Post by the Scribe on Apr 6, 2020 9:35:16 GMT
DIFFERENT DRUM
Mike Nesmith wrote this song in 1964, two years before he joined the made-for-TV group The Monkees. At the time, he was developing his skills as a folk singer - a far cry from the Hollywood-enhanced shenanigans and high-gloss pop songs The Monkees were known for. In 1965, he met John Herald, guitarist for a bluegrass/folk group called The Greenbriar Boys. They played songs for each other, and Herald loved "Different Drum." He brought it to his group, slowed down the tempo, and released it on the group's 1966 album Better Late Than Never! Linda Ronstadt heard this version and recorded it with her group The Stone Poneys (named after the Charlie Patton song "Stone Pony Blues), which is by far the best-known version of the song.
Like "Me And Bobby McGee," this is a song written and originally recorded by a guy that switched genders when a female recorded it. With a male narrator, the girl is tying him down, and he has to leave her to strike out on his own. With Ronstadt singing it, the girl become the one who is reigned in, and leaves her man so she can do her own thing. Notice that she ends up describing the guy as "pretty," which makes a lot more sense when it was Nesmith singing about a girl.
In this song, Ronstadt is ready to bail on a relationship, claiming they are very different people and she doesn't want to be tied down to one person anyway. It's a variation of both the "I want to see other people" and the "It's not you, it's me" breakups. Mike Nesmith wrote it in character - he was newly married and his wife was pregnant.
The Monkees were given very little control of their musical output, which didn't sit well with Mike Nesmith, who found out after he joined the ensemble that session musicians would be playing on their albums and hired guns would write their songs. Nesmith was a talented performer and songwriter, and he proved it with this tune, which he pitched for The Monkees. He explained in 1971: "Most of the songs I did write, they didn't want, so on the last few albums I didn't contribute much in the way of material. I took them 'Different Drum' and they said all it needed was a hook. They asked me to change it and told me it was a stiff."
The Stone Poneys were a folk trio of Ronstadt, Kenny Edwards and Bobby Kimmel. They released their first album earlier in 1967, and it went nowhere. This song was included on their second album, Evergreen Volume 2, later that year and appeared to be headed toward a similar fate. In dire financial straits, the band was driving to a meeting with their record company when their car broke down on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. At the gas station where they ended up, they heard this song playing on the radio - it had been added to the playlist at KRLA-AM, a huge station in LA. Suddenly, they had a hit on their hands.
Their fortunes improved, but the song only took them so far. After one more charting single ("Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water" - #93) the band broke up. Ronstadt went solo and charted a few minor hits from 1970-1974, but landed a #1 in 1975 with "You're No Good," launching her to stardom.
Bobby Kimmel did most of the songwriting in The Stone Poneys, who generally shared vocals like Peter, Paul and Mary. These songs rarely suited Linda Ronstadt's voice, but when she heard "Different Drum" by The Greenbriar Boys, she thought it was a perfect fit and a great opportunity to take a lead vocal.
Mike Nesmith played a short, intentionally awful version of this song on the "Too Many Girls" episode of The Monkees TV series. The episode aired December 19, 1966, which was shortly before Ronstadt released the song.
The Monkees - "Different Drum" from "Too Many Girls"
Michael Nesmith gets his song "Different Drum" on the Monkees!
To keep Davy and new stars in his eyes girl Fern from winning the contest and helping Fern's manipulating mother, Micky, Peter and Mike enter the contest to give each other time to sabotage Fern and Davy's act.
Michael Nesmith gives another hilarious performance.
The Monkees belong to Raybert Productions and Columbia Records.
Fittingly, this song was far different than previous Stone Poneys material, and the male members of the group, Kenny Edwards and Bobby Kimmel, didn't even play on it. Ronstadt envisioned the song as an acoustic piece, but their producer, Nick Venet, had different ideas. When the group showed up for the three-song session at Capitol Records' Studio B in Los Angeles, there were a number of studio musicians there. Edwards and Kimmel played on two of the songs, but when it came time to record "Different Drum," they watched from the control room as the seasoned studio pros worked up the song under Venet's direction. Among the musicians:
Don Randi - harpsichord
Al Viola - guitar
Jimmy Bond - bass
Jim Gordon - drums
There was also a string section conducted by Sid Sharp. Gordon and Randi also played on many of the Monkees recordings in place of the actual group.
Ronstadt did one run-through of the song before recording her vocal, start to finish, in the next take. As she developed her vocal talents, she came to hate the way she sounded on the song. "Today I will break my finger trying to get that record off when it's on," she said in the 2016 book Anatomy of a Song. "Everyone hears something in that song - a breakup, the antiwar movement, women's lib. I hear a fear and a lack of confidence on my part. It all happened so fast that day."
The Monkees were in their second (and final) season when this song reached its chart peak in January 1968. Mike Nesmith heard it for the first time on a Philadelphia radio station when the group was riding together in a limousine.
Nesmith recorded this himself in 1972 on a solo album called And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'. Nesmith had a substantial solo output after The Monkees TV series was canceled.
Michael Nesmith - Different Drum (1972)
www.songfacts.com/facts/linda-ronstadt/different-drum
Linda Ronstadt's 'Different Drum'
She and songwriter Michael Nesmith talk about her first hit
By Marc Myers
Updated Oct. 31, 2013 1:09 pm ET
www.wsj.com/articles/linda-ronstadt8217s-8216different-drum8217-1383149206
When the red light went on at Hollywood's Capitol Studios in 1967, singer Linda Ronstadt was scared. There to record "Different Drum"—her first lead-vocal single as a member of the Stone Poneys—Ms. Ronstadt was expecting to sing an acoustic ballad version of the song accompanied by her two bandmates.
Linda Ronstadt (shown in 1968) was caught off guard in the studio when confronted with new musicians and a faster arrangement. HENRY DILTZ/CORBIS
Instead, a new faster arrangement had been written, a rhythm section and string players were brought in to replace the other two Stone Poneys, and Ms. Ronstadt had just seconds to figure out how she was going to phrase the lyrics and make the song work.
Released in September 1967, the single—written by future-Monkee Michael Nesmith—peaked at No. 13 on Billboard's pop chart, launching Ms. Ronstadt's career and ushering in a new solo female folk-rock era. Ms. Ronstadt, 67, author of "Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir," published in September; Mr. Nesmith, 70; harpsichordist Don Randi, 76, and Stone Poney Bobby Kimmel, 73, talked about the song's evolution. Edited from interviews:
Michael Nesmith, who wrote the song pre-Monkees. MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
Michael Nesmith: In 1964 I had been playing guitar in folk and bluegrass bands and wanted to sing solo. So I began writing songs. I wrote "Different Drum" early one morning on the back porch of my San Fernando Valley apartment. The lyrics, about a breakup, came fast—but they had nothing to do with my personal life. I was newly married with a pregnant wife.
Whenever I wrote, I liked creating little 'movies of the mind.' I was thinking about two lovers—one of whom decides they love different things. In later years, comedian Whitney Brown referred to "Different Drum" as the first "it's not you, it's me" breakup song.
In 1965 I met John Herald of the Greenbriar Boys trio. We sat down and began sharing songs. John loved "Different Drum" and slowed it down when he recorded it the following year for Vanguard Records.
Linda Ronstadt: I moved from Tucson, Ariz., to Los Angeles in 1965 to sing with Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards. There were plenty of gigs at folk clubs then. Kenny played a Gibson mandolin, Bobby played a Martin guitar and I sang harmonies.
Naming our folk trio the Stone Poneys was Kenny's idea. He got the name from Charley Patton's song "Stone Pony Blues." In those days, the word "stone" also meant "heavy, man." Bobby was writing most of the songs then—but for his voice and range. At some point in late '66, I wanted a song that suited my voice so I could sing lead.
That's when I heard the Greenbriar Boys' single "Different Drum." I knew it could be a hit for us. In 1967, our producer at Capitol, Nik Venet, set up a recording session. It was at Capitol's Studio B, where Frank Sinatra recorded. The plan was to record three songs in three hours that day.
I thought we were going to record an acoustic ballad version of "Different Drum" with Bobby and Kenny. But when I walked into the studio, there were other musicians there I didn't know. Bobby and Kenny played on two of the songs, but on "Different Drum," Nik asked them to sit out.
Bobby Kimmel: Kenny and I didn't mind. It was always going to be a solo vocal feature for Linda anyway, and Nik wanted more going on instrumentally behind her. Kenny and I stood in the engineer's booth and watched and listened.
Ms. Ronstadt: At first, I wasn't happy. I thought we'd have a better shot on the radio with an acoustic version, since groups like Peter, Paul and Mary were having hits. But Nik insisted. He said he had asked Jimmy Bond to write an arrangement and brought in Don Randi to play harpsichord, Al Viola on guitar and Jimmy Gordon on drums. Bond played bass, and Sid Sharp arranged and conducted a string section. They were all there.
We didn't rehearse. I was just thrown into it. I was completely confused. I didn't have the lyrics in front of me—I sang them from memory. Since I can't read music, I didn't have a lead sheet either. I knew I could remember the words, but I wasn't sure how to phrase them with the new arrangement and faster tempo.
Different instruments pull different textures out of my voice, which was conditioned to sing with guitar and mandolin. The harpsichord and strings were going to be harder. We recorded the second take without any overdubbing. That became the version you hear on the record.
Don Randi: Jimmy Bond had me play a double-keyboard harpsichord that day, to give the song a psychedelic-pop feel. I only had the chord changes and made up the rest on the spot, including the solo. I had been trained as a classical pianist, so giving it a classical feel wasn't a problem.
By '67, I had recorded as part of L.A.'s Wrecking Crew studio band on hundreds of rock recordings, including sessions with the Beach Boys and Phil Spector. This was a nice change-up. Nik knew his stuff and went to bat for Linda with us before she came in, Nik told me, "Wait until you hear this girl sing. You won't believe it."
He was right. She had this innocence and humility that won me over. If she had been frightened, you'd never have known it. Linda was so down-to-earth and natural—she even recorded that song barefoot.
BANDS WHO WERE HIP TO THE HARP
Ms. Ronstadt: I first heard the single when the band's car broke down in September '67. Soon after we pushed it into a gas station, I heard the guitar-harpsichord intro faintly coming from a radio in back of the garage. The mechanics had it tuned to KRLA—L.A.'s Top-40 AM station. I was stunned.
Mr. Nesmith: I first heard Linda's record on the radio in Philadelphia, while riding in a limo with the Monkees. No one in the car believed I had written the song. Linda did more for that song than the Greenbriar Boys' version. She infused it with a different level of passion and sensuality. Coming from the perspective of a woman instead of a guy, the song had a new context. You sensed Linda had personally experienced the lyrics—that she needed to be free.
Mr. Kimmel: The irony, of course, is I didn't sing or play on my group's biggest hit. But you know what? It wouldn't have mattered even if I had. It was Linda's time.
Ms. Ronstadt: I'll be honest—I was never happy with how I sounded. It took me 10 years to learn how to sing before I had skill and craft. Today I will break my finger trying to get that record off when it's on. Art wasn't meant to be frozen in time like that.
Everyone hears something in that song—a breakup, the antiwar movement, women's lib. I hear fear and a lack of confidence on my part. It all happened so fast that day.
www.wsj.com/articles/linda-ronstadt8217s-8216different-drum8217-1383149206
The Monkees Gave 1 of Their Songs to Linda Ronstadt and She Made It a Hit
www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-monkees-gave-1-songs-linda-ronstadt-made-hit.html/
Matthew Trzcinski
July 10, 2021
Many of The Monkees’ greatest songs were written by other artists like Carole King and Neil Diamond. On the other hand, one of the greatest songs any of The Monkees ever wrote was recorded by the legendary Linda Ronstadt. During an interview, The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz explained why one of his bandmates gave one of his songs to another artist.
www.cheatsheet.com/tag/the-monkees/
www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-monkees-track-that-features-dolphin-sounds.html/
The Monkees at table
The Monkees | James Jackson/Evening Standard/Getty Images
Why The Monkees couldn’t record one of Mike Nesmith’s songs
Because they were similar to The Beatles and sang songs written by other people, The Monkees were sometimes called the Prefab Four. However, this erases the fact that members of the band wrote songs, played instruments, and had varying degrees of control over their careers at different points. For example, Dolenz explained Mike Nesmith wrote a track he wanted The Monkees to perform.
www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennon-called-out-the-beatles-the-authorized-biography.html/
“We were sitting around, and Nez and Peter [Tork] would always have guitars,” Dolenz told Ultimate Classic Rock. “I remember sitting around singing, as we were waiting to film. They tended to be Nesmith tunes, because he was the one that was writing.
ultimateclassicrock.com/monkees-linda-ronstadt-different-drum/
“He was writing well before The Monkees, of course,” Dolenz recalled. “He’d say, ‘Hey, here’s a new song that I’m writing,'” Dolenz adds, imitating Nesmith’s Texan accent. “And he’d do ‘Different Drum,’ which he had just written.”
The Monkees' Mike Nesmith wearing a hat
The Monkees’ Mike Nesmith | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
RELATED: The Monkees Had 1 Hit in the 1980s and Davy Jones Wouldn’t Sing It
www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-monkees-had-1-hit-in-the-1980s-and-davy-jones-wouldnt-sing-it.html/
Dolenz explained why “Different Drum” didn’t become a Monkees song. “It was one of the first songs that he [Nesmith] brought into the producers of The Monkees. He offered it up to the record producers and he played that,” Dolenz recalls. “They said, ‘Oh, that’s nice but that’s really not a Monkees tune.’ He said, ‘Well, wait a minute, but I am one of The Monkees!’ He went and gave it to this young girl singer who was kicking around L.A. at the time, and, of course, that was Linda Ronstadt.”
How the world reacted to The Stone Poneys’ and Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Different Drum’
Ronstadt didn’t perform her version of “Different Drum” alone. It’s credited to The Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt. The Stone Poneys’ version of “Different Drum” featuring Ronstadt reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song remained on the chart for 17 weeks. The song’s parent album, Evergreen, Volume 2, was a success as well. The album reached No. 100 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 15 weeks. It was the most popular of the band’s three albums because it was the only one to chart.
www.billboard.com/music/the-stoney-poneys/chart-history/HSI
www.billboard.com/music/the-stoney-poneys/chart-history/TLP/song/825157
“Different Drum”
RELATED: The Riff From This Monkees Song Was Supposed to Be a Joke
www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/riff-monkees-song-supposed-joke.html/
The Monkees’ other interesting connection to Linda Ronstadt
Tork was connected to Ronstadt beyond that. He told Rolling Stone Ronstadt told him she had an offer to pose for Playboy but she didn’t want to do it. Afterward, Tork wondered why Ronstadt didn’t want to expose herself. She said she’d rather expose herself to her friends. Subsequently, she flashed him — and Tork was quite pleased. The Monkees crossed paths with Ronstadt in some interesting — and sometimes risque — ways.
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/peter-tork-monkees-lost-interview-1960s-797309/
Oct 31, 2013 9:10:13 GMT -5 erik said:
Another interesting thing to point out about "Different Drum" is that it had already been played extensively on radio up in San Francisco, according to Linda in her memoir, before it was picked up in Los Angeles. It hadn't been released quite yet as a single because Capitol was apparently skittish at the way it sounded. When KRLA AM 1110, then a Top 40 AM radio station here in L.A., spun it, the song got a huge response from listeners, forcing Capitol to release it as a 45. It was the #1 song on KRLA's playlist (and on "Boss Radio" KHJ AM 930) for three weeks at the end of November and into early December; it soon entered the Top 40, and peaked at #13 on January 27, 1968. And two and a half years later, in June 1970, KRLA was able to force Capitol's hand a second time with "Long Long Time", which again got heavy airplay (despite the label's reluctance to release what they thought was a country ballad). It got up to #25 nationally in the fall of that year.
Oh for the days when individual radio stations, their programmers, and the listeners actually had the power to determine what would be the hits.
HOW LINDA RONSTADT BROKE OUT WITH A REJECTED MONKEES CLASSIC: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
ultimateclassicrock.com/monkees-linda-ronstadt-different-drum/
You and I travel to the beat of a diffrent drum
Oh, can't you tell by the way I run
Ev'ry time you make eyes at me. Wo oh
You cry and you moan and say it will work out
But honey child I've got my doubts
You can't see the forest for the trees
Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm knockin'
It's just that I'm not in the market
For a boy who wants to love only me
Yes, and I ain't sayin' you ain't pretty
All I'm sayin's I'm not ready for any person,
Place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me
So goodbye, I'll be leavin'
I see no sense in the cryin' and grievin'
We'll both live a lot longer if you live without me
Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm knockin'
It's just that I'm not in the market
For a boy who wants to love only me
Yes, and I ain't sayin' you ain't pretty
All I'm sayin's I'm not ready for any person,
Place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me
So goodbye, I'll be leavin'
I see no sense in the cryin' and grievin'
We'll both live a lot longer if you live without me
Writer/s: MICHAEL NESMITH
Oh, can't you tell by the way I run
Ev'ry time you make eyes at me. Wo oh
You cry and you moan and say it will work out
But honey child I've got my doubts
You can't see the forest for the trees
Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm knockin'
It's just that I'm not in the market
For a boy who wants to love only me
Yes, and I ain't sayin' you ain't pretty
All I'm sayin's I'm not ready for any person,
Place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me
So goodbye, I'll be leavin'
I see no sense in the cryin' and grievin'
We'll both live a lot longer if you live without me
Oh, don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm knockin'
It's just that I'm not in the market
For a boy who wants to love only me
Yes, and I ain't sayin' you ain't pretty
All I'm sayin's I'm not ready for any person,
Place or thing to try and pull the reins in on me
So goodbye, I'll be leavin'
I see no sense in the cryin' and grievin'
We'll both live a lot longer if you live without me
Writer/s: MICHAEL NESMITH
Mike Nesmith wrote this song in 1964, two years before he joined the made-for-TV group The Monkees. At the time, he was developing his skills as a folk singer - a far cry from the Hollywood-enhanced shenanigans and high-gloss pop songs The Monkees were known for. In 1965, he met John Herald, guitarist for a bluegrass/folk group called The Greenbriar Boys. They played songs for each other, and Herald loved "Different Drum." He brought it to his group, slowed down the tempo, and released it on the group's 1966 album Better Late Than Never! Linda Ronstadt heard this version and recorded it with her group The Stone Poneys (named after the Charlie Patton song "Stone Pony Blues), which is by far the best-known version of the song.
Like "Me And Bobby McGee," this is a song written and originally recorded by a guy that switched genders when a female recorded it. With a male narrator, the girl is tying him down, and he has to leave her to strike out on his own. With Ronstadt singing it, the girl become the one who is reigned in, and leaves her man so she can do her own thing. Notice that she ends up describing the guy as "pretty," which makes a lot more sense when it was Nesmith singing about a girl.
In this song, Ronstadt is ready to bail on a relationship, claiming they are very different people and she doesn't want to be tied down to one person anyway. It's a variation of both the "I want to see other people" and the "It's not you, it's me" breakups. Mike Nesmith wrote it in character - he was newly married and his wife was pregnant.
The Monkees were given very little control of their musical output, which didn't sit well with Mike Nesmith, who found out after he joined the ensemble that session musicians would be playing on their albums and hired guns would write their songs. Nesmith was a talented performer and songwriter, and he proved it with this tune, which he pitched for The Monkees. He explained in 1971: "Most of the songs I did write, they didn't want, so on the last few albums I didn't contribute much in the way of material. I took them 'Different Drum' and they said all it needed was a hook. They asked me to change it and told me it was a stiff."
The Stone Poneys were a folk trio of Ronstadt, Kenny Edwards and Bobby Kimmel. They released their first album earlier in 1967, and it went nowhere. This song was included on their second album, Evergreen Volume 2, later that year and appeared to be headed toward a similar fate. In dire financial straits, the band was driving to a meeting with their record company when their car broke down on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. At the gas station where they ended up, they heard this song playing on the radio - it had been added to the playlist at KRLA-AM, a huge station in LA. Suddenly, they had a hit on their hands.
Their fortunes improved, but the song only took them so far. After one more charting single ("Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water" - #93) the band broke up. Ronstadt went solo and charted a few minor hits from 1970-1974, but landed a #1 in 1975 with "You're No Good," launching her to stardom.
Bobby Kimmel did most of the songwriting in The Stone Poneys, who generally shared vocals like Peter, Paul and Mary. These songs rarely suited Linda Ronstadt's voice, but when she heard "Different Drum" by The Greenbriar Boys, she thought it was a perfect fit and a great opportunity to take a lead vocal.
Mike Nesmith played a short, intentionally awful version of this song on the "Too Many Girls" episode of The Monkees TV series. The episode aired December 19, 1966, which was shortly before Ronstadt released the song.
The Monkees - "Different Drum" from "Too Many Girls"
Michael Nesmith gets his song "Different Drum" on the Monkees!
To keep Davy and new stars in his eyes girl Fern from winning the contest and helping Fern's manipulating mother, Micky, Peter and Mike enter the contest to give each other time to sabotage Fern and Davy's act.
Michael Nesmith gives another hilarious performance.
The Monkees belong to Raybert Productions and Columbia Records.
Fittingly, this song was far different than previous Stone Poneys material, and the male members of the group, Kenny Edwards and Bobby Kimmel, didn't even play on it. Ronstadt envisioned the song as an acoustic piece, but their producer, Nick Venet, had different ideas. When the group showed up for the three-song session at Capitol Records' Studio B in Los Angeles, there were a number of studio musicians there. Edwards and Kimmel played on two of the songs, but when it came time to record "Different Drum," they watched from the control room as the seasoned studio pros worked up the song under Venet's direction. Among the musicians:
Don Randi - harpsichord
Al Viola - guitar
Jimmy Bond - bass
Jim Gordon - drums
There was also a string section conducted by Sid Sharp. Gordon and Randi also played on many of the Monkees recordings in place of the actual group.
Ronstadt did one run-through of the song before recording her vocal, start to finish, in the next take. As she developed her vocal talents, she came to hate the way she sounded on the song. "Today I will break my finger trying to get that record off when it's on," she said in the 2016 book Anatomy of a Song. "Everyone hears something in that song - a breakup, the antiwar movement, women's lib. I hear a fear and a lack of confidence on my part. It all happened so fast that day."
The Monkees were in their second (and final) season when this song reached its chart peak in January 1968. Mike Nesmith heard it for the first time on a Philadelphia radio station when the group was riding together in a limousine.
Nesmith recorded this himself in 1972 on a solo album called And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'. Nesmith had a substantial solo output after The Monkees TV series was canceled.
Michael Nesmith - Different Drum (1972)
www.songfacts.com/facts/linda-ronstadt/different-drum
Linda Ronstadt's 'Different Drum'
She and songwriter Michael Nesmith talk about her first hit
By Marc Myers
Updated Oct. 31, 2013 1:09 pm ET
www.wsj.com/articles/linda-ronstadt8217s-8216different-drum8217-1383149206
When the red light went on at Hollywood's Capitol Studios in 1967, singer Linda Ronstadt was scared. There to record "Different Drum"—her first lead-vocal single as a member of the Stone Poneys—Ms. Ronstadt was expecting to sing an acoustic ballad version of the song accompanied by her two bandmates.
Linda Ronstadt (shown in 1968) was caught off guard in the studio when confronted with new musicians and a faster arrangement. HENRY DILTZ/CORBIS
Instead, a new faster arrangement had been written, a rhythm section and string players were brought in to replace the other two Stone Poneys, and Ms. Ronstadt had just seconds to figure out how she was going to phrase the lyrics and make the song work.
Released in September 1967, the single—written by future-Monkee Michael Nesmith—peaked at No. 13 on Billboard's pop chart, launching Ms. Ronstadt's career and ushering in a new solo female folk-rock era. Ms. Ronstadt, 67, author of "Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir," published in September; Mr. Nesmith, 70; harpsichordist Don Randi, 76, and Stone Poney Bobby Kimmel, 73, talked about the song's evolution. Edited from interviews:
Michael Nesmith, who wrote the song pre-Monkees. MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES
Michael Nesmith: In 1964 I had been playing guitar in folk and bluegrass bands and wanted to sing solo. So I began writing songs. I wrote "Different Drum" early one morning on the back porch of my San Fernando Valley apartment. The lyrics, about a breakup, came fast—but they had nothing to do with my personal life. I was newly married with a pregnant wife.
Whenever I wrote, I liked creating little 'movies of the mind.' I was thinking about two lovers—one of whom decides they love different things. In later years, comedian Whitney Brown referred to "Different Drum" as the first "it's not you, it's me" breakup song.
In 1965 I met John Herald of the Greenbriar Boys trio. We sat down and began sharing songs. John loved "Different Drum" and slowed it down when he recorded it the following year for Vanguard Records.
Linda Ronstadt: I moved from Tucson, Ariz., to Los Angeles in 1965 to sing with Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards. There were plenty of gigs at folk clubs then. Kenny played a Gibson mandolin, Bobby played a Martin guitar and I sang harmonies.
Naming our folk trio the Stone Poneys was Kenny's idea. He got the name from Charley Patton's song "Stone Pony Blues." In those days, the word "stone" also meant "heavy, man." Bobby was writing most of the songs then—but for his voice and range. At some point in late '66, I wanted a song that suited my voice so I could sing lead.
That's when I heard the Greenbriar Boys' single "Different Drum." I knew it could be a hit for us. In 1967, our producer at Capitol, Nik Venet, set up a recording session. It was at Capitol's Studio B, where Frank Sinatra recorded. The plan was to record three songs in three hours that day.
I thought we were going to record an acoustic ballad version of "Different Drum" with Bobby and Kenny. But when I walked into the studio, there were other musicians there I didn't know. Bobby and Kenny played on two of the songs, but on "Different Drum," Nik asked them to sit out.
Bobby Kimmel: Kenny and I didn't mind. It was always going to be a solo vocal feature for Linda anyway, and Nik wanted more going on instrumentally behind her. Kenny and I stood in the engineer's booth and watched and listened.
Ms. Ronstadt: At first, I wasn't happy. I thought we'd have a better shot on the radio with an acoustic version, since groups like Peter, Paul and Mary were having hits. But Nik insisted. He said he had asked Jimmy Bond to write an arrangement and brought in Don Randi to play harpsichord, Al Viola on guitar and Jimmy Gordon on drums. Bond played bass, and Sid Sharp arranged and conducted a string section. They were all there.
We didn't rehearse. I was just thrown into it. I was completely confused. I didn't have the lyrics in front of me—I sang them from memory. Since I can't read music, I didn't have a lead sheet either. I knew I could remember the words, but I wasn't sure how to phrase them with the new arrangement and faster tempo.
Different instruments pull different textures out of my voice, which was conditioned to sing with guitar and mandolin. The harpsichord and strings were going to be harder. We recorded the second take without any overdubbing. That became the version you hear on the record.
Don Randi: Jimmy Bond had me play a double-keyboard harpsichord that day, to give the song a psychedelic-pop feel. I only had the chord changes and made up the rest on the spot, including the solo. I had been trained as a classical pianist, so giving it a classical feel wasn't a problem.
By '67, I had recorded as part of L.A.'s Wrecking Crew studio band on hundreds of rock recordings, including sessions with the Beach Boys and Phil Spector. This was a nice change-up. Nik knew his stuff and went to bat for Linda with us before she came in, Nik told me, "Wait until you hear this girl sing. You won't believe it."
He was right. She had this innocence and humility that won me over. If she had been frightened, you'd never have known it. Linda was so down-to-earth and natural—she even recorded that song barefoot.
BANDS WHO WERE HIP TO THE HARP
How the Harpsichord Fueled '60s Pop
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Ms. Ronstadt: I first heard the single when the band's car broke down in September '67. Soon after we pushed it into a gas station, I heard the guitar-harpsichord intro faintly coming from a radio in back of the garage. The mechanics had it tuned to KRLA—L.A.'s Top-40 AM station. I was stunned.
Mr. Nesmith: I first heard Linda's record on the radio in Philadelphia, while riding in a limo with the Monkees. No one in the car believed I had written the song. Linda did more for that song than the Greenbriar Boys' version. She infused it with a different level of passion and sensuality. Coming from the perspective of a woman instead of a guy, the song had a new context. You sensed Linda had personally experienced the lyrics—that she needed to be free.
Mr. Kimmel: The irony, of course, is I didn't sing or play on my group's biggest hit. But you know what? It wouldn't have mattered even if I had. It was Linda's time.
Ms. Ronstadt: I'll be honest—I was never happy with how I sounded. It took me 10 years to learn how to sing before I had skill and craft. Today I will break my finger trying to get that record off when it's on. Art wasn't meant to be frozen in time like that.
Everyone hears something in that song—a breakup, the antiwar movement, women's lib. I hear fear and a lack of confidence on my part. It all happened so fast that day.
www.wsj.com/articles/linda-ronstadt8217s-8216different-drum8217-1383149206
The Stone Poneys, “Different Drum”
Written By Jim Beviglia // August 11, 2019
The guy that wrote the song wanted to record it with his hit band but was turned down flat. And the girl that sang it never liked her performance. Yet the public has spoken since when the song was released in 1967 and in the half-century since to make “Different Drum” by the Stone Poneys one of the most enduringly bittersweet hits to come from the year of the Summer of Love.
The writer was Michael Nesmith, a few years before he would become a member of the Monkees. He recorded it with his band the Greenbriar Boys, and it was that version of the song that caught the attention of Linda Ronstadt, then the singer for the Stone Poneys. Nesmith did try to make a Monkees hit out of it his well, but the producers who chose the band’s material shunned it. “Most of the songs I did write, they didn’t want, so on the last few albums I didn’t contribute much in the way of material,” Nesmith said in 1971. “I took them ‘Different Drum’ and they said all it needed was a hook. They asked me to change it and told me it was a stiff.”
The Stone Poneys, comprised of Ronstadt, Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards, were looking for a hit when they took a shot at “Different Drum.” Only Kimmel and Edwards didn’t play at all on the track. Producer Nick Venet tapped into a sound that combined elements of folk rock and baroque pop, mixing acoustic guitar with strings and harpsichord, all handled by studio pros. In interviews after the fact, Ronstadt insisted that she botched the vocal because of her inexperience, which goes to show that sometimes the performer isn’t the best judge of the performance.
After all, the narrator in the song could come off as heartless in the wrong hands. This person is essentially kissing off someone devoted to them because they have their own wanderlust to satisfy. But Ronstadt’s vocal displays empathy for the person that she’s addressing, so that the audience ends up identifying with her desires instead of judging them.
Nesmith’s buoyant melody and clever wordplay does the rest. There are some unexpected rhymes here that lend the song a bit of whimsy (“knock it” and “market,” for example.) Notice too that the narrator doesn’t completely shun the possibility of settling down; it just won’t happen in that moment: “All I’m saying is I’m not ready/ For any person, place or thing/ To try and pull the reins in on me.”
In the final verse, the narrator claims that their decision is something that is best for the both of them: “I see no sense in this crying and grieving/ We’ll both live a lot longer/ If you live without me.” The way that Ronstadt sings it, it is clear that this was no easy decision and that it is one that is bound to cause her pain in the short run, even if it makes sense in the long haul.
When you hear someone these days talking about someone marching to the beat of a different drum, they are often referring to idiosyncrasies or quirks. But in the Stone Poneys’ “Different Drum,” rhythmic incongruity causes two lovers to walk away from something special rather than trample each other underfoot.
Written By Jim Beviglia // August 11, 2019
The guy that wrote the song wanted to record it with his hit band but was turned down flat. And the girl that sang it never liked her performance. Yet the public has spoken since when the song was released in 1967 and in the half-century since to make “Different Drum” by the Stone Poneys one of the most enduringly bittersweet hits to come from the year of the Summer of Love.
The writer was Michael Nesmith, a few years before he would become a member of the Monkees. He recorded it with his band the Greenbriar Boys, and it was that version of the song that caught the attention of Linda Ronstadt, then the singer for the Stone Poneys. Nesmith did try to make a Monkees hit out of it his well, but the producers who chose the band’s material shunned it. “Most of the songs I did write, they didn’t want, so on the last few albums I didn’t contribute much in the way of material,” Nesmith said in 1971. “I took them ‘Different Drum’ and they said all it needed was a hook. They asked me to change it and told me it was a stiff.”
The Stone Poneys, comprised of Ronstadt, Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards, were looking for a hit when they took a shot at “Different Drum.” Only Kimmel and Edwards didn’t play at all on the track. Producer Nick Venet tapped into a sound that combined elements of folk rock and baroque pop, mixing acoustic guitar with strings and harpsichord, all handled by studio pros. In interviews after the fact, Ronstadt insisted that she botched the vocal because of her inexperience, which goes to show that sometimes the performer isn’t the best judge of the performance.
After all, the narrator in the song could come off as heartless in the wrong hands. This person is essentially kissing off someone devoted to them because they have their own wanderlust to satisfy. But Ronstadt’s vocal displays empathy for the person that she’s addressing, so that the audience ends up identifying with her desires instead of judging them.
Nesmith’s buoyant melody and clever wordplay does the rest. There are some unexpected rhymes here that lend the song a bit of whimsy (“knock it” and “market,” for example.) Notice too that the narrator doesn’t completely shun the possibility of settling down; it just won’t happen in that moment: “All I’m saying is I’m not ready/ For any person, place or thing/ To try and pull the reins in on me.”
In the final verse, the narrator claims that their decision is something that is best for the both of them: “I see no sense in this crying and grieving/ We’ll both live a lot longer/ If you live without me.” The way that Ronstadt sings it, it is clear that this was no easy decision and that it is one that is bound to cause her pain in the short run, even if it makes sense in the long haul.
When you hear someone these days talking about someone marching to the beat of a different drum, they are often referring to idiosyncrasies or quirks. But in the Stone Poneys’ “Different Drum,” rhythmic incongruity causes two lovers to walk away from something special rather than trample each other underfoot.
The Monkees Gave 1 of Their Songs to Linda Ronstadt and She Made It a Hit
www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-monkees-gave-1-songs-linda-ronstadt-made-hit.html/
Matthew Trzcinski
July 10, 2021
Many of The Monkees’ greatest songs were written by other artists like Carole King and Neil Diamond. On the other hand, one of the greatest songs any of The Monkees ever wrote was recorded by the legendary Linda Ronstadt. During an interview, The Monkees’ Micky Dolenz explained why one of his bandmates gave one of his songs to another artist.
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The Monkees at table
The Monkees | James Jackson/Evening Standard/Getty Images
Why The Monkees couldn’t record one of Mike Nesmith’s songs
Because they were similar to The Beatles and sang songs written by other people, The Monkees were sometimes called the Prefab Four. However, this erases the fact that members of the band wrote songs, played instruments, and had varying degrees of control over their careers at different points. For example, Dolenz explained Mike Nesmith wrote a track he wanted The Monkees to perform.
www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/john-lennon-called-out-the-beatles-the-authorized-biography.html/
“We were sitting around, and Nez and Peter [Tork] would always have guitars,” Dolenz told Ultimate Classic Rock. “I remember sitting around singing, as we were waiting to film. They tended to be Nesmith tunes, because he was the one that was writing.
ultimateclassicrock.com/monkees-linda-ronstadt-different-drum/
“He was writing well before The Monkees, of course,” Dolenz recalled. “He’d say, ‘Hey, here’s a new song that I’m writing,'” Dolenz adds, imitating Nesmith’s Texan accent. “And he’d do ‘Different Drum,’ which he had just written.”
The Monkees' Mike Nesmith wearing a hat
The Monkees’ Mike Nesmith | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
RELATED: The Monkees Had 1 Hit in the 1980s and Davy Jones Wouldn’t Sing It
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Dolenz explained why “Different Drum” didn’t become a Monkees song. “It was one of the first songs that he [Nesmith] brought into the producers of The Monkees. He offered it up to the record producers and he played that,” Dolenz recalls. “They said, ‘Oh, that’s nice but that’s really not a Monkees tune.’ He said, ‘Well, wait a minute, but I am one of The Monkees!’ He went and gave it to this young girl singer who was kicking around L.A. at the time, and, of course, that was Linda Ronstadt.”
How the world reacted to The Stone Poneys’ and Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Different Drum’
Ronstadt didn’t perform her version of “Different Drum” alone. It’s credited to The Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt. The Stone Poneys’ version of “Different Drum” featuring Ronstadt reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song remained on the chart for 17 weeks. The song’s parent album, Evergreen, Volume 2, was a success as well. The album reached No. 100 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 15 weeks. It was the most popular of the band’s three albums because it was the only one to chart.
www.billboard.com/music/the-stoney-poneys/chart-history/HSI
www.billboard.com/music/the-stoney-poneys/chart-history/TLP/song/825157
“Different Drum”
RELATED: The Riff From This Monkees Song Was Supposed to Be a Joke
www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/riff-monkees-song-supposed-joke.html/
The Monkees’ other interesting connection to Linda Ronstadt
Tork was connected to Ronstadt beyond that. He told Rolling Stone Ronstadt told him she had an offer to pose for Playboy but she didn’t want to do it. Afterward, Tork wondered why Ronstadt didn’t want to expose herself. She said she’d rather expose herself to her friends. Subsequently, she flashed him — and Tork was quite pleased. The Monkees crossed paths with Ronstadt in some interesting — and sometimes risque — ways.
www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/peter-tork-monkees-lost-interview-1960s-797309/
Oct 31, 2013 9:10:13 GMT -5 erik said:
Another interesting thing to point out about "Different Drum" is that it had already been played extensively on radio up in San Francisco, according to Linda in her memoir, before it was picked up in Los Angeles. It hadn't been released quite yet as a single because Capitol was apparently skittish at the way it sounded. When KRLA AM 1110, then a Top 40 AM radio station here in L.A., spun it, the song got a huge response from listeners, forcing Capitol to release it as a 45. It was the #1 song on KRLA's playlist (and on "Boss Radio" KHJ AM 930) for three weeks at the end of November and into early December; it soon entered the Top 40, and peaked at #13 on January 27, 1968. And two and a half years later, in June 1970, KRLA was able to force Capitol's hand a second time with "Long Long Time", which again got heavy airplay (despite the label's reluctance to release what they thought was a country ballad). It got up to #25 nationally in the fall of that year.
Oh for the days when individual radio stations, their programmers, and the listeners actually had the power to determine what would be the hits.
HOW LINDA RONSTADT BROKE OUT WITH A REJECTED MONKEES CLASSIC: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
ultimateclassicrock.com/monkees-linda-ronstadt-different-drum/
