My Top 2000 Songs #1134: Daydream Believer

Having recently posted a song from a band of tv show monkeys, we pivot to a band of tv show Monkees. Which, given how many fantastic songs the Monkees had, is a little easier to justify. Still, as my Monkees taste tends to run to the Dolenz and Nesmith tracks, there's still a bit of Guilty Pleasure vibe in opting for a Davy Jones tune. But what a tune! One of the truly definitive AM radio pop songs of the sixties, silly and sappy with a chorus that can presumably be sung by everyone on the planet over the age of 30.

For a song so clearly band-defining, it didn't actually show up until their fifth album (1968's The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees), released after the tv show had been cancelled, and as the band had started to wade ever so gently into pop-psychedelia. But this one's pretty far from psych, written not by the usual songwriters in the band's stable but by John Stewart, a musician who had spent a few years in the Kingston Trio; he was pretty prolific as a solo artist, if less than commercially successful, though he got some traction with 1979's "Gold," backed by Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham).

Yet even as someone who often recoils at over-the-top schmaltz, which in the Monkees' case was typically delivered by Davy--c'mon, this may be an example of the perfect chorus. Both the words (wake up sleepy Jean, oh what can it mean?) and melody are just the most insanely sticky earworms you'll ever hear.

Live in 1989 (the Nesmith-less tour; yep, I saw it, and it was awesome):

Later countrified version by original songwriter John Stewart:

Shonen Knife cover:

For the young people in your life, Renee & Jeremy: