Episode 8: Ep. 7 - The Girl I Knew Somewhere

A song described as “A Breezy Little Pop Tune” by its author, Michael Nesmith, “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” was too poppy for Jon Herald, too sloppy for Don Kirshner, but just exactly perfect to be the world’s first taste of The Monkees performing as a real band when it was released on March 8, 1967, as the B-side to “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You”. The A-side represented the past, the B-side, the future (at least the very near future).  Did it change all the haters’ and skeptics’ opinions? I mean, shoot, this is a well written song, super catchy, with some literate lyrics and clever changes and played real well by Mike, Peter, Micky and Davy (with Nez pal John London on bass). That’s the proverbial real deal right there. How’s about some respect? Well, maybe your average critic or hippie turned their nose up, but some key members of rock royalty knew a good song when they heard it. In the second half of this lengthy episode I talk about all sorts of stuff with the super cool host of the super cool podcast, RANKING THE BEATLES, Mr. Jonathan Pretus. Our conversation goes to some wild places so hold on to your wool hats, cats and kitties (to quote Ben Fong Torres). Also, this might be the start of a summer hiatus, but I’m not positive. I might need to focus on some other stuff for a bit. But you’ll be hearing from me one way or another and in the meantime I’ll be scripting out the next few episodes.