Carole King’s Iconic Songs Missing From the Most Important Album of The Monkees’ Career
The Monkees were lucky enough to have prolific songwriters working behind the scenes to craft songs for their music catalog. Many came from New York’s Brill Building, where they worked for the show’s music producer, Don Kirshner. One of these songwriters was Carole King, who, along with her husband Gerry Goffin, wrote tunes on almost every Monkees album except one, perhaps the most important of the band’s career.
The Monkees’ biggest hits came from the songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin
Don Kirshner handpicked husband and wife songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin to write songs for The Monkees. King’s music and Goffin’s lyrics perfectly captured the pop sensibilities of the 1960s.
Together and separately, King and Goffin wrote songs The Monkees recorded for five albums from 1966 through 1968. These LPs included the soundtrack to the band’s only feature film, Head.
Some of the iconic hits King and Goffin wrote for The Monkees included “Take a Giant Step,” “Sweet Young Thing,” and “I’ll Be True to You.” Also, “Sometime in the Morning” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”
Additionally, the couple wrote “Star Collector,” “As We Go Along,” and “Porpoise Song.” However, King and her husband would find themselves excluded from the most essential album of The Monkees’ career.
Carole King’s iconic songs are absent from ‘Headquarters’
The Monkees Headquarters was the first time Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, and Davy Jones worked together as a real musical group. Above all, Headquarters changed The Monkees’ trajectory as musicians.
For The Monkees and More of The Monkees, Tork, Jones, Dolenz, and Nesmith were minimally involved in their production. However, they did provide vocals for the songs, save for Nesmith, who managed to have several writing credits.
Headquarters became a hallmark of The Monkees’ sound that evolved throughout the remainder of the band’s career. The album was essential to their producer, Chip Douglas, and he was most proud of this one contribution to the finished LP.
“Maybe my best contribution to The Monkees was that I wanted to see them doing everything on their records. With nobody in the background who wasn’t a Monkee,” he admitted. “So if you hear a vocal part, you’re gonna hear Micky or Davy or Peter or Mike and nobody else.” Chip Douglas discussed Headquarters in the book The Monkees, Head and the 60s by Peter Mills, per The Monkees Live Almanac.
Therefore, to do the work, The Monkees relied on only a handful of writers for the LP. While their Brill Building co-workers Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were included, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Joey Richards, Diane Hildebrand, Jack Keller, and Douglas. King and Goffin were not.
Carole King and Gerry Goffin had songwriting credits on The Monkees’ last two albums as a foursome
The couple snagged two spots on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, & Jones Ltd., The Monkees’ fourth album. “Star Collector” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday” became fan favorites, and the latter a bonafide hit. “Pleasant Valley Sunday” ranked number 3 on the U.S. charts in 1967.
The soundtrack to The Monkees’ only feature film, Head, showcased the couple’s talents in tune “Porpoise Song” and King and Toni Stern for “As We Go Along.” This album would end King and Goffin’s collaborations with The Monkees as a group.
Carole King and Gerry Goffin divorced in 1969 after 10 years of marriage. They remain one of the most iconic husband and wife composers in the history of the music business.
