"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#.

"I'll Be Back up on My Feet"

Yester-day I listened to the second disc of the deluxe edition of More of the Monkees, and I noticed a couple small things about "I'll Be Back up on My Feet" (the first recorded version, which is included as a bonus track).

There's quite a musical leap at the end of the line "Maybe I will meet a girl who'll try to keep me down" in the second verse.  "Try to keep me" ascends (C# C# D E), but then there's a drop of almost an octave for "down," sung to an F#.  This descent musically represents the "keep[ing]... down" in the lyric.

The other thing I noticed is that the "go" in the last "When I find my boots, I know I gotta go" is sung with a melisma (D A F#), musically giving a sense of that movement.

"Monkees in the Ring"

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, "Monkees in the Ring" - the twentieth episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (30 January 1967).  It was written by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "Laugh" and "I'll Be Back up on My Feet."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "A shady promoter enters Davy into the ring as an unlikely boxing champion."

"I'll Be Back up on My Feet"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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While I was watching the "I'll Be Back up on My Feet" romp in "Dance, Monkee, Dance" yester-day, I thought the bass part sounded like it wouldn't be too hard to figure out, so I figured it out last night.  I got one of the guitar phrases too.

My recording is just the introduction, first verse, and first chorus (and maybe a bit of a lead-in to the second verse).  I should also note that this is the version that appears in that episode and as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of More of the Monkees.  Apparently, the Monkees re-recorded it for The Birds, the Bees, and the Monkees, but I don't have that album (yet) so this is the only version of the song I know.

"Dance, Monkee, Dance"

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, "Dance, Monkee, Dance" - the fourteenth episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (12 December 1966).  It was written by Bernie Orenstein, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "I'll Be Back up on My Feet" and "I'm a Believer."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "A lifetime contract of dance lessons keeps The Monkees on their toes until the group tap into a scheme of their own."