"I'm a Believer"

A couple days ago, I was playing "I'm a Believer" on my keyboard (figuring out the vocal melody both by ear and from memory), and I discovered something interesting, which I then verified by referencing the recording.

The song's in G major, but there's an F natural (the only accidental in the vocal melody) in the last line of every verse.  It corresponds to "all my" in the line "Disappointment haunted all my dreams" and "I got" in the line "When I needed sunshine I got rain."  This foreign tonality musically represents the "disappointment" and the rain in place of sunshine.

"The Christmas Show"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "The Christmas Show" - the forty-seventh episode of The Monkees series (and the fifteenth of the second season) - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (25 December 1967).  It was written by Dave Evans and Neil Burstyn, directed by Jon Anderson, and featured the song "Riu Chiu."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The group try to instill the spirit of Christmas in a cynical rich kid (played by Butch Patrick)."

"Monkees on the Wheel"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkees on the Wheel" - the forty-sixth episode of The Monkees series (and the fourteenth of the second season) - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (11 December 1967).  It was written by Coslough Johnson, directed by Jerry Sheppard, and featured the songs "The Door into Summer" and "Cuddly Toy."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "Micky 'Magic Fingers' Dolenz meddles with the mob when The Monkees land in Las Vegas."

"Monkees in Texas"

When I watched "Monkees in Texas" earlier this week, I found a few references in the incidental music and dialogue.

After Mike tells the rest of the Monkees, "They [Black Bart and his men] killed our golf cart," there's a shot of the golf cart (at about 4:48), and - as incidental music - there's a quote of the third movement of Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 35, which has the appropriate heading "Marche funebre: lento."

At about 8:45, as Micky and Peter enter the saloon, Stephen Foster's "Swanee River" is playing.

At about 16:00, Mike tells Davy, "Don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes."  At first, I thought this was a reference to the Battle of New Orleans (1812).  In the song "The Battle of New Orleans" (probably most famously sung by Johnny Horton), there are the lines "Old Hick'ry said we can take 'em by surprise / If we didn't fire our muskets till we looked 'em in the eyes."  However, when I lookt up the phrase, I found that it's also associated with the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775).

"Monkees in Texas"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkees in Texas" - the forty-fifth episode of The Monkees series (and the thirteenth of the second season) - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (4 December 1967).  It was written by Jack Winter, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "Words" and "Goin' Down."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The group comes to the rescue of Mike's Aunt Kate, whose ranch is under siege."