‘The Monkees’: Davy Jones Quietly Sang This Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ Song Twice During the Series Final Episode
Much ado has been made over The Monkees‘ final episode and its connection to The Beatles. During the opening moments of “The Frodis Caper,” a Beatles song from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was heard as Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Micky Dolenz lept out of bed. However, as the series took its final bow, Jones managed to sneak in a second Fab Four tune not once but twice.
Micky Dolenz heard ‘Good Morning, Good Morning’ during a ‘Sgt. Pepper’ session
Ahead of the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Dolenz visited the studio where The Beatles were recording. He heard the track and fell in love with the song.
Dolenz spoke of meeting the band and subsequently using their song on the finale episode during a Monkees Convention question and answer session, captured in a YouTube Clip.
Dolenz shared it was “the first time, to my knowledge, that The Beatles ever let one of their songs on another show.”
“Good Morning, Good Morning,” was heard as the members of The Monkees rolled out of bed.
The episode itself told the story of an evil Wizard Glick, played by comedian Rip Taylor. Glick set out to control the minds of television viewers through the broadcasting of a hypnotic eye
However, another Beatles tune was quietly sung by Davy Jones during the episode
In addition, Davy sings “Hello, Goodbye” to himself twice during the episode “The Frodis Caper.”
However, the most prominent use of a Beatles tune in the episode was in its opening moments.
You have to listen closely because he isn’t singing the song loudly.
Jones performs “Hello, Goodbye” at the 7:06 mark and again at 8:18 in the full episode.
Jones’s song choice was littered with irony
Davy Jones and Peter Tork onstage during The Monkees' January 21, 1967 appearance in Phoenix, Arizona: pic.twitter.com/5BDMVgCL4t
— Monkees Live Almanac (@MonkeesAlmanac) November 16, 2020
Jones singing “Hello, Goodbye” twice is ironic.
In 1968, The Monkees recorded “Daydream Believer,” arguably one of their most beloved hits.
The Jones’s vocals and the band members’ sunshine-bright chorus feels completely sincere.
“Daydream Believer” would become a monster hit for the band. It stayed at number one on the Billboard charts for four weeks.
Ultimately, “Daydream Believer” toppled from its spot at the top of the charts in December 1967 by, you guessed it, The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye.”
“The Frodis Caper” aired on NBC on March 25, 1968.
However, before the series’ second season, Dolenz, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Mike Nesmith tired of its old-fashioned formula. It never varied from The Monkees‘ first episode, which aired in Sept. 1966.
“Quite frankly, we were a little jaded with the show as it existed,” Micky Dolenz wrote in his book “I’m A Believer: My Life of Monkees, Music, and Madness.”
“Every week Davy [Jones] would fall in love with some girl or Peter [Tork] was kidnapped by some bad guy, or some guy spy would hide microfilm in somebody’s something or other.”
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