My Top 1000 Songs #638: Randy Scouse Git

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Ok, fine, this is largely an excuse to again proclaim that the Monkees had more great songs in the '60s than any other band outside the Beatles. Sorry, this is not subject to debate.

Anyway, "Randy Scouse Git" (from 1967's Headquarters LP) isn't necessarily better than other Monkees singles I could've chosen. (I'd briefly tried both "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" and the guilty-pleasure-but-damn-what-a-catchy-chorus "Daydream Believer" in this slot.) But it was one of the first songs of theirs I heard that wasn't on the greatest hits album I owned as a little kid, waking me up to the fact that they were a legit great band even beyond the dozen most obvious tracks.

Plus, it's one of their true band efforts, written & sung by Micky Dolenz with the entire band playing rather than studio musicians. Also, its blend of styles stretches beyond bubblegum pop. Not to mention some fun trivia (like the fact that it was titled "Alternate Title" in the UK because the slang British insult was deemed offensive by the record company, and when they told Micky they needed an alternate title he took them literally). Great stuff.

Dolenz and the late great Michael Nesmith, live 2015:

A bit of ska from Bad Manners: