DAVY JONES

Another reminder of the transitory nature of life comes with the passing of actor/singer Davy Jones. At the height of his fame in the mid-sixties, he sang lead vocals on a number of huge hits while playing his role on TV as part of the pre-fab group, The Monkees. The quartet soon grew tired of having session musicians and outside writers steer their musical ship. It is to the credit of Jones and his band mates that they raised two middle fingers to the machine that created them. The first was to get involved in the writing/playing/production of their records.

Headquarters was an LP that reflected this new approach."Early Morning Blues and Greens" was a track on which Jones took lead vocal.



Their second greatest act of defiance was the psychedelic film "Head". Has to be viewed in a certain state to really be appreciated, though.

Davy Jones was a multi-faceted, talented individual, though my generation was quite far removed from Monkee-mania. I do remember seeing that infamous Brady Bunch episode as a child and wondering why Marcia was so excited about having the diminutive Englishman as a dinner guest.

Lastly, here's a tune which Jones had a hand in writing (from the excellent Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.), whose title sums up sentiments shared by many upon learning today's sad news.