Michael Nesmith Tribute

With the tragic passing of Mike Nesmith, I thought I would share some of my favorite tracks and give some thoughts. I will not duplicate any of the songs I listed on my Best Monkees Songs You've Never Heard post, even though every one of the songs on that list that was either written or sung by Mike deserves to be here.

Different Drum  Of course we have to start with this song.  There have been several versions, including the first, 1966 folksy dirge version by the Greenbrair Boys, the 1967 pop classic by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys, and Mike's own mostly acoustic 1972 version.  However, my favorite version is the earlier, originally unreleased alternate take from 1970, with a Western Swing beat and some great steel guitar work from the amazing Red Rhodes.  This is my go-to version by Mike, and it rivals the Stone Poneys' version.

Get Out of My Life Woman  A previously unreleased funky, bluesy track from Mike's pre-Monkees "Michael Blessing" Colpix days.

Sunny Girlfriend  A Monkees song from the Headquarters album. A fun tune that at first seems like a typical teenage love song about a great girl, but the last line which says "she doesn't really care" changes the whole perspective to unrequited love. This history behind this song is The Monkees, in their earliest concerts, performed She's So Far Out, She's In, with Mike on lead vocals, and it was the first song they attempted at the Headquarters recording sessions. Coming to light recently is that Mike also recorded an unreleased version in 1965/66 as part of his pre-Monkees "Michael Blessing" Colpix deal. At some point, Mike decided to write his own version of the concept, while copying the intro to the Rolling Stones' It's All Over Now, and thus was created Sunny Girlfriend.

You Told Me  The lead track to Headquarters with a count in that was meant to parody the Beatles' Tax Man, and has what Peter Tork described as the most Rock 'n Roll use of a banjo.

Good Clean Fun  A song Mike wrote when a record exec told him he needs to write more songs that are good clean fun. This song has become something of an anthem for the final years of the Mike and Micky concerts.

Naked Persimmon  From The Monkees' 1969 TV Special, this song cleverly recaps the whole situation with Don Kirshner. The accompanying video is also great ("Wanted for Fraud").

Little Red Rider  Mike comes into his own post-Monkees with his First National Band.

Propinquity  Love song, Nesmith style.  Great lyric is "I've seen you make a look of love from just an icy stare".

I Fall To Pieces  Mike's cover of a Patsy Cline classic.

Thanx For The Ride  Apparently, this song was Mike's formal statement saying goodbye to his band mates in The Monkees. But if you listen to the lyrics, it works just as well as his final goodbye to all of us.

Hollywood  Similarly, this song was his lament on the California show biz culture he experienced while being a Monkee.

Some of Shelly's Blues  Other than Different Drum, this was perhaps his most covered song, with versions by Linda Ronstadt, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Continental Drifters and Earl Scruggs.

Wax Minute  Perhaps my favorite Mike song from his solo years.  Although it was written by Richard Stekol, it is very much in a Mike Nesmith style.

Mama Rocker  This Chuck Berry influenced song apparently was about Marrianne Faithful. 

I'll Go Somewhere and Cry  This is perhaps the most obscure song on the list.  It is actually the very first song Mike wrote to be professionally recorded and released (1964). The Elvis Presley style vocals are by Denny Ezba, with Mike on guitar and doing the whistling. This catchy tune is highlighted by the contrast of lyrics expressing a heartbroken guy wanting to go somewhere and cry juxtaposed with rather happy whistling. Speaking of Elvis, if there was only one question I could have asked Mike, it would have been "When you were on RCA Records in the early 1970s, being produced by Felton Jarvis, who was also Elvis' producer at the time, were there any efforts made to submit songs to Elvis?"  I think an Elvis-Nez collaboration in the  '70s would have been amazing.

Rio  The song that Mike essentially invented the modern music video for. Perhaps his most famous and popular solo track.

Magic  Another early trailblazing music video.  The retro 1950s sound makes it a favorite of mine.

Cruisin'  The third in the trilogy of groundbreaking music videos.  By the way, contrary to popular belief, that is not a young Hulk Hogan in the video, but a different pro-wrestler named Steve Strong.

Yellow Butterfly  A kind of dreamy song from his 1992 "comeback" album  ...tropical campfires...

Laugh Kills Lonesome  A song that celebrates the classic singing cowboys of the golden age of movies.

I Know What I Know  From the Monkees album Good Times. The lyrics and melody transcends rock 'n roll or pop music and goes to a whole new level, right up there with Cole Porter or Irving Berlin.

The best Elvis songs you've never heard, part 2.

To celebrate Elvis Presley being honored by President Donald Trump with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, I thought I'd take the opportunity to add to my previous list of Elvis' best overlooked and under appreciated recordings.

Good Rockin' Tonight One of Elvis' Sun singles that just doesn't get enough love these days.

Milkcow Blues Boogie is another Sun single that seems to have fallen into the obscure, but has the great lyric "if you don't believe I'm leavin', you can count the days I'm gone".

I Was The One The flip side to Heartbreak Hotel, RCA initially thought it would be the hit.  A classic doo-wop ballad that set the standard for all doo-wop ballads that would come in it's wake.

Too Much is one of Elvis' hits from 1957 that sadly, is today mostly forgotten.

I Need You So is a blues style ballad that that has a beat and swings, with Elvis' vocal really selling it.

So Glad You're Mine is a honky-tonk blues tune written by Arthur Crudup (That's All Right) with some raunchy lyrics.

Is It So Strange is another ballad that Elvis' voice soars to another level.

When It Rains It Really Pours is a song Elvis attempted in the Sun years, but went unreleased.  He tried it again at RCA with a fuller sound (but less lyrics), and still unhappy with the performance, it went on the shelf for several years until finally getting released in 1965.
 
King Creole, the title song from one of his best movies, showcases Elvis with a bigger, Dixieland influenced sound that still rocks.

The Girl of My Best Friend is a bouncy song of unrequited love.

Reconsider Baby A track from the brilliant Elvis is Back! album is perhaps his finest blues performance, with a killer saxophone solo by Boots Randolph.

I Got Lucky  A song from the movie Kid Galahad, this mid-tempo number is all charm and happiness.

Your Cheatin' Heart  Elvis' super-charged cover of the Hank Williams classic rocks.

One Broken Heart For Sale is a quick but great tune written by one of Elvis' best songwriters, Otis Blackwell.

I Gotta Know is a mid-temp rocker with clever lyrics.

It Hurts Me is another great song where Elvis pleads for an unrequited love to give him a chance. Elvis also performed this song in a memorable sequence on his 1968 Comeback Special.

Night Life is an outtake from Viva Las Vegas. Its surprising it has never yet been used to promote Vegas tourism.

Down in the Alley is a great blues jam.

Tomorrow is a Long Time  Elvis sings Dylan.  'Nuff said.

Witchcraft  A completely different song than the standard made famous by Sinatra, but one that swings and rocks.

She's a Machine  A song from Easy Come Easy Go about a girl who is every boy's dream and every mother's nightmare.

Clean Up Your Own Backyard is a great tune accented by some fine resonator guitar riffs.

Polk Salad Annie  A song Elvis never recorded a studio version of, but the live version shows the energy of his concerts in the 1970s.

The Fool is a kind of funky Country track.

Funny How Time Slips Away has Elvis taking the Willie Nelson standard into a bluesy zone.

If You Don't Come Back has Elvis returning to the blues, recorded at the famous Stax studios.

The best Elvis songs you've never heard.

As we celebrate Elvis' birthday, I thought I'd take this opportunity to put a spotlight on Elvis' best overlooked and under appreciated recordings, similar to my previous Monkees post. 

Many of the songs on this list will be from Elvis' movies, often dismissed, yet the source for some real gems.

Baby Let's Play House is one of Elvis' earliest tracks from the Sun Records era, and if ever there was a very definition of "Rock and Roll", it would be this song.

My Baby's Gone is a slow blues tune recorded at Sun that Sam Phillips felt was a little too bluesy, so it was never released. It was remade as an up tempo Rockabilly number under the alternate title I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone.  But it's the original blues version that's the winner.

Mean Woman Blues is a highlight from the movie Loving You and became a Rock and Roll standard covered by many other artists, but it's Elvis' original that set the standard.

  

Tell Me Why is a blues ballad that showcases Elvis' vocal range in his early years.

A Fool Such As I  is a great example of how Elvis could take a slow, Country song (originally recorded by Hank Snow) and turn it into a breezy, swinging rocker.

Fame And Fortune is a great do-wop ballad with Elvis in great form.  It was the b-side of his first single after getting out of the army, and first true stereo release.

Like A Baby is one of Elvis' best tracks off one of his best albums, Elvis Is Back! (1960). A blues number that fits Elvis' pleading vocal performance perfectly and is proof that he was one of the best blues singer of all time.

Summer Kisses Winter Tears is a nice Western ballad that was cut from the movie Flaming Star but went on to be released as a single.

That's Someone You Never Forget is a hauntingly beautiful ballad.  It is one of a very few songs Elvis co-wrote when he tried songwriting in the early 1960s with his Memphis Mafioso Red West (tracks from the 1950s that gave Elvis songwriting credit were due to his song arrangements and occasional lyric revisions, the main exception being the four Love Me Tender soundtrack songs, which were essentially a form of "payola"). It's too bad Elvis didn't have the interest to continue with songwriting, as this track proves, in time, he could have been a major songwriting talent.

She's Not You is the result of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller teaming up with Doc Pomus, to form a songwriting supergroup.  While not the hard rocking track one would expect from such a collaboration, it is never-the-less, a nice mid-tempo pop tune.

What A Wonderful Life is a swinging, bouncy number from the movie Follow That Dream and in a way, perfectly captures the essence of the "Elvis Presley movie franchise".

King of The Whole Wide World is a bouncy rocker from Kid Galahad.

A Mess of Blues is just what the title says, and has since become something of a blues standard.

Long Lonely Highway is song that urges one to go on even though things aren't very good. Very good track that was later incorporated (with horn overdubs) into the movie Tickle Me. 

Kiss Me Quick is a cute and fun pop track that shows how musically versatile Elvis could be.

C'mon Everybody is a fantastic rocker from the movie "Viva Las Vegas", not to be confused with the Eddie Cochran song with the same title. The official released version was mono, but seeking out the alternate stereo mix is worth the effort, as it really rocks.

The Meanest Girl In Town is a rocker from the movie Girl Happy that was so good, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded it days after Elvis under the alternate title Yeah She's Evil, and rushed its release before Elvis' version with the hopes of reviving the Comets' career.



Spinout is a bluesy, up tempo soul number, kind of a counterpoint to the soul classic Expressway To Your Heart. With its driving bass line, and some killer Hammond organ riffs this is an overlooked gem that would fit in perfectly at dream cruises and classic car shows.  Elvis must have liked the song, too, since when he performs it in the movie of the same name, he breaks into some of his old 1950s dance moves, something he only did in the 1960s when he was really having fun.

Hard Luck from the movie Frankie & Johnny is a great blues tune with some wailing harmonica playing by Charlie McCoy.

Hey Little Girl is a fun and cute rocker from Harum Scarum that really should have been a major hit.

Long Legged Girl (With The Short Dress On) is a short but fun rocker from the movie Double Trouble. With the Jordanaires' old-school doo-wop backing vocals, and Elvis singing great lyrics like "walk in stilts in ten foot leaps" looking for the elusive title character, it is impossible not to like this song.

Too Much Monkey Business is a cover of the Chuck Berry classic Elvis recorded with Jerry Reed providing the guitar work.  Recorded at the same session that included Guitar Man, Big Boss Man, Hi-Heel Sneakers, U.S. Male (arguably an early precursor of rap), and Stay Away Joe, each of these songs are gems and reignited Elvis' creativity after years of soundtrack albums, and was the first step of his "Comeback".  An interesting footnote:  in the 1960s, Elvis was always lambasted by critics for being "out of touch" with the world around him, living in his own protected bubble.  Yet, in this song, Elvis alters Berry's original lyric to include a reference to the Vietnam war.  Maybe Elvis wasn't as out of touch as everyone was led to believe.

Let Yourself Go from the movie Speedway is such a great song that Elvis remade it for his 1968 Comeback special.

All I Needed Was The Rain is a down on your luck blues tune from Stay Away Joe with some great harmonica and resonator guitar.

Wearin' That Loved On Look is a Soul-Rhythm & Blues track from another of Elvis' best albums, From Elvis In Memphis (1969). The entire album is excellent and is, unfortunately, the only all-out Soul/R&B album Elvis ever made.  This song was the first track, and set the pace for the album.

If You Talk In Your Sleep is a funky 1970s track, co-written by Red West, with a "Blues Brothers" style horn arrangement. For most of the 1970s, Elvis' recordings tended to be on the Country-rock side.  So, in the final couple years of his life, when he began to record funky, bluesier numbers like this and Way Down, and treaded into 1950s nostalgia tracks like Pledging My Love and Hurt, it kind of gives you an idea of where Elvis would have gone musically had he lived into the 1980s.

Any one of these songs, if reissued today, would be a number one hit, much like A Little Less Conversation, another lesser known movie soundtrack song, was when it was remixed and reissued in 2002.  I may have to do a "Part 2" to this article sometime.

The best Monkees songs you've never heard

As a spotlight has shined on the Monkees due to the death of Davy Jones, I thought I would take this opportunity to celebrate some of the best Monkees tracks, that unfortunately only a connoisseur like myself is aware of. 

Like many rock groups of the era, in the modern context, only a handful of their greatest hits gets any airplay these days.  Most everyone knows Last Train To Clarksville, I'm A Believer, Stepping Stone, Pleasent Valley Sunday, and Daydream Believer.  But the Monkees had many many more great tracks that have fallen by the wayside as the years rolled on.

Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day is a catchy tune with a bluesy harmonica solo from their debut album.  It was used on the TV show several times.

Saturday's Child is another track from the first album.

Papa Gene's Blues is one of Mike Nesmith's contributions to the first album.  Many of the songs listed here will be written by Nesmith, as his tracks are phenomenal, yet always seemed to be pushed aside for the tracks with either Micky or Davy singing lead.  In my humble opinion, I think Monkees-era Nesmith rivals John Lennon in quality as a songwriter.  This song blends Latin percussion with a Country-Pop melody.

I Wanna Be Free is a friends with benefits anti-love song, decades ahead of its time.  The up tempo original version is the best, as is the heavy metal-ish live 1967 version.

The Kind Of Girl I Could Love is another Nesmith track, this time from the second album.  An alternate mix with inspired backing vocals by Micky, Davy and Peter, currently available on the 2 disc deluxe edition of "The Monkees", is the definitive version.

All The King's Horses is yet another Nesmith track, and perhaps the most famous song never to be released in the 1960s, having appeared on a couple episodes of the TV show. It was finally released in the 1990s, although in a different mix than the version used on TV.

She is the lead off song from the second album "More Of The Monkees", and is a punky head banger with brilliant vocals by Micky.

Mary Mary is a Nesmith written, Dolenz sung blues tune that was originally recorded by the Paul Butterfield Bluesband. It was also turned into a rap song by Run-DMC in the 1980s.

Apples Peaches Bananas and Pears is an early, unreleased song that popped up on one of the 1970 Saturday morning reruns of the show.  I like it, and feel it has a slight Elvis Presley vibe to it, perhaps due to Micky stressing "don't be cruel" and a Scotty Moore style guitar solo.

The Girl I Knew Somewhere  is perhaps the most historically important song, as it was the first track released as a single to have the Monkees playing on the track.  Written by Nesmith, with a great vocal by Dolenz, and an inspired harpsichord solo by Tork, this song is unquestionably the definitive Monkees sound.

All Of Your Toys  was supposed to be the flip side of "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" (which in turn was originally going to be sung by Mike) to be the first Monkees single to be performed by the group.  However, Columbia-Screen Gems did not own the publishing to this song, so it got rejected.  The guys went back into the studio to remake "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" with a slightly faster tempo and with Micky singing, and after some underhanded dealings by Don Kirshner (releasing "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" b/w the original version of "She Hangs Out" without The Monkees consent resulting in Kirshner getting fired and the single quickly being recalled) "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" was issued as the flip side of "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You". "All Of Your Toys" went on to assume near mythological status until it was finally released in the late 1980s.

No Time is a Chuck Berry style rocker from the third album, "Headquarters".

Randy Scouse Git is the Micky Dolenz tour de force from "Headquarters".

Cuddly Toy from the album "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd" is my favorite track to feature Davy on lead vocals.

Love Is Only Sleeping a Nesmith sung track from "Pisces".

She Hangs Out is a Davy sung rocker from "Pisces" about an underage oversexed girl.

Going Down is a rhythm and blues showcase for Micky.

Words is a Micky and Peter duet from "Pisces", although the original unreleased version (which can be found on "Missing Links vol 2") might have the edge.

Tapioca Tundra is a Nesmith track from "The Birds The Bees and The Monkees", and it is at this time Nesmith's lyrics get very visual and exceptional.  Currently I am really into the alternate mix from the 3 disc Deluxe Edition.

Magnolia Simms is another Nesmith track from "Birds" with a 1920s ragtime sound and built in skips and groove static.

My Share Of The Sidewalk is a great example of Nesmith's brilliance.  When I first heard this unreleased track on one of the "Missing Links" volumes, with lead vocal by Davy, I didn't really get it. But  upon hearing it again, many years later, I now get it.  With its syncopated rhythm, it was Mike's attempt to write a Broadway style tune tailored for Davy, and has some of the greatest lines in the lyrics I have ever heard.

Tear The Top Right Off My Head is an unreleased gem by Peter Tork. The version with Micky singing lead is the keeper.

Steam Engine is an unreleased song that was used on the 1970 Saturday morning rerun of the episode "Monkees On Tour", although sped up to fit the time slot.

St Matthew is another Nesmith masterpiece with his amazing illustrative lyrics. The bluesier, acoustic demo is just as good, if not slightly better.

Midnight Train is a Dolenz track from the album "Changes".

And just about everything from their overlooked 1996 reunion album, Justus.

Believe it or not, this is really just scratching the surface.  There are still many more tracks I haven't mentioned that really deserve to be more widely known than they are.