Quick: What’s Davy Jones‘ best moment with The Monkees?
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His appearance as himself on The Brady Bunch does not count. He wasn’t appearing as a Monkee, and chances are a stoked Marcia was doing all the heavy lifting in the appeal that Davy appearance may hold for you to this day.
Honestly, “Daydream Believer” is not a bad song – and this clip from the show is pretty cool in a way that ’60s television imagery is forever burned in our consciousness, but even here, in what may be Davy’s crowning moment, he manages to bum me out. At 1:42, the second time he launches into his little Walter Brennan as Cappy dance, I begin to feel that urge to delete the guy from The Monkees’ otherwise fine record. However, I’m willing to write that and even the third appearance of “The Cappy,” at the 2:01 mark, off to the episode’s director. Mickey then tries to save us from the moment of truth at 2:12, moving directly in front of Davy to block him out of possible further damage to the band’s never-ending struggle for artistic credibility. A fierce battle ensues, one that cannot be masked by band members’ forced smiles.
At 2:34, Mike, the band’s patrician leader and guiding light for artistic cred puts an end to the nonsense, suspending his own attempts at nobly playing along with the chords to the song and extending his long arm out to ward off further efforts by Mickey and Peter at blocking Davy’s access to the limelight. It’s a move that speaks to Mike’s leadership and love for the band he would come to despise. It’s a move that Mike has surely regretted since then. It’s a move that likely spelled the beginning of the end of The Monkees. This moment alone is reason enough that Davy Jones should be forever deleted from the record!
Davy’s finest moment with the Monkees is “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You”. I’d say it works perfectly fine as a pop song I don’t even feel compelled to throw into the guilty pleasure pile, depending on the company.
And none of the rest of them could have done it. He’s got the right delivery to do those “Mary…I love you!” whispery bits while coming off completely harmless, like a less creepy Donovan or James Mason.
I’d also argue that, out of the four of them, he most improved his standing via Head. Take Nesmith off the table, who didn’t need to upgrade himself, and Davy definitely did better than Dolenz and Tork. That Daddy’s Song sequence is the work of someone completely at peace with his whitebread corniness.
There’s something to be said for understanding one’s place in the world, and I’ve come around to respecting him for that. I think, in retrospect, Davy Jones the Monkee comes across better than Mickey Dolenz the Monkee, even if his songs usually stunk. Although, who really did have the higher bad song ratio, Davy or Peter?
I know there are a few Scharpling & Wurster fans around here…those bits Scharpling has been doing about just what exactly goes on at a Davy Jones solo show/private party have been great.
Not to Pince Nez but it is Davy Jones (no “e”).
I think Davy’s best moments are on “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.” “She Hangs Out” and “Star Collector” are great vox performances.
Also, just as important, his dancing is really groovy during “She hangs out”
Thanks for correcting me on the spelling of his first name. I don’t know, I may like him even less with that spelling.
I’m a big Mickey fan. I think he could do almost anything worthwhile that Davy did better or just as well, and all the Davy songs that had no business being committed to tape could have been left off the albums.
What other closet Davy fans will step forward?
Dude, Do you even *own* any Monkees albums?
Just askin’
Dude, I *own* the all-important Monkees Greatest Hits (the standard-issue one from our youth); a 2-CD Rhino Greatest Hits; Pisces, Acquarius, Venus, and Mars, or whatever that one’s called; and Headquarters. Each album has a couple of great songs, a few good/interesting ones, and then some Davy songs. Maybe I’d own more if Davy wasn’t in the band.
I will confess that I forgot/didn’t know that Davy sings a couple of winners on those albums, but I’m standing behind my main theme, that The Monkees would have had more artistic credibility simply had Davy been wiped clean from the record. If you’ll recall my standard rankings of ’60s vocal/pop bands with at least slight hippie leanings:
1. The Hollies
2. Buffalo Springfield
3. The Monkees
4. The Byrds
Some might say I’m giving The Monkees too much credit, but I calls ’em as I sees ’em.
Fighting off the advances of The Geator in that episode where the Monkees dress like women.
Good one, db! Perhaps you’ve given Davy The Monkee a reason to stay on the record.
Like Star Collector, Valleri is a decent later Davy record, though it’s probably not going to beat A Little Bit Me or Daydream Believer as his best. Perhaps the value of all of these could conceivably be wiped out by the existence of Cuddly Toy. Yuck.
Davy was obviously the weak link in the band, but we’re (mostly) guys (though sally cinnamon recently posted something … hey sally!). You have to admit that Davy’s adorableness was an important ingredient in the band’s success. The appeal of that alternating left/right dance he always did escapes me, but maybe there’s a genetic component that is beyond us.
[Posting from lovely Charleston SC tonight. It’s great to be in the South again. I just had crab bisque and shrimp and grits for dinner.]
I’m a Davy fan.
I think “Look Out, Here Comes Tomorrow” (written by Neil Diamond) is his shining moment.
OK, my ignorance over who sings a few of my favorite Monkees songs is quickly deflating my argument. Can we talk about Sid Vicious or Axl Rose?
Whoops, I screwed up in my first post. I was talking about Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow too, not A Little Bit Me, as Look Out’s the one with the James Mason-y “Mary, I love you” parts. I thank anyone who passed on the opportunity to pince nesmith me.
Star Collector has one of my favorite pointless lyrics – “She’s a star collector (a collector of stars)” – oh, thanks for explaining what a star collector was, guys.
Mod, if it makes you feel better, Davy still has plenty of embarrassing duds in his catalog, and Mickey was by far the better singer, obviously. I still say Tork may have had the worst good song:bad song ratio, but I haven’t had a chance to actually see if that’s true.
I think the odd thing is how much credit you give the Buffalo Springfield and not the Byrds, but we don’t need to have THAT argument again.
How many songs does Peter sing, he’s got one part of the excellent Words, Your Auntie Grizelda, Shades of Gray…he sang the least of all of them and for good reason, what’s this question about anyway?
I’m definitely on the Mike/Mickey side of things, but I’m guessing Davy was going to be the pint-sized sex symbol, so he sang the torchy slow songs. There’s only so much of that “Ahh” from Mickey that I can take, he starts to sound like Speed Racer, or something.
I have never been a fan of the young Mr.. Jones. He just annoys me. For someone to have contributed so much nothing to a “fake” band”, he seems to have an attitude. Maybe it’s his shortness. He’s always putting down Nez for no better reason to me other than jealousy. He’s a complex little man.
“Hard To Believe” is a dead weight on an otherwise nice album. I liek the rest of the stuff he does there, including “Cuddly Toy”. In his element, the show tunes styled pop, he was okay.
I prefer the other three. I could do without Davy. While some of his tunes are okay for me, I could certainly live without them.
TB
Tork’s non-factor status doesn’t bother me. He had great hair, which made up for all other shortcomings.
Mockcarr wrote:
Don’t think I won’t find a creative way to open that can of worms again!
Ah, The Monkees. Yeah, I agree with the following best of Davy..”She hangs out”, “Look out here comes tomorrow” and “Daydream Believer”.
Big Steve said..
Perhaps the value of all of these could conceivably be wiped out by the existence of Cuddly Toy. Yuck.
Hey Big Steve, I assume your “yuck” is per the style of song it is? Yeah, one can almost picture Davy with tap shoes on and holding a cane. 🙂
It helps my listen a bit know it’s a Nilsson song and he seems to have several in that style.
Or is the “yuck” per the dark underbelly of what the song is reportedly about (gang rape). I assume the former is your reason but as much as I like dark lyrics..these are almost to dark for me to like the song.
But I don’t think it’s close to Davy’s worst..
For me hands down it goes to the god awful “The Day we Fall in Love”. Brrrrrr… Just typing it gives me the willys.
Steve D.
My ‘yuck’ was purely an anti-cuteness reaction. I had no clue about the ‘dark underbelly’ aspect, and reading the lyrics I find it rather dubious.
I’ll admit it — I don’t get Nilsson. I know I’m supposed to like him but I don’t. Don’t like the voice, never liked any of his songs. There, I’ve said it.
I’m shocked, BigSteve…shocked and stunned.
Big Steve,
I can understand not liking Nilsson (even though I do).
Well, it maybe a dubious interpretation. But, I’ve read Nilsson had said as much about the song but perhaps was messing around? Also, Mike Nesmith is who liked the song and picked the song for the Monkee’s. He’s quoted as saying (I paraphrase) when they chose to cover it he had no idea that it was a song about gang rape. Anyway, just so you know I’m not pulling this out of thin air.
Steve D
It’s a tough call, but I’m going to go with “Generals and Majors,” although I can’t remember whether he sang “Vanishing Girl.” If he did, I’ll go with that.
“For me hands down it goes to the god awful “The Day we Fall in Love”. Brrrrrr… Just typing it gives me the willys.”
Yeah, that one is so bad it’s amazing. It outshines any William Shatner effort, and that’s saying a lot. Mr. Mod, you really need to post it.
I just went out to the iTunes store to hear what I could hear, and found a Monkees rarity with a title that frankly made me bust out laughing. Sure, the Stones recorded “Lady Jane.” But even under the influence of bowl-do-sportin’, recorder-tootin’ Brian Jones, they never had the temerity to record a song with as silly a title as “(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love.” And, yes, it features Mickey Dolenz singing faux-medieval Olde Englisshe lyrics. Pretty bad.
A MUST-SEE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKmUc2m_w8M
Give me Davy Jones, any day, over this nonsense. Alexmagic, I know the entire RTH community would appreciate your in-depth analysis of just what exactly we’re witnessing here.
HVB
p.s.: Of course, then there’s this:
http://www.thedailypanic.com/askpetertork_apt206.html
I have always regarded Dolenz’s “Shorty Blackwell” as a real nadir for The Monkees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRIga47wjx0
On the subject of Dolenz, he’s in the news today!
http://tinyurl.com/5bm3qx
I kind of liked that “Shorty Blackwell” number. It reminds me of something from The Four Seasons’ ridiculous psych album – the one HVB just discovered a few weeks ago. (We need to do work together on something for that album, HVB, which I really like.)
The Tork number was horrible but fascinating. Even his hair was bad in that thing. Tork’s column, however, is priceless.
I went out in search of more info on the 1969 TV special from which that Tork number is culled, and found this. First, a synopsis of the section that song comes from:
It begins with Brian Auger, of The Trinity, portraying a Wizard who will take four young men “off the street” and make them superstars through brainwashing. Then, he will use them to brainwash the world.
With the aid of special effect, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith, and Davy Jones appear. Then, they are encased in tubes and the brainwashing begins. To escape this, each “floats away” to their own personal world.
Micky Dolenz performs a blues version of “I’m a Believer” in a duet with Julie Driscoll. Peter Tork sings “Prithee” in a blissful, gauzy setting. Michael Nesmith performs “Naked Persimmon” in a duet with himself, and Davy Jones performs “Goldilocks Sometimes” in a dance number on an over-sized stage representing the room of a child.
Now, here’s a rock critic-type rendering judgment on the Jones performance, which at first blush would seem the most irritatingly Davy Jones-ish of the bunch:
By a long chalk, the best is the… number performed by Davy Jones, who was definitely the most talented of the Monkees. This is a very weird number. Dressed as a little boy in a Buster Brown suit, Jones wanders through an over-sized nursery and sings along to a tinkly music-box tune. In the nursery he meets women dressed as little girls from children’s stories (Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland, Goldilocks, Raggedy Anne, etc) and he dances with them whilst he sings. If any other adult male performer had done this number, it would have seemed dangerously paedophilic, but Jones is artless (in the favourable sense of the term) and he manages to make this sequence seem genuinely innocent. The women are all virtuoso dancers, pirouetting expertly and doing hitch-kicks in petticoats: very delightful, but killing the illusion that they’re actually little girls. I was impressed … but only with this sequence and with the opening number.
Here’s Davy’s fantasy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8AS5LTxDsM
All the other 33 1/3 Revolutions stuff is on Youtube. Interesting, if a bit depressing in that late-phase Monkees kind of way.
HVB
Sorry, I gotta share this one: Mickey Dolenz’ fantasy number — which really says all you need to hear about how awful the Monkees got once Kirshner lost control of the enterprise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f9-UrDuWRY&feature=related