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TL;DR:

  • The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz sang The Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon” during a celebration of The White Album.
  • He said performing “Rocky Raccoon” made him want to cry at one point.
  • “Rocky Raccoon” inspired covers by several other classic rock singers including Jimmy Buffett.
The Monkees' Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork on a boat
The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork | NBC / Contributor

The Monkees‘ Micky Dolenz once performed The Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon.” Subsequently, he said he wants one of The Monkees’ songs to sound like “Rocky Raccoon” when he performs it live. Notably, “Rocky Raccoon” inspired several other covers by famous singers.

Micky Dolenz planned on performing a whole album of Monkees songs in a concert series

During a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, Dolenz was asked if he planned to perform every song from The Monkees’ album Headquarters on his upcoming tour. “Based on the rehearsals … I can’t promise this, but based on the rehearsals, we are,” he said. “It was a very short album. It only ran 30-some minutes, which was not atypical at the time.

“The rehearsals went real well,” he said. “I can see us doing all of it. You just never know, though. I’ve rehearsed songs in the past that I thought would really work; we get it onstage, and it just didn’t work. And then vice versa. You just don’t know with stuff that you’ve never done.”

Micky Dolenz once cried while singing The Beatles’ ‘Rocky Raccoon’

Dolenz discussed his relationship with Headquarters. “A lot of the stuff off Headquarters, of course, we have done over the years, many of the tunes,” he said. “Off the top of my head, there’s very few we haven’t done. 

“I don’t think we ever did ‘Mr. Webster,'” he continued. “It’s turning out to be so cool. It has such a great narrative. I see myself doing it in the same style I did ‘Rocky Raccoon’ on the White Album tour.” 

For context, Dolenz was once part of a tour celebrating the music of The White Album. During a 2019 interview with Westworld, he said he once sang “Rocky Raccoon” while his children were in the audience. He said the experience made him want to cry because he remembered singing that song to them 25 years prior.

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How ‘Mr. Webster’ and ‘Rocky Raccoon’ performed on the charts in the United States

“Mr. Webster” was never a single, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune’s parent album, Headquarters, was far more successful. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a single week and stayed on the chart for 68 weeks in total.

“Rocky Raccoon” was never a single either, so it didn’t hit the Billboard Hot 100 either. The White Album, however, was a big hit, topping the Billboard 200 for nine weeks. It spent a staggering 215 weeks on the chart.

Like many Beatles songs that weren’t singles, “Rocky Racoon” became a standard. Jimmy Buffett, James Blunt, Jack Johnson, Phish, and, of course, Dolenz all put their spin on the song. Sadly, “Mr. Webster” didn’t inspire covers by stars.

“Rocky Raccoon” wasn’t a hit but it still managed to influence other artists.

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