Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

063: The Monkees - Headquarters (1967)

“The fact that they made the music around me and without me was much to my chagrin. I was very disappointed about that.”

—Peter Tork

Hey, hey, it’s Discord & Rhyme! If, as alleged, the Monkees were a fake band, you’d never know it from listening to their 1967 album Headquarters - on which they wrote (most of) the songs and played (most of) the instruments. On this episode, Ben leads a discussion about this fascinating and fun anomaly in the career of the Pre-Fab Four. He’s joined by Micky, Peter, and Mike — oops, we mean by Amanda, Dan, and Rich.

Miscellany

  • In the segment on “Shades of Gray”, Ben accidentally says that Davy played the piano, when it was actually Peter. He wasn’t fired over this, but it was a close vote. 

  • The gibberish opening of “No Time” (“Hober reeber sabasoben/Hobaseeba snick/Seeberraber hobosoben”) was an allusion to the comedy style of Bill Cosby. Understandably, it hasn’t aged nearly as well as the hippie sentiments in “For Pete’s Sake.”

  • The Monkees credited the composition of “No Time” (which was not composed in any sense of the word) to engineer Hank Cicalo, as a thank-you for his hard work on the album. The royalties from “No Time” allowed Hank to buy a swimming pool.

  • About ten minutes after we finished recording, Amanda realized that the chorus of “No Time” is lifted from “Rockin’ Robin.”

  • Breakdown of bass players on Headquarters: Peter Tork (“You Just May Be the One”), Jerry Yester (“Shades of Gray”, “I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind”), John London (“Mr. Webster”, “Sunny Girlfriend”), Chip Douglas (all other songs).

  • Carole King has a net worth of $70 million, and yes, that is a happy story, because she’s a national treasure and seemingly a really nice person.

  • It’s clear from the subtext of “Sunny Girlfriend” that the protagonist allows her sunshine factory workers to unionize. These days, they’re all living comfortably from the 401(k)s she opened for them in the late 1970s. Also, the factory is an energy-efficient green building. So she’s cool. 

Other links 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

  • Ben Marlin (host)

  • Amanda Rodgers (moderator)

  • Rich Bunnell

  • Dan Watkins 

Headquarters tracklist 

  1. You Told Me

  2. I'll Spend My Life With You

  3. Forget That Girl

  4. Band 6

  5. You Just May Be The One

  6. Shades Of Gray

  7. I Can't Get Her Off My Mind

  8. For Pete's Sake

  9. Mr. Webster

  10. Sunny Girlfriend

  11. Zilch

  12. No Time

  13. Early Morning Blues and Greens

  14. Randy Scouse Git 

Other clips used 

The Monkees:

  • The Last Train to Clarksville

  • Goin' Down

  • A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You

  • The Girl I Knew Somewhere

  • I'll Spend My Life with You (original version)

  • I Don't Think You Know Me

  • Randy Scouse Git (Micky Dolenz solo version)

  • Daydream Believer

  • Me & Magdalena

  • Porpoise Song

  • Oh, What a Night

  • Tema dei Monkees 

Others:

  • Dionne Warwick - Walk On By

  • Belle and Sebastian - I'm Waking Up to Us

  • Billy Joel - Shades of Grey

  • The Mamas & the Papas - Words of Love

  • Pete Rock & CL Smooth - For Pete's Sake

  • Simon & Garfunkel - A Most Peculiar Man

  • Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Mistadobalina

  • The Guess Who - No Time

  • Creedence Clearwater Revival - Travelin' Band

Band/album personnel 

  • Micky Dolenz - vocals, drums, zither, electric rhythm guitar, shaker, timpani

  • Davy Jones - vocals, percussion

  • Michael Nesmith - vocals; electric and acoustic lead, rhythm, and 12-string guitars; steel guitar, organ

  • Peter Tork - vocals; acoustic 12-string and electric guitars; piano, organ, celeste, electric piano, bass, banjo

  • Chip Douglas - bass, producer

  • Hank Cicalo - engineer

  • John London - bass

  • Jerry Yester - bass

  • Frederick Seykora - cello

  • Vincent DeRosa - French horn

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

  • Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • The Monkees - Zilch (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream Headquarters and other albums by the Monkees at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.

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