The Monkees: One of Mike Nesmith’s Best-Loved Deep Cuts Appeared on 4 Different Albums
As a member of The Monkees, Mike Nesmith was responsible for writing some of the band’s most unforgettable songs. Although behind-the-scenes of The Monkees television show, the powers-that-be relied on a stable of prolific songwriters to pen many of the band’s tunes, Nesmith muscled his way into their league with a series of songs that remain fan favorites to this day. However, he could not shake one song in particular, which appeared on deluxe editions of two Monkees albums and two of his solo recordings.
Mike Nesmith was a songwriter before The Monkees
Before being cast as one-fourth of The Monkees, Mike Nesmith was a songwriter. Per TCM, in 1963, Nesmith performed at various folk venues, including The Troubadour. He met Randy Sparks of the New Christy Minstrels there and earned a songwriting publishing deal.
In 1964, he wrote “Different Drum.” The Greenbriar Boys recorded it one year later. In 1967, the Stone Poneys recorded the song, with Linda Ronstadt singing lead. The song became a smash, hitting the Billboard charts at number 13.
Don Kirshner, head of music at the show’s production company, used a stable of songwriters, including Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Carole Bayer Sager, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil, as well as Harry Nilsson and Neil Sedaka, to name a few. Nesmith soon discovered that Kirshner would allow him just two original songs per album on the first two Monkees releases, The Monkees and More of the Monkees.
As the band moved into their third album, they pushed for and won creative control over their music, writing many songs and providing the vocals. However, some songs resonated more with Nesmith than others. One tune was recorded four times for four different albums by the singer/songwriter.
Mike Nesmith’s best-loved deep cuts appeared on 4 different albums
Mike Nesmith wrote “Nine Times Blue,” a song that appeared on deluxe editions of Headquarters and a box set of the band’s fifth album, The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees. The tune was recorded four times by the songwriter, per The Monkees Almanac.
For the Headquarters album, Mike Nesmith provided lead vocals on the song. The demo version did not appear on the original 1967 version. Instead, it wouldn’t show up until 2022, when Rhino released a super deluxe album edition of the LP.
A version where Davy Jones sang lead and Mike played guitar was also recorded for The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees. However, it did not appear on the original album but later was added to a box set.
Nesmith, Jones, and Micky Dolenz appeared on The Johnny Cash Show in 1969, before the release of The Monkees Present. There, the trio performed “Nine Times Blue” with Nesmith on lead vocals and harmonies by Jones and Dolenz.
The Monkees’ version of “Nine Times Blue” would appear alongside other cuts from The Birds, The Bees, & The Monkees in a 1987 Rhino Records album titled Missing Links. Nesmith would also record the song with the First National Band for 1970s Magnetic South and solo for The Witchita Train Whistle Sings in 1968.
The Monkees Mike Nesmith tried to distance himself from The Monkees but later embraced his past
Nesmith’s manager, Andrew Sandoval, told Variety that the entertainer eventually saw The Monkees in a new light. First, he grew to “really like” the music they made. But he also “finally embraced” why the group meant so much to fans.
“He started to see it more through the eyes of his fans, of how they loved it,” Sandoval explained. “And that brought him much joy at the end of his life. Their joy was coming back on him. He finally really felt that and it lit him up, you know?”
Sandoval also said that performing one song from Instant Replay allowed Nesmith to let fans know his humble feelings about a career that lasted over 50 years. “Each night, there was a song he was doing in the show called “While I Cry,” and he would give a speech that varied every night,” Sandoval shared.
“It was about his relationship with the fans. And I feel like he wanted to finally say that he got it — that he got why they liked it, whereas he didn’t always.
He concluded, “And I feel like it was more for him in that sense that he got to tell them that he knew and cared about them and that he liked the Monkees and Monkees fans. And it was a really beautiful moment in the show.”
Mike Nesmith died of heart failure at his home in Carmel Valley, CA, on Dec. 10, 2021, at 78. He had wrapped up the final leg of The Monkees Farewell tour only weeks earlier with Micky Dolenz.
