Growing up, I loved to watch the television show The Monkees, though looking back, I figure I wasn’t watching the episodes as they first aired, but re-runs. There were only two series of the show, though this amounted to some 58 episodes (32 in Season 1, 26 in Season 2), originally broadcast between 1966 and 1968. Fascinatingly, for some of the re-runs, original songs were replaced by then-current singles or album tracks, a move not without logic, given the television shows were aimed at being vehicles to promote records.
When I happened upon the video that is the subject of this Classic Clip feature, it occurred to me that, despite the pop image of The Monkees and the timing of the video (1967), it sounds very much like what we often now refer to as Americana. As I started writing the article, I began to doubt myself, wondering whether the genre police may come knocking at my door, however I was delighted to find that one of my AUK colleagues, Rick Bayles, has previously written extolling the virtues of the band and making, in my opinion, a quite compelling case for including (at least some of) the band’s output in the category of Americana. Bayles’ excellent piece, which delves into the history of the band and the television shows, can be found here.
While the first season musically was dominated by pop, the second season saw the musical direction take different turns, in line with the band’s recorded output. What Am I Doing Hangin’ ‘Round? featured in two episodes of the TV show’s second series: episode 33, entitled A Nice Place to Visit, which first aired on 11th September, 1967 and subsequently in Monkees Marooned (season 2, episode 40), which aired 30th October, 1967. It’s the second of these episodes in which this Classic Clip video appears; although much of the video is shared across the two episodes, the ‘performance’ element in episode 33 is interspersed with staged scenes in context with the storyline of the episode. The Monkees TV series was very successful, and it’s interesting to ponder that, without it and the follow-ups of The Jackson 5ive and The Osmonds animated series in the early 1970s, we would perhaps not have had S Club 7.
The song appeared on the 4th album by The Monkees, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., released 14th November 1967 in the US (reaching #1 on the Billboard 200 chart) and a couple of months later in the UK (#5 on the UK Album Chart). Although the band were originally dubbed “The Prefab Four“, a somewhat derisory term comparing the assembled for a TV series band with The Beatles, by the time of this album release, The Monkees were playing on their albums (despite their terrible miming techniques on the video) along with some session musicians, writing some of their own material and having wrested a great deal of creative control. That said, only Michael Nesmith (electric guitar and lead vocals) and Peter Tork (credited by some sources as playing guitar) played instruments on the studio recording of What Am I Doing Hangin’ ‘Round?, with Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones contributing backing vocals. Other musicians are Doug Dillard (The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, The Dillards, Dillard and Clark), who plays banjo; ‘Fast’ Eddie Hoh (drums); and Chip Douglas, who contributes bass and backing vocals, as well as being the album’s producer. What Am I Doing Hangin’ ‘Round? was written by Michael Martin Murphey and Owen “Boomer” Castleman, although it was credited to “Lewis and Clarke” as the duo were at the time working as The Lewis & Clarke Expedition. The song started life as a folk song; however, Nesmith in particular wanted to pursue the country rock sound. You can see how Nesmith would take this forward into his post-Monkees career, particularly with The First National Band.
To my ears, the sound reminds me very much of bands such as The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and early Eagles, the country rock style, characterised by the banjo and jangly guitars. Although The Byrds debuted in 1965 with Mr Tambourine Man, it’s interesting to note that What Am I Doing Hangin’ ‘Round? predated The Flying Burrito Brothers and the Eagles, and influential albums such as The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo didn’t emerge until 1968, and Safe at Home by The International Submarine Band, although recorded during the second half of 1967, wasn’t released until March 1968.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that The Monkees were pioneers of Americana, nor indeed country rock; however, What Am I Doing Hangin’ ‘Round? and other output by the band around the late 1960s, principally the Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. albums, suggest that they were relatively early adopters of the sound. I also think it’s a great song.
