (he did sing in cover bands before The Monkees) and Davy Jones could sing and act…. and Mickey quickly learned drums.
When news came out that they didn’t play on their albums they were roundly criticized in the 1960s. They fought Don Kershner who controlled what they sang…. and won… The funny thing is many sixties pop bands didn’t play on their records and the Monkees actually started to play their own instruments on their third album (Headquarters) and writing some songs for every album afterward.
In the second season of their tv show they started to gain more control. Some of those last episodes are very pot influenced…especially the episode called “The Frodis Caper”… It is surreal and broke the fourth wall…the second season is worth a watch…all of them are fun but the 1st season is more formulaic.
I still like many songs by them…anything written by Michael Nesmith (famous also for Elephant Parts), Pleasant Valley Sunday, Randy Scouse Git, Steppin Stone and Saturday’s Child.
All in all, they ended up singing and playing on some of the best-known sixties pop-rock hits.
I’ll just add one more thing…he Monkees belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Papa Gene’s Blues was written by Mike Nesmith with The Monkees in 1966 and was on their debut album. Nesmith also produced and sang the lead vocals on the track. The great James Burton and Glen Campbell are playing guitar on this track. The song reminds me of Ricky Nelson.
Nesmith was allowed two songs on the album. This one and Sweet Young Thing…which to me were two of the highlights of the album. Nesmith didn’t write pop songs…he wrote more country rock. Halfway into the guitar solo, Nesmith calls out “Aw, Pick It, Luther!”. Which is a shout out to Johnny Cash and his guitar player, Luther Perkin
I have to add this every time I do a Monkees post. They should be in the Hall of Fame, if only with their influence on three generations of listeners. The show debuted in the 60s, it was in reruns in the 70s (that was when I found them), and a complete revival in the 80s plus a tour. MTV promoted them heavily and they a hot item again. I saw them in 1986 and they were great.
Michael Nesmith:“I liked the Monkees songs quite a bit, I wasn’t much of a pop writer. I tended, and still do, toward country blues, and lyrics with little moments in them – all pretty far off the pop songs of the ’60s. No resentment at all.”
Papa Gene’s Blues
No heartaches felt no longer lonely Nights of waiting finally won me Happiness that’s all rolled up in you
And now with you as inspiration I look toward a destination Sunny bright that once before was blue
I have no more than I did before But now I’ve got all that I need For I love you and I know you love me
So take my hand I’ll start my journey Free from all the helpless worry That besets a man when he’s alone
For strength is mine when we’re together And with you I know I’ll never Have to pass the high road for the low
I have no more than I did before But now I’ve got all that I need For I love you and I know you love me
Buddy Miles and the Monkees! Below in one of the clips of this song.
This was the last song they released that I liked…it was at the time Peter Tork quit. The band I was in…this was the lone Monkee song we would do and it always got a good response.
This song was released as a single in 1969. It was the first time Michael Nesmith would sing on a Monkee’s A side…and he was long overdue. He also wrote it and produced it. He started to write it while in Nashville at RCA studios. The song features a brass section that plays during the instrumental section as if the brass were the band.
The Monkees went into MGM studios in November of 1968 to tape their NBC television special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee, they were just two years away from their commercial peak… selling records by the millions, a hit TV show and battling with the other bands for chart supremacy. But their show went off the air that March, and their psychedelic movie Head flopped in theaters just a couple weeks earlier. They were on the way down.
Their most recent LP, The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album charts and generated the single “Daydream Believer.” It was enough to get NBC to green light a TV special, though wheels were in motion before critics got a look at Head. The Monkees could have created a television in the same zany, carefree style of their old show in an attempt to win back some old fans, but they decided to double down on psychedelic.
The show was a psychedelic mess that did not restart their career. At this time Peter Tork had grown tired of it all and it was his last appearance with the band. The one clip that was worth it was the clip of this song. Buddy Miles comes in on drums in the middle and really rocks it out.
Listen To The Band
Hey, hey, mercy woman plays a song and no one listens, I need help I’m falling again.
Play the drum a little louder, Tell me I can live without her If I only listen to the band.
Listen to the band!
Weren’t they good, they made me happy. I think I can make it alone.
Oh, mercy woman plays a song and no one listens, I need help I’m falling again.
Play the drum a little bit louder, Tell them they can live without her If they only listen to the band.
Listen to the band!
Now weren’t they good, they made me happy. I think I can make it alone.
Oh, woman plays a song and no one listens, I need help I’m falling again.
C’mon, play the drums just a little bit louder, Tell us we can live without her Now that we have listened to the band.
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
In my childhood I played the Monkees to death…all along thinking they were still together and playing but they had broken up years before. On their first two albums they were not allowed to play their own instruments (other bands had this problem also) but by the third album they fought for their freedom and won it.
I remember the show this song was in…Julie Newmar was in it…I didn’t forget Julie Newmar.
“The Girl I Knew Somewhere” was the first song recorded by the Monkees containing instruments performed by the band members. The song was written by Monkee;’s guitar player Mike Nesmith. Mike also wrote the hit A Different Drum for the Stone Ponys…Linda Ronstadt’s band.
When it was recorded Mike Nesmith recorded the lead vocals but later on Mickey Dolenz put his lead vocals down for more of a commercial sound.
The song was a B side to A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You (#2 in the Billboard 100). It was not on an album but The Girl I Knew Somewhere peaked at #39 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.
The video for the show was a winner with Julie Newmar
The Girl I Knew Somewhere
You tell me that you’ve never been this way before. You tell me things I know that I’ve heard somewhere. You’re standing in the places and you’re staring down through faces, that bring to mind traces of a girl, a girl that I knew somewhere.
I just can’t put my finger on what it is that says to me “Watch out! Don’t believe her.” I can’t give any reasons girl, my thoughts are bound down in a whirl. I just can’t think who in the world was that girl; I know I met her somewhere.
Someway, somehow this same thing was done. Someone, somewhere did me this same wrong.
Well, goodbye dear, I just can’t take this chance again. My fingers are still burning from the last time. And if your love was not a game, I only have myself to blame. That’s as may be, I can’t explain.
This song was #1 on the Billboard 100, Canada, The UK, and New Zealand on January 15th 1967… That day since we are talking about it…the first Superbowl was played when the Packers beat the Chiefs.
I grew up with this song so it is ingrained in the back of my mind. That organ intro will stick with you. Say what you want to about the Monkees…they produced some of the great pop songs of the sixties…no matter how much Jann Wenner (Rolling Stone Magazine) snubs them for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Every Monkees post I usually say something like that…what Wenner doesn’t get, among many things, is that the Monkees influenced a couple of generations of musicians (REM, XTC included). Like other bands of that time in California…studio musicians played on their first two albums and Wenner cannot forget that. They became a band after being cast together. They started to play on the 3rd album and continued with hits.
This was The Monkees second single, after “Last Train To Clarksville.” It was released during the first season of their TV show.
Neil Diamond wrote this song. He had his first big hit earlier in 1966 with “Cherry, Cherry,” which got the attention of Don Kirshner, who was looking for material for The Monkees. Kirshner was sold on “I’m A Believer,” and as part of the deal, allowed Diamond to record the song as well. Diamond’s version was released on his 1967 album Just For You. The Monkees version benefited from exposure on their television series.
Guitarist Michael Nesmith didn’t believe this would be a hit, complaining to the producer, Jeff Barry, “I’m a songwriter, and that’s no hit.” Jeff Barry banned him from the studio while Micky Dolenz recorded his lead vocal…Mr. Nesmith was wrong about this one.
Neil Diamond: “I was thrilled, because at heart I was still a songwriter and I wanted my songs on the charts. It was one of the songs that was going to be on my first album, but Donny Kirshner, who was their music maven, hears ‘Cherry, Cherry’ on the radio and said, ‘Wow, I want one like that for The Monkees!’ He called my producers, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich – ‘Hey, does this kid have any more?’ And they played him the things I had cut for the next album and he picked ‘I’m A Believer,’ ‘A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You’ and ‘Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow),’ and they had some huge hits. But the head of my record company freaked. He went through the roof because he felt that I had given #1 records away to another group. I couldn’t have cared less because I had to pay the rent and The Monkees were selling records and I wasn’t being paid for my records.”
From Songfacts
The Monkees sang on this, but did not play any instruments. The producers used session musicians because they were not convinced The Monkees could play like a real band. This became a huge point of contention, as the group fought to play their own songs.
Monkees drummer Micky Dolenz sang lead on this. Dolenz also handled lead vocals on “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “Mary Mary” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.”
Neil Diamond had intended the song to be recorded by the Country artist Eddy Arnold, and was surprised when record executive Don Kirshner passed it instead to The Monkees.
A cover version by Smash Mouth was featured in the 2001 movie Shrek and went to #25 in the US. Diamond wrote the song “You Are My Number One” for Smash Mouth’s next album.
The single had an advance order of 1,051,280 copies and went gold within two days of release.
British singer-songwriter and Soft Machine founding member Robert Wyatt had a #29 in the UK in 1974 with an intense cover version. His rendition featured Andy Summers (later of The Police) on guitar, and drums by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, who also produced the recording.
Wyatt told Q Magazine that he wanted to make a point with his cover. “I was very uncomfortable with having fans who said ‘Your music is so much better than all that banal pop music,'” he said. “It sounds like a socialist thing to say but pop music is the music of the people. It’s the folk music of the industrial age. If you don’t respect popular culture. You don’t respect people, in which case your political opinion is of no great value.”
Dolenz has painful memories of performing this on tour. Literally painful. He told Entertainment Weekly in 2016. “I do remember lots of snatches of touring back then. Unbelievable. No monitors. Screaming. Screaming, screaming. [When we played ‘I’m a Believer’] I couldn’t hear myself. I just had to pound away. Even to this day, I sing with my eyes closed, because I had to close my eyes and hit myself in the leg to keep time on the drums. I had a big bruise. [Laughs]”
I’m A Believer
I thought love was only true in fairy tales Meant for someone else but not for me Love was out to get me That’s the way it seemed Disappointment haunted all of my dreams
Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer Not a trace of doubt in my mind I’m in love I’m a believer, I couldn’t leave her if I tried
I thought love was more or less a giving thing Seems the more I gave the less I got What’s the use in tryin’ All you get is pain? When I needed sunshine, I got rain
Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer Not a trace of doubt in my mind I’m in love I’m a believer, I couldn’t leave her if I tried
Oh
Oh, love was out to get me Now, that’s the way it seemed Disappointment haunted all of my dreams
Then I saw her face, now I’m a believer Not a trace of doubt in my mind I’m in love I’m a believer, I couldn’t leave her if I tried
Yes, I saw her face, now I’m a believer Not a trace of doubt in my mind Said, I’m a believer, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (I’m a believer) Said, I’m a believer, yeah (I’m a believer) I said, I’m a believer, yeah (I’m a believer)
This song is for Song Lyric Sunday for Jim Adams’s blog. This week’s prompt…Days of the Week…Everyone have a good Sunday!
When I was 7 in 1974 I borrowed the Monkees debut album from my cousin. I listened to the album over and over. This song has been described by some critics of having a “proto-heavy metal guitar riff.” It does have a heavy riff and it is different than the other Monkees songs.
Being seven years old and listening to pop bands from my sister’s collection I thought this song was “hard rock” because it had a guitar with some distortion. The Monkees influenced a generation of young musicians. They made being in a band look fun and in the sixties many kids watched them and wanted to play music because of the Monkees. They don’t get the credit they deserve and are snubbed by Jann Wenner and the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.
At first they didn’t play their instruments but by the third album they all played plus Michael Nesmith wrote songs for many of their albums. Peter Tork and Nesmith were musicians to begin with and good ones…Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones soon learned their parts and contributed. Dolenz and Tork also wrote.
What is not mentioned is a lot of bands didn’t play their instruments on their first albums like the Mama’s and Papas and the Byrds. Many bands had studio musicians to help them out.
Ok…I’ll get off of my soapbox now. This song was written by David Gates (who wrote and sang in Bread). Saturday’s Child was not released as a single but it was a good album track released in 1966. The Monkees debut album The Monkees peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, UK, and Canada.
Saturday’s Child
Monday had a sad child Always feeling low down, Tuesday had a dream child She’s always on the go So I’m in love with Saturday’s child
Every time you take her out at night (She drives me wild) You want to kiss and hold her way up tight (Gonna spend my time) You can tell the future’s looking bright (Making sure that Saturday’s child is mine)
If you love a Wednesday You live your life apart now And if you love a Thursday She’s gonna break your heart, So I’m in love with Saturday’s Child
Every time you hold her close you’ll see (She drives me wild) You can feel the thrill that’s gonna be (Gonna spend my time) Now the future has a guarantee (Making sure that Saturday’s child is mine)
Seven days of the week made to choose from But only one is right for me I know that Saturday’s got what it takes, babe. I can tell by the way she looks at me.
Friday likes the good life She’ll take you for a ride now And Sunday makes a good wife She wants to be your bride So I’m in love with Saturday’s child
What do the Monkees and Dwight Yoakum have in common? They both covered this song.
Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day is a song written by Tommy Boyce and Steve Venet that appears on The Monkees, the debut album of the Monkees.
Micky sang the lead on this song. He is the only Monkee on this recording but this setup fell away quickly as the band began to take ownership of their music and come into their own as musicians and songwriters by the 3rd album. This song has the same sound as Last Train To Clarksville…it is a nice pop song.
It was not released as a single but it was a solid song for the Monkees brand of pop.
Dwight Yoakam also covered this song. The song was on his album Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day and was released in the summer of 2016.
Tomorrow Is Gonna Be Another Day
I’m gonna pack up my pain, I been a keepin’ in my heart, I’m gonna catch me the fastest train And make me a brand new start But that’s okay, Tomorrow’s gonna be another day, Hey, hey, hey. And I don’t care what they say Tomorrow’s gonna be, tomorrow’s gonna be, Tomorrow’s gonna be another day. Yay, yay, yay, Yay, yay, yay.
They say there’s a lotta fish, Swimmin’ in the deep blue sea, I’m gonna catch me a pretty one And she’ll be good to me. But that’s okay, Tomorrow’s gonna be another day, Hey, hey, hey. And I don’t care what they say Tomorrow’s gonna be, tomorrow’s gonna be, Tomorrow’s gonna be another day. Yay, yay, yay, Yay, yay, yay.
Well, I ain’t gonna think about ya, ‘Cause it ain’t no use no more, I’m gonna make it fine without ya, Just like I did before, I’m on my way. Tomorrow’s gonna be another day, Hey, hey, hey. And I don’t care what they say Tomorrow’s gonna be, tomorrow’s gonna be, Tomorrow’s gonna be another day. Yay, yay, yay, Yay, yay, yay.
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
It’s a misconception that the Monkees completely relied on other people to write all of their songs. They also started playing their own instruments starting with the third album. Michael Nesmith wrote this song before he joined The Monkees. The song was the B side to The Monkees Theme.
Loved this song when I was growing up. I still like the song and the drum sound they recorded. It has been covered by different artists. It was first recorded by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band on their East-West album on Elektra in 1966. The president of Elektra actually caught some flap once the Monkees’ version came out because people couldn’t believe that a Monkee actually wrote it.
Run-D.M.C. also covered this in 1988 on their album Tougher Than Leather.
Micheal Nesmith: Nesmith: “That song was written to be a hit. I knew it would be a hit. I never once thought of me doing the lead on that one. Mickey was my choice for that.”
Mary, Mary
Mary, Mary, where you goin’ to? Mary, Mary, can I go too. This one thing I will vow ya, I’d rather die than to live without ya.
Mary, Mary, where you goin’ to? Mary, Mary, tell me truly What did I do to make you leave me. Whatever it was I didn’t mean to,
You know I never would try and hurt ya. Mary, Mary, where you goin’ to? What more, Mary, can I do To prove my love is truly yours?
I’ve done more now than a clear-thinkin’ man would do. Mary, Mary, it’s not over. Where you go, I will follow. ‘Til I win your love again
And walk beside you, But until then. Mary, Mary, where you goin’ to? Mary, Mary, where you goin’ to?
Mary, where you goin’ to? Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, where you goin’ to
I thought I would feature one more Monkees song this weekend. This song was a huge hit in the UK where it peaked at #2 but in America, it was not released as a single. As a kid, I really liked this one because it is so catchy. Mickey Dolenz wrote this song while in England. They had just come from a party thrown for them by the Beatles.
It was on their album Headquarters with the Monkees playing and singing most of the music themselves. On this song… Nesmith is playing guitar, Tork is playing piano, Dolenz drums, Jones is singing backup vocals with Chip Douglas playing bass. The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.
When they were going to release it in England, the Monkees were told, ‘You have to change the title.’ The record company said ‘It’s dirty. You have to change it to an alternate title. It was released in England as Alternate Title. It was the title that was found offensive…nothing in the song. Mickey said translated it meant basically “horny, Liverpudlian jerk.”
Micky Dolenz:“Many years ago we had the pleasure of going over to the UK and meeting the royal family: The Beatles. And one night they threw us a party. I’m told I had a great time. After the party, I went back to my hotel room and I noodled around and I wrote a song that I called Randy Scouse Git.”
From Songfacts So in England it became a big hit and it’s called, over in England, ‘Alternate Title.’ Here, it’s still called ‘Randy Scouse Git.’ And loosely translated it means a horny Liverpudlian putz.”
The TV show were Micky Dolenz heard the title phrase was Till Death Us Do Part, a sitcom that aired on the BBC. This program was the basis for the American show All in the Family.
The only offensive aspect of this song is the title, which doesn’t appear in the lyrics. The song itself is stream of observations pieced together by Dolenz during the group’s visit to England. Some of the references in the song:
The “Four Kings of EMI” were The Beatles, who recorded for EMI Records.
“She’s a wonderful lady, and she’s mine, all mine” relates to Micky’s girlfriend at the time, Samantha Juste, who he married in 1968. The couple met when The Monkees performed on the British TV show Top Of The Pops, where Juste was on-air talent.
The “a girl in a yellow dress” was Mama Cass Elliot of The Mamas & the Papas – she was also in England enjoying the scene.
The British slang words in the title, roughly translated, are as follows:
“Randy”: Horny, in search of sex. “Scouse”: A person from the north of England. “Git”: Sort of a jerk, or an idiot.
When The Monkees performed the song on their TV show, Micky Dolenz was out front singing lead behind a tympani, while Davy Jones manned the drums. It was used in the episode “The Picture Frame,” which aired on September 18, 1967.
Randy Scouse Git
She’s a wonderful lady and she’s mine, all mine And there doesn’t seem a way that she won’t come and lose my mind It’s too easy humming songs to a girl in a yellow dress It’s been a long time since the party and the room is in a mess
The four kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor There are birds out on the sidewalk and a valet at the door He reminds me of a penguin with few and plastered hair There’s talcum powder on the letter and the birthday boy is there
Why don’t you cut your hair? Why don’t you live up there? Why don’t you do what I do, see what I feel when I care?
Now they’ve darkened all the windows and the seats are naugh-a-hyde I’ve been waiting for an hour I can’t find a place to hide The being known as wonder girl Is speaking, I believe It’s not easy trying to tell her That I shortly have to leave
Why don’t you be like me? Why don’t you stop and see? Why don’t you hate who I hate, Kill who I kill to be free?
Why don’t you cut your hair? Why don’t you live up there? Why don’t you do what I do, See what I feel when I care?
Why don’t you be like me? (she’s a wonderful lady) Why don’t you stop and see? (and she’s mine, all mine) Why don’t you hate who I hate, (and there doesn’t seem a way) Kill who I kill to be free? (that she won’t come and lose my mind) Why don’t you cut your hair? (it’s too easy humming songs) Why don’t you live up there? (to a girl in a yellow dress) Why don’t you do what I do, (it’s been a long time since the party) See what I feel when I care? (and the room is in a mess)
This is a very good pop song. A folk singer named John Stewart wrote this song. Stewart was a member of The Kingston Trio from 1961 to 1967, and he wrote this shortly after leaving the group and teaming up with John Denver.
It had been turned down by We Five and Spanky and Our Gang, and even Davy Jones was not sure about recording the song. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in New Zealand, #5 in the UK, and #1 in Canada in 1967. Davy Jones said it was his favorite Monkees song.
It was on the album The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees released in 1968. The album peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100 in 1968.
This was the Monkees’ last #1 single. It was soon knocked out of the #1 spot by The Beatles “Hello Goodbye.”
From Songfacts
In 1968, Stewart became the official musician of the Democratic party, which involved traveling with Senator Robert Kennedy during his Presidential campaign. In 1979 he had a Top 5 US hit with “Gold.”
John Stewart died on January 19, 2008 from a massive stroke. In a letter posted on the Kingston Trio site, Stewart’s close friend Tom Delisle wrote: “John Stewart leaves a compilation of musical excellence unparalleled in his time. He recorded over 45 solo albums following his seven years in the Kingston Trio, 1961-67. He worked all the way up to the time of his death, having recently completed his latest as-yet untitled album. It is estimated that he wrote more than 600 unique and highly personal songs, many of them constituting a modern musical history of his beloved America.”
The song was covered by Anne Murray in 1979. Her version reached #3 on the US Country chart and #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song returned to the Hot 100 for a third time in 1986 when a re-tooled version by the reunited Monkees peaked at #79.
A version by Olivia Newton-John appears in the 2011 movie A Few Best Men, in which she also has a role.
To appease their record label, the Monkees had to make one small change to Stewart’s lyrics. The group’s drummer Micky Dolenz explained: “As we sing it, there’s a line, ‘Now, you know how happy I can be.’ John wrote, ‘Now, you know how funky I can be.’ But the music department said, ‘The Monkees are not singing the word ‘funky.” [Laughs] Funky meant oily, and greasy, and sexy – and they weren’t going to have us say it.”
Daydream Believer
7-A What number is this to? 7-A Okay, don’t get excited man, it’s ’cause I’m short, I know
Oh, I could hide ‘neath the wings Of the bluebird as she sings The six-o’clock alarm would never ring But six rings and I rise Wipe the sleep out of my eyes The shaving razor’s cold and it stings
Cheer up sleepy Jean Oh, what can it mean to a Daydream believer and a Homecoming queen?
You once thought of me As a white knight on his steed Now you know how happy I can be Oh, our good time starts and ends Without all I want to spend But how much, baby, do we really need?
Cheer up sleepy Jean Oh, what can it mean to a Daydream believer and a Homecoming queen?
Cheer up sleepy Jean Oh, what can it mean to a Daydream believer and a Homecoming queen?
Cheer up sleepy Jean Oh, what can it mean to a Daydream believer and a Homecoming queen?
Cheer up sleepy Jean Oh, what can it mean to a Daydream believer and a Homecoming queen?
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