Davy Jones is Dead: I'm a Bereaver

I loved the Monkees when I was 13 and they appeared on TV. I started high school at exactly the same time the first episode ran. Monday nights at 7:30!

Their songs were great pop hits, even if the guys used studio musicians under their vocals. They had good writers--so did Frank Sinatra. Frank didn't play his own instruments either. Who cared? The four guys were fun, had cool hair (Mickey's, when he let go natural, was a lot like mine). And what about that Monkeemobile?

The first few bars of Last Train to Clarksville (I believe it was the very first radio hit) are as iconic as the intro to "Satisfaction" or "Day Tripper." I loved the lyrics and the sound of Pleasant Valley Sunday, too, although that was a "Mickey" song. When "Valerie" debuted it was a big deal on KFRC, the Big 610.

Davy sung some sweet ballads, and the girls ate it up. He sang "I'll be true to you, yes I will..." on one of the first two albums--which I owned. But his biggest song is probably Daydream Believer, and if you haven't heard it lately, you will certainly get a chance to over the next few days if you're turned to the right station.

My first crush, on Ramona C., was backed by those two Monkees albums. I can remember it clearly today, 46 years later. I changed my clothing style from dull khakis and checked shirts to "mod" looking bell bottoms and paisley shirts--and don't forget the wide belt! I began fighting to grow my hair long in those days, too, although I didn't look much like any of the Monkees.

Of course it's sad to lose Davy now, and it's also too soon for anyone to die at age 66. But that's what he got, and what he gave us will, it goes without saying, be with us forever.

The Music Machine is Broken

I just learned on a tweet that Sean Bonniwell, the leader of the Music Machine, had died. The band's song, Talk Talk, was a hit in 1966. Bonniwell was 71, so that's not that unusual, but his band is one of those one-hit-wonders you hear about sometimes.

The Music Machine was local, more or less, for me, being in San Jose, California, but I never went and saw them. I just heard the song as I was starting high school. It had just the right psychedelic rock sound at the time and I remember it viscerally.

There surely will be more of these memorials as time marches on, but I'm taking a few minutes today to remember that song--and my 13-year-old ears that heard it.

Guess Who Songs Prevail

I just heard No Time by the Guess Who again. What a great song--and it's just one of several that were big hits for the Canadian band from Winnipeg in the late 1960s and early 1970's.

I went and read a bit more about them on Wikipedia. The band actually formed in 1960, and didn't have big success until 1969, with These Eyes. How's that for patience? The odd name came from a marketing campaign that was trying to create buzz. The group's real name at the time? Chad Allan and the Expressions.

It's Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman that are the guys that are most associated with the group, which broke up in 1975. Interestingly, those two are out touring together again (as Bachman-Cummings), and the Guess Who have had some successful reunions over the years.

But it's those solid songs that live on. American Woman, No Sugar Tonight, Share the Land, Undun (the story of this mispelling is a riot. Apparently the guy taping the session wrote it down this way and they kept it). All these songs are happy moments on oldies radio.