The Monkees: Daydream Believer

Written by Andy Taylor on Tuesday, 07 July 2009

In December 1967 The Monkees hit the top of the US Billboard top 100 chart with the John Stewart composition "Daydream Believer". Although all four Monkees appeared on the recording, producer Chip Douglas took no chances with the rhythm section, bringing in a crack session drummer and opting to play bass guitar himself.

The track is perfect pop: nothing more than two verses and an insanely catchy chorus which keeps going on until the required 3 minutes is reached, the perfect tune to relax to on a sunny day. Except every time I listen to it I start tensing up because I know what's coming... the song is all but finished... just time for one last romp through that chorus... a simple decending bass line back to the big hook... dum-de dum dum dum CLANG! What the hell was THAT? At exactly 2 minutes and 45 seconds the producer utterly fails to hit the most important bass note in the song, opting instead for something a couple of semitones higher. What was he thinking? Was he going for a "jazz note"? Did he even notice?

Judge for yourself:

Special mention should also be given to this fantastic literal video version of the song:

However, no matter how bad that bass note was, nothing could possibly be as bad as THIS: