Good Clean Fun (The Monkees song)
| "Good Clean Fun" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US single cover | ||||
| Single by The Monkees | ||||
| from the album The Monkees Present | ||||
| B-side | "Mommy and Daddy" | |||
| Released | September 6, 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1968 | |||
| Studio | RCA Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Country rock[1][2] | |||
| Length | 2:19 | |||
| Label | Colgems #5005 | |||
| Songwriter | Michael Nesmith | |||
| Producer | Michael Nesmith | |||
| The Monkees singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Good Clean Fun" is a song by The Monkees from their 1969 album The Monkees Present. Colgems released the song as a single on September 6, 1969. Written and sung by Michael Nesmith, the song's title is never heard in the lyrics.
Background
Michael Nesmith described "Good Clean Fun" as "poetic license" and said the song was "a direct insult to a songwriter publisher who had told me that in order to have successful tunes I had to write music that was 'good clean fun' and that had a recurring theme or hookline. Of course I just rejected that out of hand. So that was: OK, I'll write a song called 'Good Clean Fun' - but I just won't put it in there anywhere." According to Andrew Sandoval, the song was "labeled on one tape box as 'Here I Am'".[3]
Recording
The backing track was recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tennessee on June 1, 1968. Additional instrumental overdubs were recorded the next day.[3] On August 21, Nesmith mixed the completed song at RCA in Hollywood. The song was remixed for the single's release the following year.[4]
Release
"Good Clean Fun" was edited into the soundtrack of The Monkees episode "I Was A Teenage Monster" when the series aired in Saturday morning reruns.[5]
The song was remixed in 1991 when it was included on the Listen to the Band box set.[6]
Chart performance
"Good Clean Fun" reached No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100[7] and No. 29 on the Easy Listening chart.[8] In Canada it reached No. 80[9] Sandoval wrote that the single was "a difficult song to sell, considering it does not feature the title anywhere in the lyrics and is a hardcore country & western number".[10] The flip-side, "Mommy and Daddy", is sung by its writer Micky Dolenz.
Personnel
Credits adapted from Rhino Handmade 2013 "Deluxe Edition" box set.[11]
The Monkees
- Michael Nesmith - lead vocals
Additional musicians
- Lloyd Green – steel guitar
- Wayne Moss – guitar
- Bobby Thompson – banjo
- David Briggs – piano
- Norbert Putnam – bass guitar
- Jerry Carrigan – drums
- Buddy Spicher - violin
Unconfirmed personnel and duties
- Harold Bradley or Billy Sanford – additional guitar
- Percussion
References
- ↑ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1969". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. p. 217. ISBN 9781493064601.
- ↑ Greene, Andy (February 15, 2023). "50 Genuinely Horrible Albums by Brilliant Artists". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 14, 2024.
...Michael Nesmith-penned country rock gems like "Listen to the Band" and "Good Clean Fun
- 1 2 Sandoval 2005, p. 194.
- ↑ Sandoval 2005, p. 203.
- ↑ Sandoval 2005, p. 252.
- ↑ Sandoval 2005, p. 290.
- ↑ Greenwald, Matthew. "Good Clean Fun". allmusic.com. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 173.
- ↑ "RPM Top 100 Singles - October 18, 1969" (PDF).
- ↑ Sandoval 2005, p. 253.
- ↑ Sandoval, Andrew (2013). The Monkees Present (Deluxe Edition) (CD box set liner notes). The Monkees. Los Angeles, California: Rhino Handmade. RHM2-535908.
Sources
- Sandoval, Andrew (2005). The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation. Thunder Bay Press. ISBN 1-59223-372-4.
- Joel Whitburn's Billboard Top Pop Hits
- Rhino's "Present" CD booklet
