"You and I" by the Monkees with Neil Young (1969) adding his acid rock guitar!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfZifyxc9r0&list=PLvVH5P784fdksNiTBpTdaRgGfc3G_h8aw
walrus
WOW, just, Wow.
Thanks buddy, I thought I'd seen it all on a couple of their fansites, even the debunked myths, and nary a mention of Neil Young..
Why wasn't this a big hit??
Well, let's face it, in the wake of the "Head" debacle, they weren't gettin' any airplay even on AM and probably zilch promotional support from the record company...this was on
Instant Replay released in '69 and 13-16 year old wanna-be ultra-cool longhairs like me had already sold off our Monkees albums as "bubblegum"....
The hippies had basically outgrown 'em, thought they were teenyboppers, and the teenyboppers didn't get 'em anymore...and no TV show to showcase the new stuff either.
You just sent me off on another Wikipedia-fueled review of Monkees connections and that reveals Dewey Martin and Steven Stills on "Do I Have to do This All Over Again" in
Head from '68 so I'm guessing maybe that led to the introduction to Neil.
In fact the session dates for "You and I" are from June to September of '68, right about the time mess'rs Martin, Stills, and Young would have had a lot of spare time on their hands following Buffalo Springfield's implosion.
Another thing that occurs to me is what
Instant Replay it was up against in February '69:
The rapid encroachment of FM on AM top 40 audiences as they matured, with the increasing popularity of "heavy" bands:
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, 6 moths old, was still selling like gangbusters.
Cheap Thrills, only 4 months old, was too...
Creedence released
Bayou Country January of '69: "Proud Mary" and "Born on the Bayou"
In fact Fogerty himself says of their first single "Suzie Q", also still getting heavy airplay at 6 months old at the time:
Fogerty stated in a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone magazine that his purpose in recording "Susie Q" was to get the song played on KMPX, a funky progressive-rock radio station in San Francisco, which is why the song was extended to eight minutes in length. "'Suzie Q' was designed to fit right in," he explained. "The eight-minute opus. Feedback. Like [the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's] "East-West." And especially the little effect, the little telephone-box [vocal] in the middle, which is the only part I regret now. It's just funny sounding. But, lo and behold, it worked!"
Yellow Submarine the movie
and the soundtrack released in January '69, and let me tell you, George's "It's All Too Much" and "Only a Northern Song" were, uh, "instrumental" in my handing my Monkees albums down to my 6-year old brother.
Led Zeppelin released January '69
Bless It's Pointed Little HeadFebruary '69
Blood Sweat and Tears December '68 and featuring AM monster hit "Spinning Wheel"
Speaking of AM and top 40:
"I Heard it Through the Grapevine" had just finished 4 weeks at number 1 on January 4th '69.
"Wichita Lineman" was in there at #4
"Son of a Preacher Man" was at 18
"Magic Carpet Ride" was at 24
By February 1st "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells had finally knocked "Grapevine" out of first place.
"Touch Me" by the Doors was at #4
"Hang "em High" was at 13
Well, i could go on forever but you probably knew that, let's just say this is only the tip of the iceburg of stuff already released while the Monkees were in being buried, before we even get to later in the year releases like 3 Dog Night's heyday and the 5th Dimensions's "Aquarius", and
Crosby Stills and Nash.
And then there was Woodstock, the festival, and nothing was ever the same again....
And for a young longhair there simply wasn't enough money for everything he
wanted let alone the Monkees.
Ok, go ahead, admit it, you were just
hopin' I'd launch another nostalgia fest here, weren'tcha?
Happy to oblige and as a weekend appetizer here's a link to the Billboard weekly top 40 for '69:
https://weeklytop40.wordpress.com/1969-all-charts/
/emerson%20lake%20palmer%206014041.jpg)
