Daydream Believer - The Monkees
The
Monkees’ take on this simple song is their last #1 hit and is one of the perfect
pop songs of the 1960s. From the moment the jingle jangle piano opening starts
(Peter Tork on piano) it always makes me smile. It’s the late 60s, JFK is gone,
but MLK and RFK are still around (for awhile yet) and everything is groovy.
My whole
life is ahead of me and everything in Suburbia (Algonquin) is good.
Years
later, I heard John Stewart on the Steve Dahl show explain how the Monkees
changed one of his words, to not freak out people like me, I suppose.
In the
line, “You once thought of me as a white knight on his steed, now you know how
happy I can be”, which doesn’t make sense, really, had been changed from “…now
you know how funky I can be.”
When John
Stewart recorded his version in 1971 for his album, “Lonesome Picker Rides
Again,” he replaces the word and adds a few changes o the chorus at the end.
The song’s
3:07 construction is super simple, in the Monkees’ versions it’s Verse, Chorus,
Verse, Chorus, repeat 4-5 times, to fade.
John
Stewart repeats the chorus 2 times then begins to make some substitutions.
“…to a
Daydream Believer and a homecoming queen” becomes
“’…to a
Lonesome Picker and a homecoming queen.”
then
“…to an old
surfer drummer and a homecoming queen.”
then
“…to old
Nashville Carter and a homecoming queen.”
and
finally
“…to a daydream
deceiver and an old closet quee…” and he breaks up laughing.
Great song.
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