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TL;DR:

  • The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” was Mike Nesmith’s favorite song Davy Jones sang for the band.
  • Nesmith discussed his interpretation of the song.
  • A member of a famous band wrote “Daydream Believer.”
The Monkees' Davy Jones in a chair
The Monkees’ Davy Jones | Express/Express/Getty Images

Mike Nesmith said Davy Jones was the heart of The Monkees (the band) and The Monkees (the sitcom). Subsequently, he revealed why The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” was his favorite of the band’s songs that Jones sang. Notably, the track was written by a famous musician.

Mike Nesmith discussed Davy Jones’ place in The Monkees and his sense of humor

Jones died in 2012. In a Rolling Stone interview in the wake of Jones’ death, Nesmith discussed Jones’ place in the Prefab Four. “For me, David was The Monkees,” he said. “They were his band. We were his side men. 

“He was the focal point of the romance, the lovely boy, innocent and approachable,” he added. “Micky was his Bob Hope. In those two — like Hope and Crosby — was the heartbeat of the show.”

Nesmith revealed his fondest memories of Jones. “He told great jokes,” he recalled. “Very nicely developed sense of the absurd — Pythonesque — actually, Beyond the Fringe – but you get my point. We would rush to each other anytime we heard a new joke and tell it to each other and laugh like crazy. David had a wonderful laugh, infectious.”

Mike Nesmith felt The Monkees’ ‘Daydream Believer’ has ‘a beautiful undercurrent of melancholy with a delightful frosting’

Nesmith was asked to name his favorite Monkees song featuring a lead vocal from Jones. “‘Daydream Believer,'” he replied. John Stewart of The Kingston Trio wrote the track.

“The sensibility of the song is John Stewart at his best, IMHO — it has a beautiful undercurrent of melancholy with a delightful frosting, no taste of bitterness,” Nesmith opined. “David’s cheery vocal leads us all in a great refrain of living on love alone.”

Related

Why The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork Performed ‘Daydream Believer’ Together After Davy Jones Died

How ‘Daydream Believer’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Daydream Believer” became the group’s final No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It topped the chart for four weeks, staying on the chart for 16 weeks in total. The track appeared on the album The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees. The album hit No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and spent a total of 50 weeks on the chart. It was the group’s first album that didn’t top the chart.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Daydream Believer” peaked at No. 5 in the United Kingdom, lasting 17 weeks on the U.K. chart. It became the Prefab Four’s final top 10 hit on the chart. Meanwhile, The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees didn’t chart in the U.K.

“Daydream Believer” was a huge hit — and Nesmith was fond of it.

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