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Pleasant Valley Sunday

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"Pleasant Valley Sunday"
US single cover
Single by the Monkees
from the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
B-side"Words"
ReleasedJuly 1967
Recorded10, 11 & 13 June 1967
StudioRCA Victor Studios
Hollywood, CA
Genre
Length3:10
LabelColgems No. 1007
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Chip Douglas
The Monkees singles chronology
"A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You"
(1967) 		"Pleasant Valley Sunday"
(1967) 		"Daydream Believer"
(1967)

"Pleasant Valley Sunday" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, most famous for the version recorded by the Monkees in 1967. Inspired by a street named Pleasant Valley Way and their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey, Goffin and King wrote the song about dissatisfaction with the life in the suburbs.[3]

The Monkees' version differs somewhat compared to Goffin/King's original composition, including a well-known guitar intro played by Michael Nesmith and a reverb ending.[4] Micky Dolenz sang the lead vocals. It became one of the Monkees' most successful singles, peaking at No. 3 and continuing their string of top 10 hits.[5] The song was included on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.[6]

Composition

Cowriter Carole King stated in her autobiography that after she and her then-husband Gerry Goffin had earned enough money from songwriting royalties, they moved from New York City to West Orange, New Jersey, but Goffin disliked their suburban life and wrote lyrics to document this feeling that would eventually become "Pleasant Valley Sunday."[7] The lyrics are a social commentary on status symbols, creature comforts, life in suburbia and "keeping up with the Joneses."

Many alternative interpretations exist regarding the song's lyrics. In the book SuburbiaNation, Robert Beuka described the lyrics as "a wry commentary on the materialistic and anesthetized sensibilities of the adult generation in suburbia..."[8] Brian Ward wrote in The 1960s: A Documentary Reader that the song was more associated with the New Left and the counterculture.[9] Michael Nesmith jokingly stated in a 1978 interview with Blitz magazine that the song was written about "a mental institution."[10][11] Deanna D. Sellnow, author of The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture, commented that, despite so many definitions about the song's meaning, its rhetorical message is actually "bleak."[12]

The song is composed in C major.[13]

Recording

King recorded a demo of "Pleasant Valley Sunday," later included in the 2012 compilation album The Legendary Demos,[14] but the Monkees' version features a faster arrangement and some alterations to the bridge lyrics ("Creature comfort goals/Can only numb my soul/I need a change of scenery/My thoughts all seem to stray/To places far away/I don’t ever want to see/Another Pleasant Valley Sunday…." was changed to "Creature comfort goals/They only numb my soul/And make it hard for me to see/My thoughts all seem to stray/To places far away/I need a change of scenery."). The Monkees' producer Chip Douglas, who was responsible for these changes, stated that King disapproved of them.[15]

"Pleasant Valley Sunday" was recorded during the Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. sessions. The Monkees, who had been fighting to exert more control over their records and who had recorded an album, Headquarters, on which the instruments were played almost entirely by themselves, used more session musicians for the album tracks. The basic track for "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was recorded on June 10, 1967 with Michael Nesmith on electric guitar, Peter Tork on piano, Douglas on bass guitar and session musician Eddie Hoh on drums.[16] Micky Dolenz, was present at the session and may have played acoustic guitar.[4] The next day, Nesmith overdubbed another electric guitar part, while Hoh recorded percussion (shaker and conga) overdubs and Bill Chadwick, a friend of the Monkees, performed a second acoustic guitar portion.[4] The Monkees (including Davy Jones) recorded their vocals, with the possible participation of Douglas, on June 13. Nesmith played another guitar part, while Hoh overdubbed more percussion. Dolenz sang lead, with Nesmith harmonizing with him.[4]

The distinctive guitar intro (and the main riff) was played by Nesmith on a black Gibson Les Paul guitar through three Vox Super Beatle amplifiers.[17] Douglas wrote the intro based on the riff of the Beatles' "I Want to Tell You."[18]

For the song's ending, Douglas and engineer Hank Cicalo tried to "keep pushing everything up," increasingly adding reverberation and echo until the sound became unrecognizable before fading out.[6] Separate mono and stereo versions were mixed for single and album records.

Release and reception

Billboard described the single as a "strong, easy rocker" that is "excitingly performed."[19] Cash Box said that it's "an up-tempo happy-flavored ditty celebrating summertime activities that are regarded as All-American and quaint."[20] Tork praised the vocal performances of both Dolenz and Nesmith.[21] The single peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and was repeatedly featured in the second season of their television series. The song also appeared on the fourth Monkees album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., in November 1967. While mono copies of the album included the same version heard on the single, stereo copies featured a version with a different take of the first verse and an additional backing vocal during the break. A different stereo mix, more closely replicating the single version, appeared on the 1991 Monkees box set Listen to the Band.

In February 1986, MTV aired a marathon of episodes of The Monkees titled Pleasant Valley Sunday, which sparked a second wave of interest in the band. Dolenz, Tork and Jones, already on tour, went from playing small venues to arenas and stadiums in the following weeks.

The B-side of the "Pleasant Valley Sunday" single, "Words", was written by Boyce and Hart. On the Pisces album, the song is introduced by Tork's brief spoken-word track "Peter Percival Patterson's Pet Pig Porky."

Personnel

Credits from Andrew Sandoval.[4]

Session musicians and production staff

Chart performance

In popular culture

References

  1. ^ Friedlander, Matt (September 12, 2016). "It's the 50th Anniversary of 'The Monkees' TV Debut". ABC News. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  2. ^ Papadatos, Markos (March 8, 2019). "Review: The Monkees honor musical legacy of Peter Tork at The Paramount". Digital Journal. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  3. ^ La Gorce, Tammy. "New Jersey's Magic Moments", The New York Times, October 30, 2005. Accessed May 12, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e Sandoval, Andrew (2005). The Monkees : the day-by-day story of the '60s TV pop sensation. Internet Archive. San Diego : Thunder Bay Press. pp. 114-115297. ISBN 978-1-59223-372-4.
  5. ^ "The Monkees". Billboard. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Pisces, Aquarius". albumlinernotes. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  7. ^ King, Carole (April 10, 2012). A Natural Woman: A Memoir. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4555-1259-1. Gerry did not enjoy living in the suburbs. An opinion he vigorously documented in a song called "Pleasant Valley Sunday".
  8. ^ Beuka, R. (April 30, 2016). SuburbiaNation: Reading Suburban Landscape in Twentieth Century American Film and Fiction. Springer. p. 136. ISBN 978-1-349-73210-4.
  9. ^ Ward, Brian (November 2, 2009). The 1960s: A Documentary Reader. John Wiley & Sons. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-4051-6329-3.
  10. ^ S. A. Dispoto. "blastintopastmikenesmith". Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved October 1, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ^ "Photographic image of Blitz article" (JPG). S-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  12. ^ Sellnow, Deanna D. (2010). The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture: Considering Mediated Texts. SAGE. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-4129-1541-0.
  13. ^ "Key & BPM/Tempo of Pleasant Valley Sunday by The Monkees | Note Discover". www.notediscover.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  14. ^ Carole King - Pleasant Valley Sunday (1966 Demo), archived from the original on December 21, 2021, retrieved May 12, 2021
  15. ^ Pitt, Bob (June 11, 2020). "An overdub has no choice — the Monkees and the making of Pleasant Valley Sunday". Medium. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  16. ^ "Today in Monkees History: The recording of "Pleasant Valley Sunday" begins in 1967". The Monkees Live Almanac. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  17. ^ "Monkees Instruments & Gear". The Monkees Live Almanac. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  18. ^ Songfacts. "Pleasant Valley Sunday by The Monkees - Songfacts". www.songfacts.com. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  19. ^ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. July 15, 1967. p. 16. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  20. ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. July 15, 1967. p. 16. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  21. ^ "Micky and Michael's vocal work for "Pleasant Valley Sunday"". The Monkees Live Almanac. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  22. ^ Greatest Hits (CD). The Monkees. Rhino. 1995.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  23. ^ "flavour of new zealand - search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
  24. ^ "Official Charts - Top 40 Official UK Singles Archive - 26th August 1967". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
  25. ^ "Billboard.com - Hot 100 - Week of August 19, 1967". Billboard.com. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
  26. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1967/Top 100 Songs of 1967". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved October 1, 2016.

Further reading

External links

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