“Daydream Believer” (The Monkees/Anne Murray)

Today’s classic song of the day was a number-one hit for the Monkees. “Daydream Believer,” released as a single in October of 1967, reached the #1 position on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box 100 in December of that year.

“Daydream Believer” was written by former folksinger John Stewart when he was still a member of the Kingston Trio. It was the third in a trilogy of songs he wrote about suburban life. Here’s what he remembers about coming up with the title and the concept:

“I remember going to bed thinking, ‘What a wasted day—all I’ve done is daydream.’ And from there I wrote the whole song. I never thought it was one of my best songs. Not at all.”

Mr. Stewart was wrong, of course; “Daydream Believer” was not just one of his best songs, it may have been his best song, period. (His second-best song, at least in terms of sales and airplay, was his solo hit “Gold,” which was a #5 hit in 1979.)

“Daydream Believer” was first shopped to the We Five and then to Spanky and Our Gang, both of whom turned it down for whatever reasons. Then Monkees’ producer Chip Douglas met up with Mr. Stewart at a party at singer Hoyt Axton’s house and asked if he had any songs for the new group; Stewart played Douglas “Daydream Believer,” and that was that.

Except it almost wasn’t. The Monkees recorded “Daydream Believer” as part of the sessions for their 1967 album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., but it didn’t make the cut. They eventually released it as a non-album single in October of 1967 and included it on their 1968 album, The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees.

I really like Stewart’s lyrics on this one:

Oh, I could hide ‘neath the wings
Of the bluebird as she sings
The six o’clock alarm would never ring
But it rings and I rise
Wipe the sleep out of my eyes
My shavin’ razor’s cold and it stings

Cheer up, Sleepy Jean
Oh, what can it mean
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen

Interestingly, the group’s record label, RCA Records, insisted that they change one word when making the recording. Mr. Stewart’s original third line in the second verse went “Now you know how funky I can be.” The label made the boys sing instead, “Now you know how happy I can be.” I tend to think that was a good change.

By the way, this is one of the few tracks on which all four Monkees appeared. Davy Jones sang lead, Micky Dolenz sang backup, Michael Nesmith played lead guitar, and Peter Tork played piano—and came up with that little piano lick in the intro. Other musicians on the track included producer Chip Douglas on bass and “Fast” Eddie Hoh on drums.

A dozen years later, Canadian songbird Anne Murray recorded a somewhat sugar-coated cover of “Daydream Believer.” Her version, released in 1979, went to #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Country Singles chart.

And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the Monkees doing “Daydream Believer” on their self-named television show. Think of it as a music video before they had music videos—groovy, baby!