Different Drum

"Different Drum" was written by Mike Nesmith in 1965, during his career as a folk singer and before he joined The Monkees. He proposed it as a Monkees song, but it was turned down by their producer. At that point, The Monkees had no creative control over their music, so Nesmith instead gave the song to the Greenbriar Boys who included it on a 1966 album. The Greenbriar Boys rendition featured John Herald on vocal, with his voice breaking at key moments. Linda Ronstadt, then with the Stone Poneys, recorded a hauntingly sincere rendition of the song in 1967 -- later described by Nesmith as bringing it "a new level of passion and sensuality" -- that reached #11 on the Hot 100. Nesmith then did a quick comedy rendition on The Monkees television show, as the mock folk singer Billy Roy Hodstetter.  There have since been many covers, all of them serious.

Be sure to watch Nesmith's long introduction at the bottom of the post, where he explains how he imagines the song (with some additional lyrics).

 

Comments

[Enrique Armijo]

One of the best songs of the 1960s. Here is a version from Glasgow indie group The Pastels:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iReembPfvIU

[Joan Heminway]

This post makes me so happy! I sang this song in the summers at Girl Scout camp back in the '60s. I've always gravitated toward this song--especially the Linda Ronstadt version. Yet, it's provenance was unknown to me. I also loved The Monkees!

Thanks for the post and gathering all the covers. Great stuff.

[Ian Holloway]

This is a brilliant post! Thank you. I know the Stone Poneys version well, of course, and I actually remember that episaode of the Monkees. But the clip of Mike at the end ... wow! Thank you?

[Yakima Knute]

Linda Ronstadt made any song she sang hers. So sad that sh'e lost the ability to sing.

Some Monkees obscure facts:

Brian Jones called them the Prefab Four for the reason that they didn't play the instruments on their first album. Mike Nesmith was the only musician of the group.

Mike's mother, a secretary, invented Liquid Paper.