Covers

[Kathy]

I'm insanely in love with the "Different Drum" cover, last night's version was stellar. Luckily for me, the very nice man at my table was also singing along loudly so I didn't feel so bad. This is *not* a cheesy cover, the lyrics are quite perfect:


You and I travel to the beat of a different drum
Oh can't you tell by the way I run
Every time you make eyes at me

You cry and moan and say it will work out
But honey child I've got my doubts
You can't see the forest for the trees

Oh don't get me wrong
It's not that I knock it
It's just that I am not in the market
For a boy who wants to love only me

Yes, and I ain't saying you ain't pretty
All I'm saying is I'm not ready
For any person place or thing
To try and pull the reins in on me

So good-bye, I'll be leaving
I see no sense in this crying and grieving
We'll both live a lot longer
If you live without me

Oh don't get me wrong

It's not that I knock it
It's just that I am not in the market
For a boy who wants to love only me

Yes, and I ain't saying you ain't pretty
All I'm saying is I'm not ready
For any person place or thing
To try and pull the reins in on me

So good-bye, I'll be leaving
I see no sense in this crying and grieving
We'll both live a lot longer
If you live without me


<sigh>

[FreeRider]

I think Michael Nesmith was under appreciated in his music career. Wasn't he the lone Monkee that really had some musical background,? Didn't the rest sort of learn on the job?

[GtrPlyr]

FreeRider said:

I think Michael Nesmith was under appreciated in his music career. Wasn't he the lone Monkee that really had some musical background,? Didn't the rest sort of learn on the job?

That was always my understanding. I think Mike was the only true musician in the bunch, and the rest were coming from more of an acting background.

Interestingly enough, I saw some interviews with the reunited Monkeys the other day, and Mike was conspicuously missing, surprise, surprise.

[landshark]

There's also something about Mike having the original idea for MTV ... but someone else did it in the end, so don't blame him.

I'll second Kathy's endorsement. Thanks to Paul, the Stone Ponys are going to shift one more unit in the next few days.

[salc]

I know more about the Monkees tha I should admit to in public, but...
Mike and Pete were both folkies doing the club circuit in Los Angeles when they auditioned for the show. Davey and Mickey came from acting backgrounds, but remember that it was fairly common back then for actors to also be able to sing and dance a little.
Mike was not part of the show's creation. The show was created by Bob Rafleson and his partner Bert Schneider who used the $$ they made from the show to produce the film Easy Rider.
And the rest as they say...
And Different Drum is a beautiful, beautiful song

[allshookup]

FreeRider said:

Wasn't he the lone Monkee that really had some musical background?

- Davey had some experience on drums but was thought too short to be stuck behind a drumset; he had to learn guitar on the fly.
- Peter was a folksinger in NYC. He was switched from guitar to bass.
- Mickey was a child TV star, and was named the drummer.
- Mike was indeed the most experienced (and best) musician of the four.

Among those who auditioned for a part in the band and were turned down are Van Dyke Parks, Danny Hutton (Three Dog Night) and Steve Stills.

[kgp]

RJ said:

-

Among those who auditioned for a part in the band and were turned down are Van Dyke Parks, Danny Hutton (Three Dog Night) and Steve Stills.

Charles Manson. But that may be an urban legend.

My first concert was the Monkees during one of their reunion tours. Weird Al opened for them.

[kgp]

Mike used the inheritance money from his mom's invention of White Out to form his own production company, Pacific Arts. Produced some pretty weird stuff.

I guess he really doesn't need to be touring the County Fair circuit.

[FreeRider]

Wow, cool info. Thanks for the responses. I wonder what other Monkee songs Paul digs? I wonder how he and HOFs would sound if they did something like "Pleasant Valley Sunday" or even "Last Train to Clarksville"? I liked Paul's version of "Daydream Believer" that he covered some years back.

[Kathy]

FreeRider said:

Wow, cool info. Thanks for the responses. I wonder what other Monkee songs Paul digs? I wonder how he and HOFs would sound if they did something like "Pleasant Valley Sunday" or even "Last Train to Clarksville"? I liked Paul's version of "Daydream Believer" that he covered some years back.

He covered "You Just May Be The One" by the Monkess in 2002:


All men must have someone, have someone
Who would never take advantage
Of a love bright as the sun
Someone to stand beside them
And you just may be the one
Someone to understand them,
And you just may be the one

[adamapple]

i would love to hear paul do a "band" version of "you just may be the one"...he played that one all thru the solo tour in 2002 and it was something

[michaelb]

adamapple said:

i would love to hear paul do a "band" version of "you just may be the one"...he played that one all thru the solo tour in 2002 and it was something

are you talking about "we may be the ones"?
i tried to convince him to add it to the acoustic repertoire, but he said it had too many words for him to remember.....

michaelb

[TomT]

michaelb said:

are you talking about "we may be the ones"?
i tried to convince him to add it to the acoustic repertoire, but he said it had too many words for him to remember.....

michaelb

If I may answer for Adamsapple. You just may be the one is a Mike Nesmith song he was covering on the '02 solo tour. Great song.

[Monkey]

Yeah, I've always liked "Different Drum" (and was never sure if I should 'fess up to it or not), good tune. I'd love to hear a studio version of this and "Live Forever," and well hell maybe a bonus disc of covers with the forthcoming PW & HOF album.

Make it happen MichaelB!

[TomT]

Monkey said:

and well hell maybe a bonus disc of covers with the forthcoming PW & HOF album.

Make it happen MichaelB!

Monkey I swear I had the same idea today. PW and HOF in the studio for a covers cd. Awesome!

[Monkey]

TomT said:

Monkey I swear I had the same idea today. PW and HOF in the studio for a covers cd. Awesome!

Great minds, my friend. This really needs to happen.

[allshookup]

kgp said:

Charles Manson. But that may be an urban legend.

Claim: Charles Manson was one of the 437 applicants who tried out for The Monkees in 1965.

Status: False.

Exactly when and how this rumor got started is unknown, but long-time Los Angeles disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer, who attended the auditions (and served as Davy Jones' double), even claimed Manson was there. The legend was plausible because Manson had been hanging around the fringes of the music scene in southern California in the late 1960s — auditioning for Byrds producer Terry Melcher, living at the home of Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson, and having one of his compositions released as the B-side of a Beach Boys single — and the story meshed with those of several other unknowns who failed to make the cut for the Monkees but later achieved fame on their own (e.g., Paul Williams, Danny Hutton, and Stephen Stills).

People love to tell scary tales about having survived close brushes with murderers (see, for example, Deborah Harry's claim that she was once abducted by serial killer Ted Bundy), so this rumor has remained a popular favorite for many years now, even though it is clearly false.

* This is from snopes.com, the leader in Urban Legend debunking

[cellarfullofnoise]

as a lad i met a dad at a piano recital
who said he was recruited for the monkees
but turned them down, or they him
so sad

[woofagoofa]

Michael B, I wish Paul would do the We May Be The Ones from Stereo.....that song is a GREAT song.


Have you ever heard the song The Streets Of London ?

the Anti-Nowhere League did a really cool version of it.



Another song that it would be really cool to hear PW do, which I have never heard him play at a show -
HAPPY TOWN.

[Smorgasberg]

salc said:

Davey and Mickey came from acting backgrounds, but remember that it was fairly common back then for actors to also be able to sing and dance a little.

It still is. I've been known to entertain some acting ambition, but I'm about as musical as a wet mop, and move as gracefully on the dance floor.

I have seen such intense actors as Gary Oldman and Christopher Walken do very credible song and dance numbers. I also watched Ray recently and found out that Jamie Foxx was a gifted pianist before he became a comedian or an actor, and that when you see his fingers on the keys in that movie, he is really playing.

I find information about how incredibly multi-talented some people are, um, discouraging.