"Sweet Young Thing"

I was thinking about "Sweet Young Thing" yester-day and realized that in the line "The seeds of doubt you planted have started to grow wild," the phrase "to grow wild" ascends (C# D E), musically giving a sense of the upward motion of that growth.

"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."

"The Audition (Find 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, "The Audition (Find the Monkees)" - the nineteenth episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (23 January 1967).  It was written by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso, directed by Richard Nunis, and featured the songs "Sweet Young Thing," "Papa Gene's Blues," and "I'm a Believer."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The Monkees try to impress TV producer Hubbell Benson who is looking for a group to star in his show."

To demonstrate the recent HD restoration of the footage, this full episode is on the Monkees' YouTube channel:

"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." 

"Sweet Young Thing"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I was rushing when I put up my post yester-day, and - had I read it over again - I might have realized that what I said about my knowing only one song from the first album isn't true.  I even mentioned in my introductory post that I learned the bass part for "Sweet Young Thing."  It's actually not that interesting on its own because it's mostly just A notes.

I even wrote out the notation for this (thereby discovering that - if my knowledge of time signatures is right - this is in 2/4 time), but after recording it, I noticed something that invalidates what I wrote out.  The transition from the first verse to the chorus is just quarter notes, but the transition from the second verse to the chorus has a figure with eighth notes.  When I wrote out the notation weeks ago, I put repeat signs that indicate that the second verse is exactly the same as the first, which it isn't.  And I didn't feel like re-recording this, so that eighth note transition isn't in my recording either.  Until I learn an-other part to this, I probably won't update it just for the sake of two eighth notes.