Here they come…

20 Great Songs By The Monkees

5 of my favorites from each of the 4 members of The Monkees

The Monkees have always been (and always will be) my favorite music group.

I watched their TV show every day after school when I was a kid. Back then, in the mid 1970s, most of their records were out of print and hard to find, but I was able to buy most of them at yard sales.

When their albums later become available on compact disc, I bought them as soon as they were released.

I’ve seen The Monkees in concert eight times. The first time was in 1986 and the most recent time was in 2016.

I’ve even met each 75% of The Monkees: Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork. I haven’t yet met Michael Nesmith, but who knows? Maybe he’ll stop by my place sometime and we’ll have a coffee together or something like that.

Okay, that probably won’t happen, but you never know, right?

Here’s a photo of me and Micky Dolenz sometime in the 1990s:

So, yeah. I’m biased.

They’re my favorites.

So, if someone ever tries to go down the infamous “The Monkees weren’t a real band because they didn’t play their own instruments” road with me…well…they can go ahead and turn off of my road and go onto their own road.

That way we can both happily enjoy our own separate things. There’s enough music out there for all of us to enjoy.

On that note (musical pun very much intended) here are 20 random favorite songs of mine by The Monkees. Instead of doing a typical “best of” playlist, I thought it would be fun to do this one a bit differently, so that each of the four members of the group had the same number of songs on the playlist in which they were the lead singer (with one exception, which I’ll explain later.)

In the Spotify playlist at the bottom of this article, the songs are mixed up so that the same lead singer isn’t featured twice in a row. However, in this section below, I’m going to break down the songs by which member of The Monkees sang on them.

Peter Tork

1. Your Auntie Grizelda (Written by Diane Hildebrand and Jack Keller)

2. I Don’t Think You Know Me (Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King)

3. Come On In (Written by Jo Mapes)

4. Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again? (Written by Peter Tork)

This next one is the exception that I wrote about above. While Peter Tork didn’t sing lead on it (Micky Dolenz did) Peter did co-write it. It was used as the closing theme for The Monkees TV show for its second season, so it’s one of Peter’s most famous contribution to the group.

5. For Pete’s Sake (Written by Peter Tork and Joey Richards)

Michael Nesmith

1. Papa Gene’s Blues (Written by Michael Nesmith)

2. What Am I Doing Hangin’ ‘Round? (Written by Michael Martin Murphey and Owen Castleman)

3. Don’t Call On Me (Written by Michael Nesmith and John London)

4. Good Clean Fun (Written by Michael Nesmith)

5. I Won’t Be The Same Without Her (Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King)

Davy Jones

1. Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) (Written by Neil Diamond)

2. Forget That Girl (Written by Douglas Farthing Hatlelid)

3. Valleri (Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart)

4. Daydream Believer (Written by John Stewart)

5. Someday Man (Written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols)

Micky Dolenz

1. She (Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart)

2. Sometime In The Morning (Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King)

3. I’m A Believer (Written by Neil Diamond)

4. No Time (Written by Hank Cicalo)

5. The Girl I Knew Somewhere (Written by Michael Nesmith)

BONUS MUSIC VIDEO: One of my favorite scenes in The Monkees TV series was the “music video” (long before they were called that) for “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” in the first season episode Monkees Get Out More Dirt. In it, each of The Monkees falls in love with the beautiful owner of their local laundromat. She’s played by Julie Newmar, who is probably most famous for playing Catwoman in the Batman TV series.

Her character tells the guys that she likes art, chamber music, motorcycles, and the ballet. To try to get her to fall in love with them, each of the guys pretend to be experts at one of the things she told them about. It made for an entertaining and fun “video” for “The Girl I Knew Somewhere.”

And here is my 5 Great Songs By Each Of The Monkees playlist on Spotify. If you listen, I hope you enjoy it.

P.S. — Since I love The Monkees so much, it was very difficult for me to limit my playlist to only 20 songs.

There were a lot more songs I would have liked to included.

Because of this, there will likely be a sequel to this playlist here sometime soon.

I’ve already got some fun ideas for it.

Thank you very much for reading the above. Have a wonderful day!