No one ever new that this was a protest song against the Vietnam war Clarksville is a town in Tenn. where there is a army base where a lot of people deployed from to go over there that's what they mean by they don't know if they are ever coming home Boyce/Hart wanted to protest the war so they hid it in this song
Mickey did a good on this song. By the way, I grew up watching The Monkees when their show was on Saturday mornings. Then many years later, I became good friends with one of the Monkees, Davy Jones. David "Davy" Jones lived in my town in Florida even he had homes in other parts of the world. But Davy loved living here because citizens of this town treated him like a regular person not a celebrity. Davy was very sincere, and humbled man would do anything for this town. He has dry British humor that reminds of Monty Python. Prior to music, Davy was a horse jockey. How Davy gotten to live in my town? One of Davy's friends lived in a local trailer park outside of town. Davy often visits his friend there. Davy gotten to know locals here in town. Then in 2012, day of his passing, Davy was riding one of his horses when he was complaining about chest pains. RIP Davy! Thanks for the memories and your friendship.
You’re so right about the sixties. We were deluged with great music all the time. There were so many new groups and singers who were individualistic. They tried different firms. They didn’t all stay in one genre. We welcomed all kinds of music. And, you had to have real talent to succeed.
Many songs had string orchestras backing them, like Motown as well as the Beatles, other groups, and individual singers of all styles. the human sound.
As Mickey said: They started out as a fake band but became a real band, which he said was as amazing as Leonard Nimoy actually becoming a Vulcan. The Beatles respected and befriended them. Listen to the deep cuts on the albums, written by the four "actors": Can you dig it, Writing Wrongs, Auntie's Municipal Court, Daily Nightly, Don't Call on Me, Tapioca Tundra....
@@josephmilitello647 they were musicians they were justn not good enough for what Don kirshner wanted which I don't think he should have had anything to do with it in the first place because he's just a publisher
There's a local restaurant where I live here in NC. It was built in the old Clarksville VA train depot and has a rail car dining room. It's called Clarksville Station. Every time we go there I sing this song in the parking lot all the way to the door.
This song was written by Boyce and Hart and it is Actually an Anti -Vietnam War Protest Song. Clarksville ( Ft Cambell, Kentucky) was the home of 101st Airborne...and kast stop before being sent to Vietnam........
"I can't hear you in this noisy railroad station all alone, I'm feeling low." The way that Mickey is singing that fadeout has always left me haunted, as though he's having to shout louder and louder down the phone, because his girlfriend must be saying, "what?" "What??"
58,000 "somes" didn't come home alive. They have a wall honoring them in Washington DC. Many of them were not allowed to vote until age 21, until about 1971. Many of them were d rafter because they were poor, couldn't afford to go to college to get a 4 year deferment from the military, and some of the rich ones' daddy's bought their way out of being drafted, like a former president who was diagnosed with bone spurs in his feet and didn't have to go into the military but walks around in his old age just fine today campaigning to be king...
Mickey was always my favorite! Plus he was the second drummer I saw that sang lead, with Phil Collins from Genesis being the first after Peter Gabriel left in 1975. Then later I learned about Don Headley and the Eagles.
To my brain nothing sounds sweeter than "Daydream Believer". Thrust me on this one. The difference may be having been recorded in analog straight to 4-track tape. I love your demeanor. I was a child of the 60's, b '52. It was a Good time (capital 'G' ).
Mickey Dolenz could sing really high. He's the last one living. The others all sang too. I particularly like Mike Nesmith's songs and he also worked on weird movies and fun stuff
Hate to admit it but I was a fan of their TV show when I was a kid, it was a thrill to see them in concert at age 13 (Peter Tork quit by then) in 1969 in Honolulu, Hawaii where I grew up as a kid.
My younger brother and I discovered our mother & younger siblings' stack of '45s in the mid 70's, and although there was only The Monkees' I'm a Believer/Daydream Believer single (might have been a regional release) there, I did believe they were one of the many, many actual real bands represented in that tall stack of old singles. I understand that most people reacted like that to this single when it was released. I'm still very, very happy that they totally refused to do 'Sugar, Sugar'! They did have some artistic integrity after all, and 50 years after hearing the Monkees for the first time, I never have any qualms about playing any of their songs again.
The song was written by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart (a popular duo in their own right - see "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" & "Alice Long" both 1968). Carole King & Jerry Goffin also wrote songs for them. This was one of their most popular songs (along with "Daydream Believer"). Mickey Dolenz is the only one still among us - rest in peace Peter Tork, Davey Jones & Mike Naismith. IMHO, current music is so auto-tuned & processed (& sometimes lip-synched) you can't be sure the artist can actually sing.
"Daydream Believer" is a song composed by American songwriter John Stewart shortly before he left the Kingston Trio. It was recorded by the Monkees, with Davy Jones singing the lead.
The monkees were 4 msicians on sunset Blvd., Looking for work. Even Charles Manson went to the audition, they were picked and then insisted to be there own band after doing what nbc want ed. And the rest was history
If you’re collecting new subscribers, react to Man Of Constant Sorrow by the a capella group Home Free. The fans (we're called Home Fries) will show up in droves to support these men. It's quite q rabbit hole. And thanks so much for reviewing The Monkees. They were so under rated in their time. I still have my vinyl records that I bought when they dropped. A lot of their music was written by some world-class songwriters.
I remember their music had little respect then: commercial and a band built by TV executives to purposely imitate the Beatles "Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" movie antics. Writers like Boyce and Hart and Neil Diamond had a set Tin Pan Alley formula that was used then. But it's good today.
Dig into Quicksilver Messenger Service. They had radio hits but some not so well known's that deserve listening and a number of more mediocre tunes too (and some dogs) but the good ones, the sound is so full! You might as well start with Fresh Air but get to Fire Brothers, Hope, Joseph's Coat, The Fool, Edward The Mad Shirt Grinder (wild instrumental), Calvary (intense instrumental) and Happy Trails (very short, trippy). There's also What About Me (Vietnam protest, drug references) that likely got them on a blacklist.... and that doesn't cover 10% of what they did. They were a major part of the 60's and 70's California sound. Lot of good dance tunes. the Monkees were a lot of fun the first time round and since.
The Monkees were artist of the year in 1967 and still hold the record for the fastest three number one albums and the fastest four number one albums. Sorry BTS, you beat all but the Monkees.
I'd recommend a few different songs for you.... all have different sound, different feeling... - Take A Giant Step - Pleasant Valley Sunday - What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round - Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow For a "made-up" group, made-for-TV, it's surprising the number of great songs in their catalog.
Remember this was a TV sitcom show about a band, and this song was #1 BEFORE the first episode was was shown in Sept 1966...Music lacks that "Special Touch" today? That was because human beings used to play the instruments [bands/orchestras]... with no autotune singing and computer produced sounds. In the same category today as self check out and no cashiers, and baggers bagging your groceries. Jobs all gone, thanks to computers. You're doing all the work yet prices keep going up and no reward for dong the work that humans used to do, and at reasonable wages. In music thousands of musicians are potentially out of work their predecessors had in as studio musicians. Any moron now can geta beat gong, hit one chord and program it to do certain rhythmic things, start rapping or screaming obscenities, and call it "music and poetry." Yet it lacks melody and harmony and human produced instrument sounds a nd pure tone, no particular good singing or phrasing, jus mumbling with auto tune, or thematic lyrics that reach the world with beauty and grace. Yet people are wowed by those who have talent on the singing contest shows, proving people are starving for melody, harmony, and good singing, NOT computer sounds and obscenities.
Music then and now are in parallel with movies then and now, today is all about the polish, the AI, the effects lost in all that is the story that every song and movie was told. Losing the story makes it sort of hollow
To gain subs...Play 1966 to 1982 music. Something was in the water those years, nothing but great music....Another path to try.. Lucy Thomas, sometimes singing with her sister Martha..Huge following.. Country Music is another place to get subs...
Just for everyone's information The Monkees did not write any of their hits songs including this song last train to Clarksville I'm a believer was written by Neil diamond and the rest of the hit songs were written by the songwriting team of boyce and hart. Who were studio musicians, look up all the monkeys early albums in under every song on the album you will see boyce 2:39 and hart
Grew up hearing Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, The Four Seasons etc. The Monkees were a joke. Put together by TV Executives to create a music comedy show for kids. A corny Three Stooges type with four guys who couldn't sing, or act. Real rockers wouldn't seriously consider them on their list. The TV EXECS used songwriters and musicians for their music.
The truth of the matter is the Monkees were actors playing the part of pop stars in a TV show. The music was performed by studio musicians. The Monkees represented all that was wrong with the recording industry to those of us who lived and died for rock/pop back in the day.
I totally agree. The one big factor is that this was NOT an intentional fake by the guys. Don Kirshner?? Oh yeah.... but the guys were roped in. They did not know that such a huge bubblegum machine was out there and would propel them into the spotlight. Give credit to their attempt to legitimize,somewhat. We are not talking deliberate fraud here. But, they were not the Beatles second coming, either!! This podcast offers no real insight.
No one ever new that this was a protest song against the Vietnam war Clarksville is a town in Tenn. where there is a army base where a lot of people deployed from to go over there that's what they mean by they don't know if they are ever coming home Boyce/Hart wanted to protest the war so they hid it in this song
I've heard Michael Nesmith say that the "Clarksville" of the song doesn't stand for one place.
And yet, they get called "bubblegum"
Thanks i never knew that. Makes more sense when i hear it.
The other story is that the singer was drafted and was on his way to Canada and wanted to see his girl before he left.
Fort Campbell, home of the 101st airborne
Mickey did a good on this song. By the way, I grew up watching The Monkees when their show was on Saturday mornings. Then many years later, I became good friends with one of the Monkees, Davy Jones. David "Davy" Jones lived in my town in Florida even he had homes in other parts of the world. But Davy loved living here because citizens of this town treated him like a regular person not a celebrity. Davy was very sincere, and humbled man would do anything for this town. He has dry British humor that reminds of Monty Python. Prior to music, Davy was a horse jockey. How Davy gotten to live in my town? One of Davy's friends lived in a local trailer park outside of town. Davy often visits his friend there. Davy gotten to know locals here in town. Then in 2012, day of his passing, Davy was riding one of his horses when he was complaining about chest pains. RIP Davy! Thanks for the memories and your friendship.
Oh wow that's an amazing story thank you for sharing that!
@@ShadowCorpseReacts Davy was very cool
Me too. Great group.
Thank you for this story. Davy was one of my first crushes as a little girl.
You’re so right about the sixties. We were deluged with great music all the time. There were so many new groups and singers who were individualistic. They tried different firms. They didn’t all stay in one genre. We welcomed all kinds of music. And, you had to have real talent to succeed.
Many songs had string orchestras backing them, like Motown as well as the Beatles, other groups, and individual singers of all styles. the human sound.
Yo. Us kids back then never missed a Monkees TV night.
As Mickey said: They started out as a fake band but became a real band, which he said was as amazing as Leonard Nimoy actually becoming a Vulcan. The Beatles respected and befriended them. Listen to the deep cuts on the albums, written by the four "actors": Can you dig it, Writing Wrongs, Auntie's Municipal Court, Daily Nightly, Don't Call on Me, Tapioca Tundra....
@@josephmilitello647 they were musicians they were justn not good enough for what Don kirshner wanted which I don't think he should have had anything to do with it in the first place because he's just a publisher
Loved the Monkees when they came out, still do! Honestly I don’t know anyone that doesn’t love them. Even the hardest rockers I know love them. ☮️❤️🎼😎
So glad you have discovered this great 60s group, a staple of my youth
A song about a draftee leaving in the morning for boot camp and then Vietnam. Joyful tune for a sad subject.
There's a local restaurant where I live here in NC. It was built in the old Clarksville VA train depot and has a rail
car dining room. It's called Clarksville Station. Every time we go there I sing this song in the parking lot all the way to the door.
This song was written by Boyce and Hart and it is Actually an Anti -Vietnam War Protest Song. Clarksville ( Ft Cambell, Kentucky) was the home of 101st Airborne...and kast stop before being sent to Vietnam........
Clarksville was a place where many soldiers left from for Veitnam and it was last chance to say goodby to friends and family. So the story goes!
"I can't hear you in this noisy railroad station all alone, I'm feeling low." The way that Mickey is singing that fadeout has always left me haunted, as though he's having to shout louder and louder down the phone, because his girlfriend must be saying, "what?" "What??"
To think that Micky Dolenz is the last surviving Monkee......
Yes, he is.....Davy in 2012, Peter in 2019, and Michael in 2021. Sad interesting note is that Davy died on Leap Year's Day, Feb 29, 2012.
Anti war anti draft song hidden under catchy pop tune by Boyce and Hart. Some didn't ever come home...
58,000 "somes" didn't come home alive. They have a wall honoring them in Washington DC. Many of them were not allowed to vote until age 21, until about 1971. Many of them were d rafter because they were poor, couldn't afford to go to college to get a 4 year deferment from the military, and some of the rich ones' daddy's bought their way out of being drafted, like a former president who was diagnosed with bone spurs in his feet and didn't have to go into the military but walks around in his old age just fine today campaigning to be king...
@@thomastimlin1724
Well said~
Wow! This took me right back to Childhood. 😊 This whole album is great.
The Monkeys were great! They didn't have a lot of big hits but those they did have were awesome❤
Mickey was always my favorite! Plus he was the second drummer I saw that sang lead, with Phil Collins from Genesis being the first after Peter Gabriel left in 1975. Then later I learned about Don Headley and the Eagles.
Mickey grew up in showbusiness working for Disney . I’m glad we still have him. I’ve always liked his acting and sense of humor.
To my brain nothing sounds sweeter than "Daydream Believer". Thrust me on this one.
The difference may be having been recorded in analog straight to 4-track tape.
I love your demeanor.
I was a child of the 60's, b '52. It was a Good time (capital 'G' ).
I'll have to check that one out next!
Mickey Dolenz could sing really high. He's the last one living. The others all sang too. I particularly like Mike Nesmith's songs and he also worked on weird movies and fun stuff
Grew up listening to the monkees....little bit me and a little bit you is a great one too.
Hate to admit it but I was a fan of their TV show when I was a kid, it was a thrill to see them in concert at age 13 (Peter Tork quit by then) in 1969 in Honolulu, Hawaii where I grew up as a kid.
So much love.. my ❤ belongs with the Monkees
My younger brother and I discovered our mother & younger siblings' stack of '45s in the mid 70's, and although there was only The Monkees' I'm a Believer/Daydream Believer single (might have been a regional release) there, I did believe they were one of the many, many actual real bands represented in that tall stack of old singles. I understand that most people reacted like that to this single when it was released.
I'm still very, very happy that they totally refused to do 'Sugar, Sugar'! They did have some artistic integrity after all, and 50 years after hearing the Monkees for the first time, I never have any qualms about playing any of their songs again.
❤I watched them on CBS Saturday mornings. I'm currently 64
The Monkees are my favorite band forever.
I love them and saw them live 4x 86 and 87. Met Micky at a publicity tour in between and got so quiet 😂
The song was written by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart (a popular duo in their own right - see "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" & "Alice Long" both 1968). Carole King & Jerry Goffin also wrote songs for them. This was one of their most popular songs (along with "Daydream Believer"). Mickey Dolenz is the only one still among us - rest in peace Peter Tork, Davey Jones & Mike Naismith. IMHO, current music is so auto-tuned & processed (& sometimes lip-synched) you can't be sure the artist can actually sing.
I'll have to check them out!
"Daydream Believer" is a song composed by American songwriter John Stewart shortly before he left the Kingston Trio. It was recorded by the Monkees, with Davy Jones singing the lead.
This is the best Monkeys song ever! Day Dream Believer is great. Pleasant Valley Sunday is great, but this anti-war song is awesome. 👍👍
LOVE THE MONKEES
amazingly great band that just showed up on tv for us to watch back them. i have all albums
Clubbing back in the 80's. Live band would stop and do a Monkees song. Place would go bonkers!
For a psychedelic flavored Monkees deep cut, try Daily Nightly... one of the earliest pop-rock songs to make extensive use of the Moog synthesizer
The monkees were 4 msicians on sunset Blvd., Looking for work. Even Charles Manson went to the audition, they were picked and then insisted to be there own band after doing what nbc want ed. And the rest was history
I'm A Believer is very popular and well played.
My 2nd Favorite Monkees song behind "Day Dream Believer" sung by Davy Jones and just ahead of "Pleasant Valley Sunday" sung my Michael Nesbitt......
Mickey Dolenz actually sung Pleasant Valley Sunday. Mike Nesmith sang Listen to the Band; You Just May Be the One....
@largemansteve60 -You are correct, I just listed to them on an 8 track tape I still play in my Classic Car ( 1966 Chevelle SS)
Flip over the 45. " Take a giant step"
Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote Take a Giant Step
Going down
It's amazing.
My favourite monkees song.
Nice reaction
The last living Monkee is Mickey Dolenz. He is a nuclear physisist, and he visits FermiLab here in the Chicago suburbs frequently.
They did put out 2 on the 2010's. Hit top 10.
If you’re collecting new subscribers, react to Man Of Constant Sorrow by the a capella group Home Free. The fans (we're called Home Fries) will show up in droves to support these men. It's quite q rabbit hole.
And thanks so much for reviewing The Monkees. They were so under rated in their time. I still have my vinyl records that I bought when they dropped. A lot of their music was written by some world-class songwriters.
I remember their music had little respect then: commercial and a band built by TV executives to purposely imitate the Beatles "Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" movie antics. Writers like Boyce and Hart and Neil Diamond had a set Tin Pan Alley formula that was used then. But it's good today.
This music is analog. Modem music is digital.
@@DonInOttawa Ahh yes thank you I couldn't think of that but that's perfect way to explain what I was saying
And now, there is one Monkee left. Stay healthy, Mickey "Corky" Dolenz.
Mickey Dolenz was a child star in the early 1950s - look up "Circus Boy"
I was a big child fan. They were huge mid 60's.
Musician back in the day had to actually know how to play instruments and sing without autotune.
Dig into Quicksilver Messenger Service. They had radio hits but some not so well known's that deserve listening and a number of more mediocre tunes too (and some dogs) but the good ones, the sound is so full! You might as well start with Fresh Air but get to Fire Brothers, Hope, Joseph's Coat, The Fool, Edward The Mad Shirt Grinder (wild instrumental), Calvary (intense instrumental) and Happy Trails (very short, trippy). There's also What About Me (Vietnam protest, drug references) that likely got them on a blacklist.... and that doesn't cover 10% of what they did.
They were a major part of the 60's and 70's California sound. Lot of good dance tunes.
the Monkees were a lot of fun the first time round and since.
The best all girl band in the world Band-Maid has a seventies sound =) Please check out "Manners" MV They are the real deal !
The Monkees were artist of the year in 1967 and still hold the record for the fastest three number one albums and the fastest four number one albums. Sorry BTS, you beat all but the Monkees.
I'd recommend a few different songs for you.... all have different sound, different feeling...
- Take A Giant Step
- Pleasant Valley Sunday
- What Am I Doin' Hangin' Round
- Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow
For a "made-up" group, made-for-TV, it's surprising the number of great songs in their catalog.
People often confuse the tv show with the great musicians.
check out Ivana "Love Attack"
Never have seen this video but i was invited to the WAR. pray you and your children never see that horror show. PEACE.
Randy Scouse Git!
Remember this was a TV sitcom show about a band, and this song was #1 BEFORE the first episode was was shown in Sept 1966...Music lacks that "Special Touch" today? That was because human beings used to play the instruments [bands/orchestras]... with no autotune singing and computer produced sounds. In the same category today as self check out and no cashiers, and baggers bagging your groceries. Jobs all gone, thanks to computers. You're doing all the work yet prices keep going up and no reward for dong the work that humans used to do, and at reasonable wages. In music thousands of musicians are potentially out of work their predecessors had in as studio musicians. Any moron now can geta beat gong, hit one chord and program it to do certain rhythmic things, start rapping or screaming obscenities, and call it "music and poetry." Yet it lacks melody and harmony and human produced instrument sounds a nd pure tone, no particular good singing or phrasing, jus mumbling with auto tune, or thematic lyrics that reach the world with beauty and grace. Yet people are wowed by those who have talent on the singing contest shows, proving people are starving for melody, harmony, and good singing, NOT computer sounds and obscenities.
CHECK OUT THE VOICE BANDS: HOME FREE, VOICE PLAY & THE BASS GANG
Do hear The Girl I Knew Somewhere/ B side of A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You
Ah yes- the world's first punk song!
Try Look out here comes tomorrow
This was an anti Vietnam war song.
Music then and now are in parallel with movies then and now, today is all about the polish, the AI, the effects lost in all that is the story that every song and movie was told. Losing the story makes it sort of hollow
To gain subs...Play 1966 to 1982 music. Something was in the water those years, nothing but great music....Another path to try.. Lucy Thomas, sometimes singing with her sister Martha..Huge following.. Country Music is another place to get subs...
Just for everyone's information The Monkees did not write any of their hits songs including this song last train to Clarksville I'm a believer was written by Neil diamond and the rest of the hit songs were written by the songwriting team of boyce and hart. Who were studio musicians, look up all the monkeys early albums in under every song on the album you will see boyce 2:39 and hart
Yup but cool songs 😎. And Mickey voice was very good
Michael Nesmith wrote a lot of songs for the Monkees.
@@reganferguson4823 none of them were hits
Why the hate, they were good songs. When you're 14& 15 who cares?
@@matthewashman1406 Many album songs from many groups were not hits...no one complains about them.
😀😍👍👍
Grew up hearing Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, The Four Seasons etc. The Monkees were a joke. Put together by TV Executives to create a music comedy show for kids. A corny Three Stooges type with four guys who couldn't sing, or act. Real rockers wouldn't seriously consider them on their list. The TV EXECS used songwriters and musicians for their music.
Yes todays music is bad!! There is no real heart and soul for music past 20 years or so! Music sucks now! Need real musicians and song writers
The truth of the matter is the Monkees were actors playing the part of pop stars in a TV show. The music was performed by studio musicians. The Monkees represented all that was wrong with the recording industry to those of us who lived and died for rock/pop back in the day.
They started playing their own music soon after the show started.
@@kentclark6420 I'll bet you liked The Archies too.
@@markmurphy558 no they did not
@@markmurphy558 Archives?
I totally agree. The one big factor is that this was NOT an intentional fake by the guys. Don Kirshner?? Oh yeah.... but the guys were roped in. They did not know that such a huge bubblegum machine was out there and would propel them into the spotlight. Give credit to their attempt to legitimize,somewhat. We are not talking deliberate fraud here. But, they were not the Beatles second coming, either!! This podcast offers no real insight.