Althouse: This was going to be a comment on that post — one step down — about "Valerie," but it took on a life of its own.

November 8, 2014

This was going to be a comment on that post — one step down — about "Valerie," but it took on a life of its own.

Don't forget the old Monkees song, spelled a little differently: "Valleri."

According to Wikipedia, it was written because Don Kirshner thought the Monkees needed a "girl's name" song: "[Tommy] Boyce and [Bobby]Hart improvised 'Valleri' on their way to Kirshner's office, after pretending over the telephone that the song was already finished."

Lyrics here: "Valleri, I love my Valleri/There's a girl I know who makes me feel so good/And I wouldn't live without her, even if I could/They call her 'Valleri', I love my Valleri/Oh yeah, come on..."

Oh, yeah, come on, we're almost at Kirshner's! We need one more verse!

"She's the same little girl who used to hang around my door/But she sure looks different than the way she looked before...."

Oh, no! They went with the old too-young-girl-might-finally-be-old-enough theme. What do you expect two 29-year-old men under time pressure to write a girl's name song for a group of pseudo-teenage boys to sing about a teenage girl?

23 comments:

Ann Althouse said...: I'm sure somewhere in the archive there's another post about girl's name songs, but I just can't find it.; 11/8/14, 9:27 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Don't forget about Wagner's 'Ride of the Valeries'.; 11/8/14, 9:29 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: "They went with the old too-young-girl-might-finally-be-old-enough theme. "

Not always men. Lena Dunham was guilty of this with her sister.; 11/8/14, 9:32 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: And damn if they didn't do a pretty good bubble gum job. In a car no less. Under Kirshner pressure. In traffic. It sure beats "Yummy, yummy, yummy I got love in my tummy". Not that the Ohio Express is anybody's idea of a high bar...; 11/8/14, 9:35 AM
Ann Althouse said...: If you watch the video at the first link, you'll see some funny pop-up commentary that's been added. The advice to Davy about the tambourine cracked me up.; 11/8/14, 9:50 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: @Althouse - They're not even plugged in. But they are playing to an ersatz track of Valleri that somebody recorded though not the track released as the single. Several queries - Is that Nesmith playing the electric 12 string in the close ups? It appears to be but the way they cut back and forth between the close up and the pulled back shots leads to doubt. By following his fretting in the pulled back shot there could be an argument that it is him in the close ups. He is playing the right lick in the right place on the fretboard in the proper time signature - and he is certainly focused on what he's doing. Not the easiest of licks. But what's real with the mMonkees and what's not? That was the question at the time and it still lingers today. Peter Tork is making the right chord changes in the proper place on the fret board but doesn't seem to quite be in time with the released single that they are lip synching to. And the tambourine comments are funny which is actually the give away. I'm guessing that Boyce and Hart cut a demo track with the Wrecking Crew in an LA studio and that was used as the back up for the Monkees to record the "unplugged" lip synched video. Then at a later date the actual single was recorded, produced, mixed, mastered and released. Which leads to a whole 'nother set of questions...; 11/8/14, 10:27 AM
Ann Althouse said...: From the linked Wikipedia article:

"The original recording (with instrumental backing by the Candy Store Prophets, plus session musician Louie Shelton contributing a flamencoesque guitar solo) was featured in the show's first season in 1967; a staged performance showed Michael Nesmith copying Shelton's guitar licks, and singer Davy Jones appearing to physically outgrow his bandmates, through forced perspective and camera trick shots."; 11/8/14, 10:30 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: Addendum - I'm only now reading the comments under the video at the link.; 11/8/14, 10:38 AM
Heartless Aztec said...: Went to Wikipedia - Yup two different released recordings.; 11/8/14, 10:43 AM
Anonymous said...: The Monkees are hot for Valleri because she sure looks different than the way she looked before... yet Steve Winwood expects Valerie to come back to him because he's the same boy he used to be. Go figure.; 11/8/14, 10:52 AM
Greg said...: Cliff Eberhardt's "Valerie" beats the Monkee's by miles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nO1MiwFRsM0; 11/8/14, 11:32 AM
Fernandinande said...: Don't forget the old Monkees song, spelled a little differently: "Valleri."

I can't forget that because I'd never heard of it. Maybe now I can forget it.

Everyone else should not forget "Valerie" on Zappa's "Burnt Weeny Sandwich".; 11/8/14, 12:56 PM
Popville said...: The Candy Store Prophets were Boyce & Hart's band & not the Wrecking Crew. Lineup: Boyce and Gerry McGee on guitar, Hart on keyboards, Larry Taylor on bass guitar and Billy Lewis on drums.; 11/8/14, 2:05 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: @Popville - I was just guessing off the top of my head in a rhetorical kinda' way when I said Wrecking Crew.; 11/8/14, 2:10 PM
Popville said...: @surfed - The Wrecking Crew was the instrumental backing for alot of the Monkees recordings. It's pretty obvious which ones as the quality rises sharply! :)

Btw, for any Wrecking Crew fans here, the documentary on these legendary musicians has finally gained proper distribution via Magnolia Pictures. I highly recommend it & am very much looking forward to finally seeing & hearing it on a big screen with a excellent sound system. It was directed by guitarist Tommy Tedesco's son Danny, thus has a very personal feel. Carol Kaye (who's never shy about correcting the history of her work, god bless her) had some valid objections to the film, but overall an excellent document.; 11/8/14, 2:45 PM
WhoKnew said...: Personally, I think Richard Thompson's Valerie is the best:
"Well I'm soft in the head, I give her hard cash
She spends all my money on junk and trash
Nylon fur, plastic shoes
And fifty-seven things she's never going to use
Never, never, never going to use
Oh Valerie! Oh Valerie! Oh Valerie!"; 11/8/14, 2:56 PM
ganderson said...: Hey Valerie, Baby what's the matter with you?
I try to do all the things that you want me to do
I went downtown with my pocket knife
Cut your other man, but I spared his life
Valerie won't you be good to me?; 11/8/14, 3:18 PM
David said...: Valleri, Vallera, Valleri, Valler-ah-ha-ha-ha-ha.

I may a-go a-wandering.; 11/8/14, 3:40 PM
Wilbur said...: The smokin'est girl in our 1972 HS class was named Valerie. Cheerleader, National Honor Society, and a very nice person, to boot.

Truly the stuff of adolescent dreams.

This song will always instantly bring her to mind. Thanks for the memory, Ann.

It was a good time to turn 18. The draft ended, the voting age and drinking age were lowered to 18, all in the same year.; 11/8/14, 4:24 PM
jr565 said...: WhoKnew wrote;
Personally, I think Richard Thompson's Valerie is the best:
"Well I'm soft in the head, I give her hard cash
She spends all my money on junk and trash
Nylon fur, plastic shoes
And fifty-seven things she's never going to use
Never, never, never going to use
Oh Valerie! Oh Valerie! Oh Valerie!"

Marshall Crenshaw did a great version of that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxirrFKl3YQ; 11/8/14, 6:06 PM
jr565 said...: A lot of songs written around a Valerie. I wonder which girls name inspired the most pop songs.; 11/8/14, 6:07 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: "A lot of songs written around a Valerie. I wonder which girls name inspired the most pop songs."

This Seventies chick named 'Baby'.; 11/8/14, 8:55 PM
Skeptical Voter said...: Ah shucks an early and enthusiastic girlfriend of mine was named Valerie--not exactly Anita Ekberg material but close enough for a fumbling young 17 year old boy when I met her.

A nice girl but in her own way dumber 'n a post. What can you say about a girl who goes two years to a community college, makes one "D" and can't make one "B" to get her grades up enough to graduate with an A.A. degree? True story--I was a snotty little intellectual brat headed to school--and I concluded she was too dumb to be a lawyer's wife so the romance, such as it was, ended.

On the other hand some 50 odd year down the road I can conclude that she was dumb enough to be a life long Democrat (last I heard of her some 40 years or more ago she was a secretary in a small town in the Northwest).; 11/9/14, 4:45 PM