MILB: "Pleasant Valley Sunday"

I'm going to come right out and say that Micky Dolenz has one of the best voices from the 1960s.  Go on, roast me.  Tell me that they were a make-believe band with people that didn't even play their own instruments, or write their own songs for the first two records.  Call them the Pre-Fab 4, and how they were nothing compared to The Byrds, or Peter, Paul and Mary or CSNY.  I'll agree with all of those things, and then tell you to listen to this song.  Micky Dolenz had one of the best voices of the 1960s.

Not only that, but The Monkees were a group that introduced a lot of great song-writers to the world.  Harry Nilsson, Neil Diamond, Carole King and Gerry Goffin all wrote for the group.  Goffin and King wrote this song, which I feel is an amazing song which would be a hit at any time.

I think that "Pleasant Valley Sunday" is one of the greatest indictments of consumer culture ever written.  Better than anything done by Rage Against the Machine, or any other socially conscious band in the 90s, this song is acerbic with a pop beat.

Let's start with the music first.  The opening guitar riff, from the 12-string Mike plays?  Fantastic beginning, and then moves immediately into the lyrics.  The melody is peppy, the transitions to the chorus are basic but not boring.  The break in the middle is also a basic invention of pop songs in the 60s, but the return to the guitar riff really kicks it up.  Then comes the Ta's, followed by the chorus, key change chorus and then the fade out ending.  The producers just keep layering the music over and over until the listener can't actually hear the original song any more.  It may seem like a simple song writing (verse-chorus-verse-chorus-break-verse-chorus-chorus) but in reality the sum of all the parts make it so much more.  The musicianship is great, and even without the lyrics you could tell this would be a hit.

Now, onto the lyrics and Mr. Dolenz' absurdly good vocals.  To understand this song, know that a lot of city dwellers after WWII decided to move from the cities to the suburbs so that they could raise their kids in the fresh air with a white picket fence.  All the houses looked exactly the same, and every weekend morning the air would be abuzz with the sounds of fathers, or their children, out mowing their lawn and doing yard work.  It was the way of the world.  Children would ride their bikes all over with their friends, and there would be at least one family operating the grill for the afternoon.  Maybe they had a pool that the kids would swim in, but possibly just a sprinkler on the lawn.

The song accurately describes what it is like to live in those places.  The woman who is very proud of her horticulture skills, and the guy that has a TV in every room of his house that likes to brag about what he has.  "Status Symbol Land" is a great name for the burbs.  Whether it's cars, or how big your house is, or where you go to school, competition is very much a way of life in the burbs.  One of the greatest parts of this song is the break.  The lyrics are just devastating:

"Creature Comfort goals/They only numb my soul/and make it hard for me to see/My thoughts all seem to stray/to places far away/I need a change of scenery."

Pretty darn evocative, and a damning of the consumption society we lived in then, and now.  It's a rejection of keeping up with the Joneses.  Then the last line of the song, "Here in Status symbol land!"  Great line, and one I've always appreciated.

I'm pretty sure that the place referred to in the story was in New York or New Jersey, due to the fact that both King and Goffin were from New York.  King was born in Manhattan and grew up in Brooklyn while Goffin was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Queens.  So I'd say Westchester County or maybe Long Island.  Of course that's just speculation on my part.  I do understand the song though, because I know when I was growing up in Florida, I really wanted to live in a big city.  Nothing against my home town, but I just felt like I wanted more excitement.  Even Orlando seemed like a much bigger deal than where I was living, and all Orlando was at the time was basically Disney.  This is mostly a song about feeling stuck where you are, and thinking there has to be more to life.

Micky's voice, by the way, is sublime on this song.  He was really the front man for the group, not Davy.  When I think of Monkee songs, I usually think of the ones that have him singing lead.  (Daydream Believer of course being an obvious exception.)  "(I'm not your) Stepping Stone", "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Mary, Mary" being just three more songs I love.  I think he definitely deserves a mention on great voices of the 60s, and hopefully one day he'll get his due.

Calvinist Work-ethic

Last Monday night, I slept horribly.  I mean, tragically bad.

Of course the next day I had a bad day at work, and felt wretched the entire time.  (It also didn't help we had some major issues to deal with at work that day.)  I just figured I needed more rest and then I'd be back to being ok.  So Tuesday night I went to sleep very early (7pm) and woke up feeling refreshed, but also still a little weird.  Sure enough, Thursday I woke up, made the kids breakfast, and realized there was no way I was going to be able to go to work.  I just couldn't do it.  So I went back to bed.  Thus began my 4 days of being ill.  Thursday I slept and then canceled any plans for major work to be done at the house on the weekend, including cancelling our hotel reservations.  By Friday, fever was still going, and I was having dreams where the pillows were conspiring against me.  (You know those weird fever dreams you have?  Those can be soooo much fun.)  Saturday I stayed mostly in bed but decided to shave and rest as I was feeling a bit better and had no fever.  Sunday I was feeling better so we went out to have breakfast and did grocery shopping, which was in dire need.  Still felt a bit weak when I got home so I took it easy the rest of the day.  Today is the day before my wedding anniversary, which is a holiday, so I previously had taken the day off from work.  So, why am I now sitting in my office wearing a dress shirt, tie and slacks and typing on my computer at lunch instead of sitting at home, relaxing on my day off and waiting for tomorrow to celebrate one of the most important events of my entire life with the woman I love?  I think it's Calvinism that brings me here.

You see, growing up Baptist in the deep south, you get to know Calvinism pretty well.  Usually it's not talked about all that much, but it's inside you, and part of your DNA.  Since Calvinism believed in pre-destination, it was thought you could see who was going to heaven by looking at their lives.  Hard work and being modest were thought to be signs of someone who was one of the chosen to go into heaven.  So began the work of not complaining and keeping your head down and frowning on the glory-hunters.  You just do your job, and get benefit from the fact that your hard work is probably being appreciated in the after-life.

Well, it's still in my DNA.  I may not go to church as much as I used to, and I definitely don't agree with some religious institutions anymore, but I still have the Calvinist work ethic.  Always have, always will.  I've found that it takes the form of a little voice inside my head, like a conscience.  My own personal Jimny Cricket if you will.  I realized it quite strongly when I lived in London.

There I was, one day, laying in bed feeling like a ton of bricks had hit me.  (No it wasn't a hangover.  Not this time, at least.)  I'd already called into the office to say I wasn't coming in.  Then, this little voice went off inside my head.

"Why don't you take a shower.  It'll make you feel better..."

You're right, little voice.  It would make me feel better.

After the shower, the little voice said:  "I bet you'd feel better if you shaved.  I mean you've got three day's growth of a beard on your face right now.  Shave and you'll probably feel better."

Well, ok. I can kind of see that.  You do kind of look haggard after a few days growth of beard, so why not?  It'll probably be ok.

After the shave, the little voice said: "Now that you're showered and shaved, why don't you get dressed and go to work.  I mean, you're almost ready to go anyways."

You know what?  I actually did.  Still didn't feel well, but still went to work.  It's also why I'm here.  In my crazy (and I KNOW it's crazy) mind, I think "I shouldn't take off today, because I had two days off last week."  How messed up is that?!?  It wasn't a vacation, it was me being sick!  But in my head, I couldn't miss 3 days in a row.  And really it all comes down to not wanting to let the side down.  I am working hard today to ensure that everyone that depends on me gets a chance to see me before the holiday.

It's not a bad life really.  Hard work has gotten me a lot of things in my life.  A job that I'm pretty good at, a lovely and supportive wife and two great kids.  I get to live all over the world, and it's amazing.

One other thing: My wife is a saint.  How she's put up with me for the last 9 years is beyond me.  I loves you!