What a couple of days! Yesterday, my husband had to be taken to the emergency room. While he was discharged later in the evening, he’s felt weak all day today and has been lying down in the recliner. He also said that he had a fever, which he attributed to the booster shot that he received yesterday.

Anyhow, here’s the #MusicMonday feature:

Mike Nesmith of The Monkees AKA The Pre-fab Four died on Friday, December 10, 2021. While he was with The Monkees, he challenged Don Kirshner to let them play their own instruments on their recordings (he succeeded).

What’s lesser known is that Mike Nesmith was a songwriter in his own right. My friend Ann is fond of his song Joanna. He also penned Different Drum, which he tried to pitch for The Monkees, but the control freak producers of the TV show rejected it.

The Stone Poneys featuring the youthful Linda Ronstadt recorded Different Drum, which peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1967.

You can find more about the process of recording Different Drum by The Stone Poneys in Mark Myers’ Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop.

Lyrics:

You and I travel to the beat of a different drum
Oh, can’t you tell by the way I run
Every time you make eyes at me? Whoa
You cry and moan and say it will work out
But honey child I’ve got my doubts
You can’t see the forest for the trees

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