Top Five Monkees Songs: Peter Tork

I wanted to write some more about Peter Tork, and what better way to do so than through a Top Five Songs post?  While I imagine I’ll probably get around to the other three Monkees sooner or later, today is all about Peter.  No easy task for a first crack at this, since the songs on the show don’t feature him nearly as much as his bandmates.  But, after some totally-necessary online research, I’ve familiarized myself with some lesser-known tracks and am now prepared to do a Peter Tork Top Five.

 “Your Auntie Grizelda” – Might as well start with the classic – this was Peter’s one signature song from the TV show.  Released on the band’s second album, it’s something of a novelty number, an odd little rock piece with a good beat and just a hint of nonsense.  Although Peter’s singing is a little dubious here, he makes up for it by bringing lots of energy and gusto to the proceedings.  In the end, it’s a relentlessly fun song that served as a slightly kooky background for a number of amusing Monkee romps.

Best moment:  I like the higher parts that come in near the end of each verse, a la, “I know she’s having a fit. / She doesn’t like me a bit…”  Again, there’s so much energy here that’s just kind of infectious.  I also admittedly love the interlude of random noises in the middle – it makes me smile to imagine Peter recording that part.

“Tear the Top Right Off My Head” – I’ve liked this Peter-penned song since I heard him singing the first verse/chorus acoustically with Micky in the middle of a Monkees episode – not as a performance, just their two characters hanging around singing together.  It was never given a full performance on the show and it wasn’t on any of the band’s studio albums, but I’ve found a couple full versions of it online that were released on Missing Links albums of their lesser-known songs (this one, with Peter on lead vocals, is my favorite.)  It’s a simple tune with a catchy beat and a nice atmosphere.  I just really love the whole feel of it – definitely my favorite of the songs he wrote for the group over the years.

Best moment:  A couple here.  First of all, I really like the chorus itself, the way the guitar goes into high-gear as it kicks off and just the romantic recklessness of that notion, “You tear the top right off my head, / You blow my mind.”  I also like the line in the last verse, “Touch my lips with your fingertips” – there’s something lovely in that.

“(I Prithee) Do Not Ask for Love” – I discovered through the bonus tracks on the albums available through Amazon Prime that both Davy and Micky have recorded this song, but I was introduced first to Peter’s version, performed as part of the truly-insane 33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee TV special from 1969.  It’s far and away my favorite part of that special, quiet and stripped-down amid a lot of whacked-out stuff going on.  I dig the sitar in the background, and while now, having heard Davy and Micky’s versions, I can admit Peter doesn’t sing it as well as either of them, I like his gentle, spare rendition of the song.

Best moment:  Probably the chorus, the rolling beat of it that Peter rides like a wave until it breaks with, “Thou workest in me / Slavery…”  There’s something very earnest in his vocals that I like, and it feels fitting to the number.

“Come On In” – I’ve taken an impromptu crash course in Peter Tork’s songs over the last couple weeks, and for my money, this is the one with the best singing.  Also from a Missing Links Album, it’s a mellow, moody song that’s really well-suited to Peter’s voice, and he sounds great on it.  It’s good proof that he wasn’t a bad singer, he just fit into a particular style/range – when the song is a good fit for me, it really works, as it does here.  Lovely and just a little plaintive.

Best moment:  I like every time the tempo increase comes in, the way Peter’s vocals just sort of climb along with that build-up until it settles back down again.  Good rhythm, and it makes the song a lot more dynamic and interesting.

“Wasn’t Born to Follow” – Okay, so some of my favorite Monkees songs are the ones Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote (I love “Sometime in the Morning” so much.)  This one is an interesting case.  Apparently, Goffin and King wrote it for the Monkees back in 1968, but it wasn’t finished at the time, and so the song wound up being recorded by a number of other artists before finally returning to the Monkees in 2016, when it was performed by Peter on their album Good Times!  This lilting folk number is another that’s well-suited for Peter’s style, and I like hearing how different his voice sounds since the ‘60s.  I like the “lone wanderer” air about it, a little wistful but not ultimately sad.

Best moment:  That slower line at the end of each verse is so pretty, especially the first verse.  I’ll include a couple lines before it just to get the full effect of the lyrics, but this part:  “The trees have leaves of prisms / That break the light up into colors / That no one knows the names of…”  Peter is in such fine voice, and he sounds especially lovely on these lines at the ends of the verses.