Skip to main content

TL;DR:

  • Davy Jones first heard The Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville” on the radio in Beverly Hills.
  • Micky Dolenz said he reacted to the song the same way Jones did.
  • “Last Train to Clarksville” was more popular in the United States than it was in the United Kingdom.
Davy Jones with posters during The Monkees' "Last Train to Clarksville" era
The Monkees’ Davy Jones | Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

A studio engineer worked with a pair of famous songwriters to bring The Monkees‘ “Last Train to Clarksville” to life in the studio. Subsequently, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz were together when they first heard the track on the radio. Dolenz recalled what he and Jones did when the tune played.

How The Monkees’ ‘Last Train to Clarksville’ came together in the studio

Bobby Hart co-wrote “Last Train to Clarksville” and other Monkees hits like “Valleri” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” with Tommy Boyce. In his 2015 book Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem Into Miracles, Hart discussed how the song came together in the studio. “And the staff engineers were all top flight. But when Tommy and I walked into RCA to do our first big studio production, we were extremely fortunate to find that an experienced and creative studio engineer by the name of David Hassinger had been assigned to us,” he recalled. 

“We hit it off with David right away and soon discovered that his confidence, skill, and personality would be the safety net we needed to allow us to relax and have fun in the studio,” Hart added.

The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz had ‘fond memories’ of listening to the track with Davy Jones

During a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Dolenz and the other then-surviving Monkees Peter Tork and Mike Nesmith named “Last Train to Clarksville” as one of the defining songs of the band’s catalog. Dolenz recalled hearing the song for the first time on the radio with Jones. “I have a very fond memory of hearing it on the radio for the first time on KHJ, a big station out here at the time,” he said. 

“Davy and I were renting a house up in the Hollywood Hills,” he said. “We were pulling up to this big, beautiful rented house in Beverly Hills when they went, ‘Here they are, The Monkees’ ‘Last Train to Clarksville.’ We pulled over and just had the biggest grins on our faces.” 

The public reception of ‘Last Train to Clarksville’

“Last Train to Clarksville” became the Prefab Four’s first single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 1 for a single week, meaning it stayed atop the chart for a shorter amount of time than the group’s other chart-toppers. The track appeared on the band’s debut album, The Monkees. That album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks and stayed on the chart for a total of 102 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Last Train to Clarksville” was a more modest hit in the United Kingdom. The track reached No. 23 in the U.K. and remained on the chart for seven weeks. On the other hand, The Monkees reached No. 1 for seven weeks and lasted on the chart for 37 weeks altogether.

“Last Train to Clarksville” was a hit and it put a grin on Jones’ and Dolenz’s faces.

Best in Entertainment