"I'll Be True to You"

Earlier this month, I learned about half of the glockenspiel part in "I'll Be True to You" (up to the bridge).  I'd tried to figure it out once or twice before without getting anywhere; the difference this time was that instead of trying to figure it out with a glockenspiel voice on my keyboard, I used an actual glockenspiel.  I got one over the summer.

I added a bit of reverb, but it still sounds more clunky than shimmering.  I've known the guitar chords for about a year and a half, but what I play sounds a bit simplified compared to the original.

"(Theme from) The Monkees"

This morning I was thinking about the theme from The Monkees, and I realized a small thing about the lines "Anytime / Or anywhere."  The syllables of both "anytime" and "anywhere" are all sung to different pitches (C D E for "anytime" and E G A for "anywhere").  Musically, this gives a sense of the breadth of possibility.

The Monkees Present

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, the Monkees' eighth album - The Monkees Present (Colgems COS-117) - was released in the U.S. fifty years ago this month (October 1969).  Sandoval doesn't mention a U.K. release.

Side One:

1. "Little Girl"
2. "Good Clean Fun"
3. "If I Knew"
4. "Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye"
5. "Never Tell a Woman Yes"
6. "Looking for the Good Times"

Side Two:

1. "Ladies Aid Society"
2. "Listen to the Band"
3. "French Song"
4. "Mommy and Daddy"
5. "Oklahoma Backroom Dancer"
6. "Pillow Time"

"Good Clean Fun" b/w "Mommy and Daddy"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Good Clean Fun" b/w "Mommy and Daddy" - the Monkees' eleventh single (Colgems 5005) - was released in the U.S. fifty years ago this month (September 1969).  The U.K. release (RCA 1887) was "late 1969 or early 1970."

"Saturday's Child"

I was thinking about "Saturday's Child" this morning and realized a small feature in it.  The line "Always feelin' low down" descends (I think it's A A A A F# D), musically giving a sense of that "low down."

"For Pete's Sake"

A couple days ago, I realized something about "For Pete's Sake."  The three syllables of "ev'rything" in the line "It's in ev'rything we do" are sung to three different pitches (A G E, I think).  Musically, this gives a sense of breadth.

"I'll Be Back up on My Feet"

I recently got a copy of The Birds, the Bees, & the Monkees from a used book store, and I finally listened to it to-night.  I noticed a few small things, but I'm going to wait to write about those until I'm more familiar with the album.  Since I'm already fairly familiar with "I'll Be Back up on My Feet" though (because the first recorded version was featured on the show and is included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of More of the Monkees), here are a couple small things I noticed about it.

The line "Lookin' high, I'm lookin' low" contains a merism - a rhetorical device in which two ends of a range are named as a way to refer to the entirety.  So while "high" and "low" are mentioned specifically, the idea is "lookin' all over."

I also noticed that the "high" and "low" are portrayed musically.  "Lookin' high" is sung to notes spanning a sixth:  B B G.  This by itself illustrates the "high," but it's also shown in contrast to "lookin' low," which is sung to notes a whole step lower:  A A F#.

"Counting on You"

The last thing I noticed when I listened to Pool It! recently is in "Counting on You," specifically in the line "Knowing you care after all."  It's a bit ambiguous whether "after all" is used adverbially or not, but the "all" is sung with a melisma (C Bb), so if it's taken in a more straightforward manner, there's something of a musical sense of the entirety of that "all."

"Since You Went Away"

When I listened to Pool It! last week, I noticed an allusion in "Since You Went Away" (which I think I'd noticed before but forgotten about).  I'm not exactly sure how to format it, but the line "Could be the eagle finally has landed" refers to the Apollo 11 moon landing.  The lunar excursion module was named the Eagle, and Neil Armstrong radioed back to mission control that "The Eagle has landed."

When I transcribed a bit of the lyrics this morning in order to write this post, I realized something else:  "since you went away" in the line "Things are much better since you went away" could be temporal or causal.

"Midnight"

I was busy yester-day and forgot to write an-other post about Pool It!

Like "Don't Bring Me Down," "Midnight" also features melisma'd "down"s and "around"s.  "Down" in the line "Midnight, when it all comes down" is sung to the notes D C Bb, so although "when it all comes down" is used more metaphorically, there's a musical sense of that "down."  "Around" in the line "Only the brave, the fools are around" is sung to the notes C Eb D C D, musically giving a sense of either breadth or merely presence.

"Don't Bring Me Down"

Twice in "Don't Bring Me Down," there's a melisma'd "around" (C# C# B) to give either a sense of breadth ("Word gets around") or continued presence ("You're still around").  "Down" in the title line is sung with a descending melisma (G# F# E), musically giving a sense of the word's meaning.

"Every Step of the Way"

Near the end of "Every Step of the Way" (at ~2:26), there's a melisma'd "Go" in the backing vocals (Bb F Eb), musically giving a sense of movement.

"Gettin' In"

In "Gettin' In," "surrounding" in the line "My love's surrounding you" is sung with a melisma (A F# C# A), and that breadth (both in the number of pitches and in the interval [a sixth]) gives a musical sense of the "surrounding."

In the lines "Love you ev'rywhere / Take me with you when you fly" near the end, "ev'rywhere" and "fly" are sung with melismas - "ev'rywhere" (B A A B A F#) for a sense of breadth and "fly" (too many pitches to mention) for a sense of movement.

"(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World"

Yester-day I listened to Pool It! for the first time in about three years.  I don't think I've listened to it since I started this project, so I guess this is the start of my initial notes on the songs.

At the end of "(I'd Go the) Whole Wide World," some of the "world"s are sung with melismas (either B A G or D G), musically emphasizing that width.

"Someday Man" b/w "Listen to the Band"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Someday Man" b/w "Listen to the Band" - the Monkees' tenth single (Colgems 5004) - was released in the U.S. fifty years ago to-day (15 April 1969).  The U.K. release (RCA 1824) was on 6 June.

33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, fifty years ago to-day (14 April 1969), the Monkees' television special 33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee was broadcast on NBC at 8:30 p.m.

"99 Pounds"

I just figured out a couple parts for "99 Pounds," and in doing so, I noticed something about the lyrics.  The second line is "There's a little devil livin' under all that powder and paint."  Because "powder and paint" are alliterative, there's a poetic sense of the artifice that's plainly detailed in the line.

"Kellogg's Jingle"

Yester-day I was thinking about the "Kellogg's Jingle" (included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of The Monkees).  I recently came across some notation for it (vocal melody, bass, and finger snaps) that - as far as I can tell - I wrote out in late January 2017 when I figured out those parts.

Anyway, I realized a small thing about the vocal melody:

The text here is "K E double L / Oh double good / Kellogg's best to you."  Each "double" is sung to a pair of eighth notes, so - compared to the surrounding quarter notes - there are double the number of notes for the beats in which "double" is sung.

"As We Go Along"

I happened to think about "As We Go Along" yester-day, and I realized that "Get up" in the line "Get up off of your chair" is sung to an ascending interval (I think it's a whole octave: Bb to Bb).  Musically, this gives a sense of that "get[ting] up."

"The Chaperone"

Yester-day I watched My Fair Lady for the first time in years (and I think for only the second time ever).  I think I was dimly aware that The Monkees episode "The Chaperone" spoofed some elements from the movie (the trivia on The Monkees DVD briefly mentions as much), but since I'd just watched the movie, I also watched "The Chaperone" to see what specific elements are borrowed or parodied.

After Davy has the idea to employ Mrs. Weefers as the chaperone for the Monkees' party, the show cuts to a scene where he and Peter are dressed to resemble Henry Higgins and Colonel Pickering, and Davy tries to teach Mrs. Weefers the correct pronunciation of the sentence "The dance in France is mainly in the stance," which is similar to a sentence whose correct pronunciation Henry Higgins tries to teach Eliza Doolittle: "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain."

Davy then says, "I tell you, Peter, give me six months, and I could pass her off as a duchess at an embassy ball."  This is nearly verbatim what Higgins claims:  "In six months, I could pass her off as a duchess at an embassy ball."

In a later scene, Peter tries to teach Mrs. Weefers to speak clearly.  He puts marbles in his mouth, and - increasingly impeded - says, "The idea is to put as many of these marbles into your mouth as you can and still...."  In My Fair Lady, Higgins puts six marbles in Doolittle's mouth, with the aim to teach her to speak clearly:  "I want you to enunciate every word just as if the marbles were not in your mouth."

Next, Davy holds a candelabrum before him as he delivers the line "Huntington Hartford hates pickled herrings."  The reason for the candles isn't explained in the show, but in My Fair Lady, Higgins has Doolittle sit in front of a similar device and tells her, "Every time you pronounce the letter H correctly, the flame will waver, and every time you drop your H, the flame will remain stationary."  To demonstrate this, he speaks into the device:  "In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen."  Davy's sentence - like Higgins' - is formed almost entirely of words that begin with H in order to teach correct pronunciation.

"Tear Drop City" b/w "A Man without a Dream"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Tear Drop City" b/w "A Man without a Dream" - the Monkees' ninth single (Colgems 5000) - was released in the U.S. fifty years ago this month (February 1969).  The U.K. release (RCA 1802) was on 28 February.

Instant Replay

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, the Monkees' seventh album - Instant Replay (Colgems COS-115) - was released fifty years ago this month (February 1969).  The U.K. release (RCA 8016) was on 6 June 1969.

Side One:

1. "Through the Looking Glass"
2. "Don't Listen to Linda"
3. "I Won't Be the Same without Her"
4. "Just a Game"
5. "Me without You"
6. "Don't Wait for Me"

Side Two:

1. "You and I"
2. "While I Cry"
3. "Tear Drop City"
4. "The Girl I Left Behind Me"
5. "A Man without a Dream"
6. "Shorty Blackwell"