Today's entry includes material from previous posts. This is not part of my long-threatened book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), which will include a chapter about a different Monkees track instead.
An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this. is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
That sobering sense of days cascading away from us. The Monkees understood.
The Monkees were one of the most underrated groups in pop history. To this day, their merit is still too often dismissed or questioned on the basis of their orchestrated origin. Yes, they were created to serve as the cast of a TV sitcom. Yes, they well transcended their manufactured image. Many of the Monkees' records were very good, and many were brilliant. "The Door Into Summer" is among their best efforts.
In the mid '70s, when I was starting to realize that there were more Monkees songs out there than the mere handful contained on my brother's copies of The Monkees and More Of The Monkees, one of the mystery tracks that specifically tantalized me was this beguiling wisp and its lyrics about echoes of a penny-whistle band and laughter from a distant caravan, seen and heard on reruns of the group's TV show. In 1977, I discovered it was called "The Door Into Summer," from a fabulous 1967 album called Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. Pisces remains one of my all-time Top 10 albums.
The smooth vocal blend of Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith is a rare treat to be savored. "The Door Into Summer" provides perhaps the best example of this, with Nesmith's earnest lead blanketed by the warmth of Dolenz's harmony, a beautiful combination softening the blow of a devastating study in white-collar futility: With his travelogue of "Maybe next year" places/As a trade-in for a name upon the door/And he pays for it in years he cannot buy back with his tears/When he finds out there's been no one keeping score.
Pathos, with an implied sympathy even for those who squandered every chance they had along the way.
The Monkees' own time perched at the top of the pops proved to be all too brief. Sometimes the laughter from that caravan feels ever more distant. Fool's gold stacked up all around us. A distant sound either calling to us...or mocking us.
But we're okay, right? We acknowledge and move on, at least to the best of our capability. The music of the Monkees has always been a source of comfort, a source of satisfaction. Even their saddest songs can make me happy.
Happy is good. We can use more happy. And the legacy of the Monkees endures.
And so: Let's raise our glasses, and raise our fists. We'll fade through the damned door when we're good and ready.
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Carl's book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
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