"I Wanna Be Free"

I listened to the first disc of the deluxe edition of The Monkees this morning and noticed a small feature in "I Wanna Be Free."  The line "Walk along the sand" is sung to a (mostly) conjunct melody (B D C B A), and because the melody is step-wise, there's a musical sense of that "walk[ing]."

While looking at the lyrics again, I also noticed the first line of the bridge:  "I wanna hold your hand."  This is also the title phrase of a Beatles song, but I don't know if this line is meant to be a reference to it.

"I Wanna Be Free"

This morning I finally got around to listening to the second disc of the deluxe edition of The Monkees, and I noticed a small thing about "I Wanna Be Free."

"By" in the line "I wanna be free like the bluebirds flying by me" is sung with a melisma (B G), musically giving a sense of movement.

When I referenced the song in order to write this post, I also noticed that "things" in the line "Doing all those things" is sung with a melisma (D B), musically giving a sense of the number of "all those things."

Almost by accident, I figured out the chords (what chords are implied, at least), and in playing them over a few times, I noticed a third thing:  at the end of the line "Without any strings to tie me down," the chord progression moves to an F major (coinciding with "down").  The song is in G major, so this F major chord is a bit out of place (G major has F# notes), but musically it illustrates the freedom that the speaker/singer yearns for.

"Monkees on Tour"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkees on Tour" - the thirty-second episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (24 April 1967).  It was written and directed by Robert Rafelson and featured the songs "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," "Last Train to Clarksville," "Sweet Young Thing," "Mary, Mary," "Cripple Creek," "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover," "I Wanna Be Free," "I've Got a Woman," "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," and "I'm a Believer."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "A mini-documentary showing a day in the life of The Monkees during their first concert tour."

"I Wanna Be Free"

Yester-day I listened to The Monkees (specifically, the second disc of the deluxe edition), and I noticed a small thing about "I Wanna Be Free."  The "down" in the line "Without any strings to tie me down" has a melisma.  Instead of one syllable, it's sung to two, and the second syllable has a lower pitch than the first one (it's B to A).  The melody to which "down" is sung goes down, musically representing the tying down that's in the lyric.

"Here Come the Monkees"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Here Come the Monkees" - the tenth episode (and original pilot) of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (14 November 1966).  It was written by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker, directed by Mike Elliot, and featured the songs "I Wanna Be Free" and "Let's Dance On."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "In the pilot episode, The Monkees land a sweet-16 gig that is soon thrown into jeopardy when the birthday girl falls for Davy." 

"Success Story"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Success Story" - the sixth episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (17 October 1966).  It was written by Gerald Gardner, Dee Caruso, and Bernie Orenstein, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "I Wanna Be Free" and "Sweet Young Thing."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The group are bent on making Davy look like a star and give his visiting grandfather the Monkee treatment."