Killer 1968 hit by the most underrated American songwriting duo of the 60s: Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart. Don’t believe me, want to dismiss me or laugh this away? See below...

Boyce and Hart wrote DARK songs. Maybe it was Tommy being bipolar (which contributed to his untimely suicide in 1994) that crept through into the songs. Maybe Bobby felt it was something unique they could infuse into their songs. It’s hard to say but when you step back and 1/

look at it, it’s something pretty fascinating.
- “Last Train To Clarksville” - which was based on the riff of “Paperback Writer” by The Beatles (and also borrows from “Run For Your Life” in the vocals) is about a draftee about to ship off who wants to see his gf one more time. 2/

Think about this when Mickey Dolenz sings the line “And I don’t know if I’m ever coming home”. Chilling.
- The lurching “She” is a song of immense self-doubt and hopelessness. And these lines always got me (marked by a significant key change): 2/

And now I know just why she
Keeps me hangin’ round
She needs someone to walk on
So her feet don’t touch the ground

The use of “hangin’ round” is so subversive when paired with “feet don’t touch the ground” especially when marked with the minor chord hit before the last line. 3/

It’s disturbing.
- “(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone” - which could easily have the genders reversed and still have the same impact - is a burst of non-violent rage and anger. This is perhaps why both the Sex Pistols and Minor Threat chose to cover it.

The narrator’s been 4/

played for a fool by a poseur (who seems to be doing better than him) and he knows it. But all he can do is get mad at himself for it...

You're tryin' to make your mark in society
You're usin' all the tricks that you used on me
You’re readin’ all them high fashion magazines 5/

The clothes you’re wearin’ girl they’re causin’ public scenes

He may be mad but in a way he admires her ruthlessness.

To be continued... 6/

Picking up where we left off:

Granted not everything Boyce & Hart wrote was dark [ie “Let’s Dance On”, “Apples Peaches Bananas & Pears”, “Where The Action Is (Theme)”, “Come A Little Bit Closer”], but there are a lot of reoccurring themes that, if one still wants to consider 7/

their writing bubblegum (which I don’t), it would be that piece of Black Jack you left in that jacket you put up for the spring, summer, and fall.

There’s loneliness (“P.O. Box 9847”, “Gonna Buy Me A Dog”), frustration (“I Wanna Be Free”, “I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind”, 8/

“Words”), love that is strong yet damaged or broken (“Valleri”, “Tear Drop City”, “Me Without You”, “This Just Doesn’t Seem To Be My Day”), and alienation [“(Theme From) The Monkees”, “Mr. Webster”, “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be Another Day”]. Again, when speaking of subversion in pop 9/

music, these themes - when injested by the unsuspecting young mind - may have left some listeners subconsciously unsettled. However, the sweet music they came wrapped in tended to soften the blow.

Two of the above mentioned songs in particular are, in hindsight, seemingly 10/

more than they appear to be on the surface:
1. “Tear Drop City”. Tossed aside by many as a sub-“Clarksville” retread (though it was written and recorded at the same time though not released until a few years later), on the surface this tune is a throwaway. But a closer look 11/

reveals the first half of “Tear Drop City” to be an astute and self-aware detailing of bipolarism:

About as low as I felt in a long time
And I know that I did a wrong at the wrong time
It's plain to see, she's down on me
And I know she'll feel that way for a long time

12/

I was high on top but I didn't know it
Tell me, why did I have to go and blow it?
I used my lines too many times
And now I've got a badly hurt heart to show it

...of course the narrator is not going to reveal to his now ex that he is mentally ill, so instead of seeking help 13/

he blames himself for screwing up yet again.

2. “Mr. Webster” An American Gothic tale that is much like an old movie we all saw as a rerun on TV home sick from school one day sone time ago. Everyone thinks they know this person and has him neatly compartmentalized within 14/

the social framework of Small Town America in the mid-1960s (itself a farce: everyone keep smiling while your sons are shipped off to a war in a country many could not find on a map). Despite the fact that Mr. Webster appears to be A Good Citizen - and no doubt he is - there 15/

is something angry and vengeful bubbling under that facade. For whatever reason, the lyrics make me feel that Mr. Webster feels completely alienated by the people who surround him and the place in which he exists (see also Mama Cass’ “One Way Ticket” written by Stephen J. 16/

Lawrence and - ironically though not related - Bruce Hart). It also doesn’t help that his boss has been screwing him over for years:

Ev'ryone in town knew Mr. Webster;
He worked at the bank for forty years.
And each week Mr. Frizby made his check out
For 68 dollars clear. 17/

And thru the years he thwarted twenty-seven robberies
And each time Frizby promised him a raise.

In the end, though, Mr. Webster gets his raise...and his freedom:

Then came the telegram from Mr. Webster

18/

Said, "Sorry...stop...Cannot attend..
I've flown away and taken all your money
Wish you were here to help me spend."

The last line of the song sounds like a Camus novel:

And one by one all the people left the party
And Mr. Frizby locked the door.

A crime has been committed 19/

but instead of talking about it or confronting how it may have happened, the people walk away without speaking and the door is literally shut on it.

Is “Mr. Webster” an indictment of Small Town America’s perceived response to the horrors of the Vietnam War? Or is it 20/

nothing more than a stark and lonely story that fit snugly on Headquarters, the Monkees’ third album and the first on which they played all the instruments.

Lou Christie immediately comes to mind as the only other songwriter this subversive from this period in music. 21/

One could possibly also make a case for Scott Walker or Lee Hazelwood though I do not consider the records they were making to be pop.

In summation, Boyce & Hart wrote some great pop songs that reveal themselves to have deep, dark undercurrents if you look close enough. 22/

Though Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart may never get their due, those who choose to really dig into what the pair were writing will find there’s much more going on than meets the ears.

Thoughts? Please comment!

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Bonus track: Boyce & Hart’s well produced very white and psychedelic cover of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” from 1969: