Many people don’t know that Neil Diamond got his start as a Brill Building songwriter, a protege of established songwriters Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. Some of his first successes were songs he wrote for the Monkees, starting with “I’m Believer” and followed up by today’s classic song of the day, “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You.”
Don Kirshner was in charge of the Monkees’ music at the time, and his choice to release “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You” came as a bit of a surprise to the Monkees themselves, who had already grown tired of recording other writers’ music. Mike Nesmith, in particular, wanted the group to record more of his songs and let the group play on their own records. Up to this point in time, most Monkees music was recorded by studio musicians, either in New York or Los Angeles, with the group only providing vocals—and often just lead vocals. In the case of “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You,” backing tracks were recorded at RCA Victor Studios in New York with Jeff Barry producing, employing studio cats Al Gorgoni, Don Thomas, and Hugh McCracken on guitars, Arthur Butler on organ, Lou Mauro on bass, and Herb Lovelle on drums. The only Monkee appearing on the track was Davy Jones, who sang lead; Neil Diamond himself sang backup vocals.
Kirshner chose “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You” as the Monkees’ next single as a reward to Neil Diamond for writing their previous hit, “I’m a Believer.” Kirshner snuck the single into the Canadian market with a Greenwich/Barry tune, “She Hangs Out,” on the flip side. When the group, led by Mike Nesmith heard this, they rebelled and forced Colgems to recall the single and re-release it with the Nesmith-penned “The Girl I Knew Somewhere” on the B-side. That little contretemps also resulted in Kirshner being fired from the Monkees project. From that point on, the boys had more control over the music they released—and, not surprisingly, had fewer hits going forward.
In any case, “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You” is a great tune. When it was released in March of 1967, it went all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Cash Box Top 100.
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, here’s “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You” as it appeared on The Monkees television show. Yes, that’s Bobby Sherman guest-starring in this episode, dyed blonde hair and all.
