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I first got "The Birds,The Bees and The Monkees" soon after it came out in the spring of 1968. I already had their first 4 albums and their first 6 singles. I was 12 at the time. Well, I'm 62 now and now have it on CD and I appreciate it even more. The album made it to No. 3 on The Billboard Charts and went platinum. It features their fifth single "Daydream Believer" written by John Stewart, formerly of The Kingston Trio and went to No.1 on The Billboard charts for 4 straight weeks in late 1967, a gold record. The Beatles' "Hello-Goodbye" knocked it out of the No. 1 spot. John Stewart said in an interview some years back that the song was about a young couple, married a few years who were kinda disappointed with their life. He said they substituted his lyrics "My shaving razor's old," to "My shaving razor's cold." Also they substituted his original lyrics,"Now you know how funky I can be." to "Now you know how how happy I can be." Jean,a former Homecoming queen who's kinda sad and sleepy. You can hear the ringing of their alarm at 6 O'clock.The beat of the song is like the ticking of a clock. Her husband,( who believes in his daydreams),is singing to cheer her up,(because they're broke.) Their second biggest selling single,( "I'm a Believer" written by Neil Diamond from their second album "More of The Monkees' from 1966 was their biggest.) This was my Mom's,my sister Mary's and my brother John's and my favorite Monkee song.The Classic IV recorded a version in 1968 as did The Four Tops. John Stewart recorded his own version in 1971. Lobo in 1974. Ann Murray did a cover of the song that made the Top 10 on The Billboard Charts in early 1980. Peter Tork said in an interview that her version used his piano licks. Davy Jones performed the song on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno " back in 1995 promoting the album being released on CD for the first time. "Atomic Kitten" a British girl pop group covered it in 1998. Susan Boyle did a version for her 2009 album "I Dreamed a Dream", Alvin and The Chipmunks covered it for "Alvin and The Chipmunks : The Squeakquel also in 2009. The song was even translated into Japanese performed by a teenage girl pop group and and also in an animated feature there.
Davy's autobiography from the year 2000 was entitled "Daydream Believing." Davy also wrote a memoir from 1987 entitled "They Made a Monkee Out of Me." The song was also featured in episodes of "The Wonder Years", "Dawson's Creek" and "Glee" The cable network VH-1 produced a movie in the year 2000 entitled "Daydream Believers, The Monkees Story" which I thought was entertaining. EBAY used the song in one of their commercials back in 2005. Both Conan O'Brien and Craig Ferguson poked fun at the song on their shows some years back. I've seen The Monkees in concert five times over the past 30 years,"Daydream Believer" was always the grand finale and the highlight of the show with the group getting the audience to stand up and sing along with them. And they always came back for an encore.
The album also features their sixth single "Valleri" written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart and "Tapioca Tundra" written by Mike Nesmith which went to No.3 on The Billboard Charts. "Valleri" features Louie Shelton of the legendary studio musicians nicknamed "The Wrecking Crew" on lead guitar along with Boyce and Hart's band "The Candy Store Prophets." Davy Jones said "Valleri" was his personal favorite Monkee song. (Mike Nesmith said it was his least favorite.) "Tapioca Tundra" is one of Mike's favorites and it is unique.
Davy co-wrote two songs, "Dream World" which is pretty good and "The Poster" a nice song geared for the kiddies about something that is now a thing of the past, the circus. This song was arranged by Shorty Rogers who did "Daydream Believer" and features some members of "The Wrecking Crew." Mike and Keith Allison of "Paul Revere and The Raiders" co-wrote "Auntie's Municipal Court" a cool country-rock-psychedelic tune with Mike's first wife Phyllis singing backup vocals. Mike's,"Magnolia Simms" his take on a Roaring 1920's,1930's era "Yippie" tune is his funny monkeying around. He kinda sounds like Rudy Vallee,(a name lost on the younger generation.) Davy sings "We Were Made For Each Other" co-written by the lovely Carole Bayer,(who Davy had a crush on.) For the girls, the teenyboppers as they used to be called,now it's the tweens. Then there's Mike's far out "Writing Wrongs" which is out-a-site,which they use to say back then.
Besides the lead and backup vocals on "Auntie's Municipal Court" Micky Dolenz's leads on the upbeat "I'll Be Back Upon My Feet" and the downbeat "Zor and Zam" (which Micky kinda sounds like Grace Slick ) are both really good tunes. Along with "P.O. Box 9847" a song inspired by The Monkees' co-creator,Producer and Director Bob Rafelson,a song about the personal column or "Want-Ads" as they were called. Long before "Match.com. and "E- Harmony." Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart wrote and produced "P.O. Box 9847" which I thought was one of their very best tunes. Davy,Micky and Mike produced all the songs on the album except "Daydream Believer" which was produced by Chip Douglas and "Valleri" which was produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. Playing his own piano licks on "Daydream Believer" and signing "Love,Peter" and drawing a little flower on the back of the album is Peter Tork's contribution to the record. There are those that consider this album The Monkees' version of The Beatles "White Album" from that very same year. The advertisement back in 1968 for the record said.... "Tell somebody you love about "The Birds,The Bees and The Monkees " I already have.
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