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TL;DR:

  • The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz considered covering The Beatles’ “Revolution 9” from The White Album.
  • He ultimately decided against performing the song.
  • The White Album was far more popular in the United States than it was in the United Kingdom.
The Beatles in black-and-white
The Beatles | John Pratt/Keystone/Getty Images

The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz was part of a tour celebrating the Fab Four. For those concerts, he refused to perform The Beatles‘ “Revolution 9.” Subsequently, he explained why this was the case.

The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz felt a concert where he sang songs from The Beatles’ ‘The White Album’ was amazing

According to a 2019 article from Westworld, Dolenz was part of a tour called It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: A Tribute to the Beatles’ White Album. During the tour, Dolenz, Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Joey Molland of Badfinger, and Jason Scheff of Chicago played most of The White Album.

In a 2020 interview with Boca, Dolenz discussed what the tour was like. “Fly in first class, do the gig, have fun, have dinner, a couple of glasses of wine, and go home,” he said.

The interviewer said the stop of the tour he saw was incredible. “Funny you should say that; I felt the same way,” Dolenz said. “The whole became greater than the sum of its parts. Obviously, starting with that incredible music, but then the five of us and the band, everybody getting along. It was really a very memorable tour. I’m still floating … I got some good reviews, I believe. I don’t read my reviews.”

The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz could not perform The Beatles’ ‘Revolution 9’ due to time constraints

The interviewer said the concert would have been even better if it included a cover of “Revolution 9.” “Hahaha!” Dolenz replied. “We definitely talked about it. But that would have extended the show into probably five hours. It was considered, but we had to keep it realistic in terms of the length.

“There were a couple tracks we didn’t do, but the vast majority of the album, we did,” he added. “God, it was great singing those songs, especially with those incredible artists. Hopefully, we’ll be doing some more of that stuff with those people.”

How ‘Revolution 9’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Revolution 9 “was never a single, so it didn’t chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The song’s parent album, The White Album, was far more popular. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for nine weeks and stayed on the chart for 215 weeks in total. It was one of the group’s most popular studio albums in the United States.

“Revolution 9” was not a single in the United Kingdom either; therefore, The Official Charts Company reports the track did not chart there. On the other hand, The White Album was a hit in the U.K. It topped the chart there for eight of its 37 weeks on the chart.

“Revolution 9” became one of the most famous experimental songs of all time even if Dolenz didn’t have the time to cover it.

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