Daydream Believer

Oh, Davy Jones.

I used to love The Monkees. I had no idea who the Beatles were until I was in maybe middle school. I couldn't even tell you who was the real band and the, ehrm, fake. The episode of The Simpson's when Marge is made fun of for liking The Monkees made me kind of wonder why people thought they were cheesy, but people are dumb and mean about cool things all the time.

Anyway, the Monkees! They were the best.

I remember that they had a TV show after preschool and kindergarten. I couldn't really understand fashion at that point, so I guess they looked normal to me. I watched it with my dad when he got home from work. My grandma would come home from work in the city as the show was ending, and that all meant that dinner was coming up soon. Mmm . . . dinner as a kid. I guess my mom was dealing with my siblings or something. I don't remember watching The Monkees with her, but I know I watched it a ton, so she must've seen it with me at some point.

But those four guys, they sang and danced, and got into pratfalls and high jinks. They were hilarious! It was my favorite TV show besides The Elephant Show with Sharon, Lois, and Bram.

I wasn't a Davy Jones groupie as a four- and five-year-old. I liked Mike's floppy hats, and Micky too sometimes, when he didn't remind me of an ape (and kind of scared me). I don't remember Peter--just that they had four guys, so I guess he was one of them.

I have to admit, that I didn't understand why Davy got all the girls. He played the tambourine at most of their gigs! I could play the tambourine! With the help of YouTube I now see that he played or "played" a bunch of instruments, but mostly the tambourine in the very famous Monkees songs.

Anyway, Davy Jones, you daydream believer, you made me a very happy kid once upon a time. Rest in peace.