By Grand Rapids Anonymous
monday, september 15, 2025 at 7:08:00 p.m. edt
Underappreciated songwriter/performer of the 60s--Bobby Hart--dead at 86
“(parade) the last surviving member of The Monkees shared a tribute to a beloved colleague who has died. Micky Dolenz shared, “Another great is gone,” after learning that songwriter Bobby Hart died at the age of 86.
“I Wanna be Free" (2006 Remastered Original Stereo Version)
“A post on The Monkees instagram page initially shared the news with fans of the iconic ‘60s band. The caption read, 'very sad news to report: Bobby Hart, the songwriting dynamo who was half of the duo responsible for so many Monkees songs, has died.
“Last Train to Clarksville--The Monkees (new enhanced version)"
“The caption continued, “With partner Tommy Boyce, Bobby penned tracks like ‘I Wanna Be Free,’ ‘Last Train to Clarksville,’ the iconic ‘Monkees’ theme, and so many more.” In addition, the caption noted, Hart wrote the Little Anthony & the Imperials hit, “Hurts so Bad.”
“The Monkees Theme”
GRA: Hart and fellow songwriter Tommy Boyce made 1968 a great year for MY youthful ears with two songs, “I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight” (#1), and a basically unknown follow-up, “Alice Long” (#27), that I consider one of the great 45s of all time. “Out and About” (#39) in 1967 was a pretty well done foray into pop/psychedelia.
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart - "Alice Long"
Very few remember them these days, but their songs had a style that defined pop music for about four years.
"Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart - I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight (HD/Lyrics)"
--GRA
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart ~ Out and About (Stereo)
4 comments:
jerry pdx
A lot of people dismiss pop songs by groups like the Monkees and songwriters like Boyce and Hart as lightweight and lacking in artistic substance. That's a load of BS, if somebody thinks it's so easy to write a song that people actually will pay to listen to, then they do it and show how it's done. Reality is, it's an incredibly difficult thing to do and it takes a high level of talent. It's hard enough to put one hit song on the radio, Boyce and Hart didn't just put one song on the radio but put many of them on the radio for many years. Maybe not quite on the level of King/Goffin or Bacharach David, but they wrote many very fine songs that people will be listening to and enjoying well into the future. Boyce and Hart had more talent in their little pinkies than most rappers do in their whole bodies.
"Out and About" is a quality song too. Just heard of it a few months ago.
--GRA
The "establishment" response to that era of pop music was ridiculous- sure, some of it was awful, but the "critics" (and professional "critics" of all stripes were always the scum of the earth) were saying things like, the songs have no melodies, the singers were caterwauling, what the Beatles were doing "wasn't music," etc. That kind of stupidity probably contributed to some of the more extreme stuff that followed, which really was horrible. Just as the overdone censorship of the past led to a counter-revolution of unimaginable obscenities, which continues to accelerate to this day.
-RM
Looking forward to hearing commentary and memories from Vinnie Medugno and Cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow) on their live oldies shows at NYC's wabcradio.com, Saturday 5pm-10pm.
Post a Comment