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December 3, 2019 11:33 pm  #1


Michael Nesmith on Monkees’ 2020 Tour and His New Archival Live LP

When Michael Nesmth took the stage at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, California, on August 18th, 1973, his life and his career were in a state of free fall. “I had just bought my way out of the Monkees,” he says. “I didn’t have a dime. I had a creepy house. I had to send my butler and limo driver back to England, he and his family, because I couldn’t afford to keep them. I was feeling really sorry for myself. It was pathetic. I was in the worst state of my mind and my life.”
Since leaving the Monkees four years earlier, he’d released five pioneering country-rock albums for RCA, but none of them charted higher than Number 143 on the Billboard 200. It was the end of his time on a major label and fears were beginning to creep in that he’d never be seen as anything but the Monkee in the green wool hat, a very uncool role to occupy in the era of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and David Bowie.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/michael-nesmith-interview-monkees-tour-peter-tork-917100/

 

December 4, 2019 5:14 pm  #2


Re: Michael Nesmith on Monkees’ 2020 Tour and His New Archival Live LP

I, too, am a huge Monkees fan and not ashamed to admit it! Nesmith hated most of the songs he was forced to sing by Don Kirshner, but in the end, they really were some of the greatest pop tunes ever written. Guys like Boyce & Hart, Neil Diamond and more were extremely talented and the longevity of the music proves it. 

There's a story I saw Micky Dolenz tell on a TV special a few years ago and I've never been able to forget it. It was about their first huge #1, "Last Train To Clarksville." The "group" had been filming all day and Dolenz says he was called into the studio after midnight to sing lead on the record. 

He recalls that composer Boyce (or Hart, I can't quite recall which) came up to him with the words. Apparently, there were actually a number of lyrics in the middle break of the tune but a tired Dolenz told him there was no one way he was going to be able to learn them all. So it was suggested he just sing "do do do do do do do etc.," a part I'm sure most here remember. 

And that's what he did.

I have been searching ever since for exactly what those missing lyrics might have been. But I can't find them anywhere. I'd love to hear what it was Dolenz couldn't learn because of his exhaustion - and how it might have changed that now iconic Monkees debut. 

Last edited by aflem (December 4, 2019 5:15 pm)

 

December 4, 2019 5:45 pm  #3


Re: Michael Nesmith on Monkees’ 2020 Tour and His New Archival Live LP

Yes, that's a great story. When I read it on our local radio forum, I posted it here (before you had joined) ... the post is at https://oldies.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=273#p273 . I'm just mentioning this now partly because it states that the lyrics had been written by Hart, but more importantly (at least to me) because it also indicates that the lyrics are probably not available on the internet. This does make me wonder if anyone has asked Hart about this, but of course it's also possible that he might not have saved a copy of the lyrics or be able to recall them now. 

     Thread Starter
 

December 4, 2019 7:10 pm  #4


Re: Michael Nesmith on Monkees’ 2020 Tour and His New Archival Live LP

Wow, didn't know that had been posted before. I guess someone else saw that show!

Boyce died in 1994, but Hart is still with us. Someone should ask him about this before it's gone forever. 

 

December 4, 2019 7:19 pm  #5


Re: Michael Nesmith on Monkees’ 2020 Tour and His New Archival Live LP

The Boyce & Hart website offers a book written by Bobby Hart. In the Kirkus Review of it, there's this tantalizing little gem:

"He recounts, for instance, that the song fragment that eventually became “Last Train to Clarksville” was inspired by a mishearing of the Beatles’ 1966 single “Paperback Writer.”

I can't imagine how one inspired the other because they sound nothing alike. But who knew?

[Edit: Speaking of who knew, the site reveals they also wrote the classic doo wop song "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" and the theme song from the soap opera "Days of our Lives." (Like sands through the hourglass...)] 

Boyce & Hart website

Last edited by aflem (December 4, 2019 7:40 pm)

 

December 4, 2019 10:32 pm  #6


Re: Michael Nesmith on Monkees’ 2020 Tour and His New Archival Live LP

Interesting, aflem. When I saw the comment from Hart, I got thinking about how that might have been the case as well. Then I remembered how, when I was growing up and before I had seen the title, I had originally thought that it sounded like they were singing "Take the back" instead of "Paperback" at the beginning ... and Last Train To Clarksville does start with "Take the". That's not much, and so it may well be that Hart misheard some other aspect of it. However, it might have given him the start of an idea for a song, and I suspect that great songwriters don't need much more than that.

     Thread Starter
 

December 30, 2019 8:58 pm  #7


Re: Michael Nesmith on Monkees’ 2020 Tour and His New Archival Live LP

aflem wrote:

There's a story I saw Micky Dolenz tell on a TV special a few years ago and I've never been able to forget it. It was about their first huge #1, "Last Train To Clarksville." The "group" had been filming all day and Dolenz says he was called into the studio after midnight to sing lead on the record. 

He recalls that composer Boyce (or Hart, I can't quite recall which) came up to him with the words. Apparently, there were actually a number of lyrics in the middle break of the tune but a tired Dolenz told him there was no one way he was going to be able to learn them all. So it was suggested he just sing "do do do do do do do etc.," a part I'm sure most here remember. 

And that's what he did.

I have been searching ever since for exactly what those missing lyrics might have been. But I can't find them anywhere. I'd love to hear what it was Dolenz couldn't learn because of his exhaustion - and how it might have changed that now iconic Monkees debut. 

Exciting update (possibly?) On Dec. 4th, I went on the Boyce & Hart website, found an email address, and sent the above story to it, asking if there was any way he might remember what those missing words were. Weeks went by and I received no response. 

Until tonight, when Caroline Boyce, Tommy's widow, sent me a reply saying she had missed my email in the ensuing Christmas craziness and would ask Bobby Hart if he remembers.  

No promises, but that could mean a possible answer to that riddle that I (and possibly some of you) have been wondering about for a long time. What were those lyrics he wanted Micky to sing all those years ago? I may never hear back from her, but I'll keep you posted if I do. 

Last edited by aflem (December 30, 2019 9:04 pm)

 

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