The Song the Singer Didn’t Even Want to Record

The singer didn’t think this song was right for him.

He wasn’t excited about recording it, and the songwriter himself didn’t even consider it one of his best songs.

Then the record was released.

It went to No. 1.

And decades later, that same recording would become one of the most recognizable songs of the 1960s.

The Songwriter Didn’t Think Much of It

The story began with songwriter John Stewart, who had recently been part of the Kingston Trio.

Stewart wrote the song as part of what he described as a trilogy about suburban life. He later recalled writing it in a very short period and thinking, essentially, that he had wasted the day writing it.

He wasn’t convinced it was special.

In fact, Stewart later said he never considered it one of his best songs.

He tried getting other artists interested.

The song was turned down by groups including We Five and Spanky and Our Gang.

Even when Stewart performed it himself, audiences didn’t exactly react as though they were hearing a future classic.

Then Stewart met Monkees producer Chip Douglas.

Douglas asked whether Stewart had any songs that might work for the group.

Stewart gave him the song.

That decision changed everything.

The Monkees Heard Something Different

The Monkees were already one of America’s biggest pop acts.

Their television show had made them household names, and their records were selling in enormous numbers.

But this particular song needed the right voice.

Producer Chip Douglas decided it could work.

And the lead vocal went to Davy Jones.

Jones had already become one of the most recognizable members of the group.

His voice was lighter and more conversational than the dramatic soul voices dominating many records of the era.

That turned out to be exactly what the song needed.

But Jones wasn’t immediately thrilled about recording it.

Accounts of the sessions describe him as becoming increasingly frustrated during the many takes. The original recording even preserved a little bit of that frustration at the beginning, with Jones asking what take they were on before the performance begins.

Nobody in that room could have known what the finished record would become.

One Word Almost Changed the Song

There was another problem hiding in the lyrics.

Stewart’s original line ended with:

“Now you know how funky I can be.”

The record company objected to the word “funky.”

At the time, the word could carry meanings that the company didn’t want associated with the record.

So Stewart was asked to change it.

He wasn’t happy about it.

He believed the original word made sense in the context of the song.

But the alternative was simple.

Change the word or risk losing the recording.

Eventually, the line became:

“Now you know how happy I can be.”

And that’s the version millions of people would eventually know.

It seems like a tiny change.

But that one word became part of the version that conquered the charts.

Then Davy Jones Made It His Own

Whatever Jones thought about the song at the beginning, his finished vocal became inseparable from it.

His delivery gave the recording a warm, youthful quality.

The arrangement surrounded him with bright pop instrumentation while keeping the melody simple and memorable.

The song didn’t sound complicated.

That was part of its strength.

It felt like something you could hear once and remember.

And then the record was released.

Suddenly, Everything Changed

The Monkees released the single in October 1967.

It didn’t take long to climb the charts.

By December, it had reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for four weeks. It became the group’s third and final U.S. No. 1 single.

The song also reached No. 5 in the United Kingdom.

The songwriter who hadn’t thought much of it now had a massive hit on his hands.

And Davy Jones had a song that would become permanently associated with his career.

His official biography describes it as his signature lead-vocal performance with the Monkees.

The Song Outlived the Band

The Monkees eventually moved on.

The television show ended.

The group went through breakups, reunions, and different periods of activity.

But the song never really disappeared.

It remained one of their best-known recordings.

Then, more than a decade later, another major singer brought it back to the charts.

In 1979, Anne Murray released her own version.

Her recording reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the country chart.

That gave the song another life with an entirely different generation of listeners.

From an Unwanted Song to a Classic

The story is almost backwards from what you would expect.

The songwriter wasn’t particularly impressed with it.

Other artists passed on it.

The singer who eventually made it famous reportedly wasn’t enthusiastic about recording it.

Even one of the lyrics had to be changed before the record could be released.

Yet somehow, all those obstacles disappeared once people heard the finished recording.

The song reached No. 1.

It became one of the defining records of the Monkees’ career.

And Davy Jones’ voice became permanently attached to a song he hadn’t initially been eager to sing.

More than half a century later, the opening notes can still transport people straight back to the late 1960s.

That’s the strange thing about music.

Sometimes the people making a record don’t realize what they have.

Sometimes the songwriter doesn’t think the song is particularly special.

And sometimes the singer who doesn’t want to record it ends up becoming the voice everyone remembers.

That is exactly what happened here.