I'm in the middle of a project, but wanted to share an unrelated find: my favorite Monkees' song. This 45 was in heavy rotation on the hi-fi we'd use an extension cord on to bring out into the yard. Girls from kindergarten to high school would be outside listening to records and doing...gymnastics! Drugs had yet to hit the neighborhood. I think we all have a song that most clearly evokes childhood. This one is mine.
"Daydream Believer" hit Billboard's #1 in December, 1967 and stayed there four weeks.
Posted by floridacracker at June 6, 2006 02:09 AMwhat a wacky bunch of guys...;)
I would love to hear a good 'ol drunk Peter Tork
tell a few stories. I went to school with a girl
who's Dad took her to see the Monkees. We were very jealous. She said some weird guy opened the show...HAW HAW..(stole the show) in Raleigh.
I wonder if it was Jimi who told Mike Nesmith to put his tie in the soundhole of his fiddle...'for warmth'
Posted by: csason at June 6, 2006 09:14 AMGood choice of a song. Although the Monkees were a "created" band made up of two who were primarily actors and two who were primarily musicians, they developed into quite a good group. Their live concerts were well attended and received rave reviews. I've got several CD issues of their albums as well as solo projects by Michael Nesmith (which I highly recommend).
Posted by: Carl at June 6, 2006 10:48 AMI love those guys. Just got their greatest hits on CD. Finally.
Posted by: tree hugging sister at June 6, 2006 11:40 AMAnd I've never noticed how much Tom Cruise looks like Davy and Michael Palin channels Peter.
Wow.
Posted by: tree hugging sister at June 6, 2006 11:43 AMYeah, they did turn out to be a good group. It helped to have the cream of the crop songwriting-wise.
Lots of good stories about the Monkees. Mickey Dolenz was sensible and his family took good care of him. He was the only one who invested his money from day one.
Michael Nesmith was/is so intelligent and talented and had the world's cleverest mom. He was doing music video production way back when. I remember when he had a special on TV, it opened with him whiting out something on a piece of paper (Yay, mom!)
I thought the tie thing was cute too, Owen They were all just being silly.
Posted by: Donnah at June 6, 2006 06:27 PMIn regards to Michael Nesmith's TV special...I remember seeing that and enjoying it very much. It was called "Elephant Parts" I believe and it is available on DVD with commentary by Nesmith. Well worth getting.
Posted by: Carl at June 7, 2006 07:59 AMI wasn't sure if anyone would remember that but me. Yes, it was very good. He was definitely ahead of his time.
Posted by: Donnah at June 7, 2006 04:55 PMThanks for the 60s flashback. I would have been 16 when this song came out and I fully realized that they were a created group for a television show. But that didn't matter. They were funny and talented in their own separate ways. And yes, they had creative script writers, but more importantly they had songs from some of the most talented writers.
Posted by: Right in Florida at June 11, 2006 09:11 AM the monkees were underrated and underappreciated once they became a "real" band. but they also underestimated the power of the music industry to make or break, and firing don kirshner incurred some wrath among the powers that be.
btw, "sweet young thing" is my fave of theirs.