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TL;DR:
- One of The Monkees’ songs was inspired by The Beatles’ “Yesterday.”
- Another one of The Monkees’ songs was inspired by The Beatles’ “Day Tripper.”
- The latter song has a classic opening guitar riff.
The Beatles‘ songs and The Monkees’ songs often get compared to one another. Some Monkees songs have an awesome Beatles vibe. For example, one Prefab Four tune was consciously inspired by “Yesterday.”
4. ‘Let’s Dance On’
“Let’s Dance On” is a great dance song. It has a bit of a resemblance to The Beatles’ version of “Twist and Shout.” Regardless, “Let’s Dance On” is one of the best tunes from The Monkees’ self-titled album. “Let’s Dance On” probably could have been a hit single but, alas, it languishes in obscurity. Hopefully, a new movie or show will make “Let’s Dance On” famous.
3. ‘I Wanna Be Free’
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, known as Boyce & Hart, wrote many Monkees songs. In his 2015 book Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem Into Miracles, Hart discussed the origin of “I Wanna Be Free.” “‘I Wanna Be Free’ was one of the few songs that we wrote with no assignment or specific artist in mind, just because we felt like writing a song together, and once we started working on it together, it couldn’t have taken us more than half an hour,” he said.
“Conveniently, the song was already in our drawer when we went looking for a romantic song for Davy’s beach scene in The Monkees pilot show,” he added. “And once again, it served us well when we needed a “Yesterday’-type’ string quartet ballad for their first album.”
2. ‘Last Train to Clarksville’
In Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem Into Miracles, Hart discussed working with studio musicians to create “Last Train to Clarksville.” “After we showed them the basic tempo and groove and sang the song down a couple of times, I told the guys, ‘Now we need a great intro, a guitar riff, maybe something like ‘Day Tripper.’
“Usually our three guitar players would vie to come up with the missing ingredients by playing us their respective ideas, and often we would work all three into the arrangement,” he added. However, guitarist Louie Shelton immediately created a “Day Tripper”-inspired riff for the song that worked perfectly.
1. ‘Porpoise Song’
“Porpoise Song” came out in 1968 on the soundtrack of The Monkees’ movie Head. “Across the Universe” came out in 1969 on the charity album No One’s Gonna Change Our World. Both songs have a similar airy, cosmic vibe.
“Porpoise Song” is one of The Monkees’ best songs and “Across the Universe” is one of The Beatles’ best songs. However, “Across the Universe” has received lots of attention. It’s been covered by Fiona Apple and lent its title to a Beatles musical movie. “Porpoise Song” deserves just as much attention and it’s ripe for rediscovery.
The Beatles and The Monkees were great bands and fans of one have reason to be fans of the other.
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