I miss this man dearly. Anyone who reads this owes it to themselves to explore the vast library of John's music. He was so much more than a Daydream Believer. RIP Mr. Stewart.
I remember going to the Boarding House in San Francisco.. Enjoying his music.. First the Kingston Trio then his solo career.. I even recall enjoying one of his concerts at the Boarding House in San Francisco with Buffy Ford… God Bless you John …
Always went to John’s concerts in San Francisco.. Back in the day.. At the Boarding house … I can remember the first time I heard Daydream believer.. Loved it.. still do.. My daughter to this day is a … Daydream Believer…
I had the privilege of meeting John Stewart at one of his shows in Georgetown in the early 70s and had the opportunity to spend an hour with him where we discussed each of our lives and his songwriting following the show. Just one of those moments in time that you never forget and that make you ponder why you were so lucky to cross paths.
I am so glad I came to learn of the genius of John Stewart. I was in the third grad when "Daydream Believer" as sung by Davy Jones/The Monkees came out. Oh, how I love that song, and how I loved The Monkees!!! 'Great story. What memories!!!
John was a friend of mine; he influenced my group, The Frontiersmen, and we always met up with him be it with TKT or solo tour with David Batti thru the many years.
Thank you Mr Stewart. Since I first heard it as a boy Daydream has been one of my favourite songs ever. I'll pass from this life happy that I was fortunate enough to hear it!
Such a beautiful song to play and sing and listen to! The lyrics and music makes me nostalgic for the 60s in a way not many others do and I'm 14. It's amazing how playing an instrument connects you to the music even more and differently then listening to it . it's such a unique and wonderful feeling. I'd recommend it to anyone to learn an instrument and thanks for writing that song.
John was a great singer/songwriter whom I saw perform in LA, Nashville and Phoenix. I still listen to his music and I consider " California Bloodline " to be one of the best albums of all time. We miss you, John RIP
Yes. And by the way, congratulations on being one of the few people who use the word ‘whom’ correctly, and also on using a comma correctly in the last line of your post.
It takes immense creativity to write a song that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet. John Stewart is among the very few that accomplished that feat.
My husband gifted my teen daughter & I w/ tickets to the 2013 Monkees tour. With Davy gone, who? we wondered was going to sing lead on "Daydream Believer." Mickey announced none of them could possibly replace Davy, so an audience member was invited up to, along w/ the fans, be the lead. All stood up & joined in; the loving energy in that room was amazing. THANK YOU, John Stewart, for ALL of your musical work, especially this classic. Interesting story; posting appreciated. Best Wishes, Peace.
@@deadpan80 - I Agree. Amazing staying power demonstrated. As you know, their TV & recording debut was over 50 years ago, and we're still talking about them. Best Wishes & Peace to you.
In Japan it's the signature tune of Seven/Eleven convenience stores. Everybody instantly recognizes it. Brilliantly catchy, and so well done by the Ms!
I actually saw him live in a little pub in Scotland many years ago. I went along because I am a Monkees fan. His version is quite different and just as good.
I was 15 , I was in love with Valerie , we all were in a deluge of music in the 60s. Daydream Believer is still a favorite that I will never pass up a chance to sing along
You know, The Monkeys also had a hit with a song called "Valerie" - is it that song or a girl you were in love with ? The song "Valerie" got stuck in my brain from the first time I heard it.
The success comes from the happy intro piano riff at the very beginning, those notes are unbelievably special, can warm up your day. Then, the whole composition is amazing.
Peter Tork of the Monkees arranged and played the piano part. On stage in ‘68 Peter couldn’t be on bass and piano at the same time and decided to stick with the bass, still uptempo but with a definite nod to Stewart original
I think that's really powerful when he said, "you don't know a hit until it becomes a hit". I wonder what other great songs exist out there that were never realized because no one ever took a chance on it? It really makes you wonder. Pretty incredible reading the bands that turned this down.
We were fortunate enough to see him perform several times and always loved his songwriting and stories during his shows. Unite a career from the Kingston Trio to Daydream Believer. RIP.
My cousins used to take me to his concerts in LA/Malibu when I was 8-12 years old (at local clubs). I would always request this song and he would kindly play it, since was a kid, I presume. I didn't request it when I saw him as an adult but his kindness (and his talent) always made me smile.
Glad to hear they didn't screw him out of his songwriting royalties, which happened to so many back then. Norman Petty changed one or two words on Buddy Holly's songs, and took 1/3 the songwriting credits. And still didn't pay him.
Because Davey Jones sang it. It is a wonderful song but it needed needed the Wonderfull voice and attitude of Davey Jones to complete it. Thanks for that song. I love that song.
John Stewart really got notice when joined Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane as a member of the storied “Kingston Trio”. I’ve know him best from there when he replaced Dave Guard. I believe Johns brother Michael, was a member of the “We Five” , another well known 60s group. Thank you for everything, John.
I love the "happy" lyric to be honest; I take it as sarcasm, and I think it works so well that way! I feel like it captures the undertones of regret in the song without disrupting happy-go-lucky surface. But I see how "funky" really fit the idea of disappointing a woman by bucking society's norms at the time. John Stewart wrote a great song. To me, there's something timeless in the meaning.
The Monkees deserve alot of credit. It's Peter Tork playing the piano intro. They took a good song and made it great. Anne Murray also had a hit with it. But The Monkees hit the grand slam!
Great story, great songwriter and an inspiration to all songwriters. However, unfortunately today in 2021 the world has changed and you can't write Number One Worldwide Hits anymore in the same way, because the whole market is different. Digital has killed the entire hit song industry. What a tragedy and what a loss.
The piano on this song does the groundwork for the song to be a classic. I thought it was Davy when I was younger who played that due to the vid but realised later it was Peter Tork.
One amazing aspect of this story, if you listen carefully, is that the producer who transformed this rejected song into a hit had originally auditioned for Dave's part in the Monkees himself. Chip Douglas: meta-monkee, believer in Believer.
They wouldn't let Davie sing "funky." Why was that a bad word? I have a story kiddies. Gather round. When I was in 5th grade I was EXCORIATED by my teacher for titling a group project inappropriately. It was a booklet of poems, drawings and such. As the group leader of this 5 or 6 kid project, I proudly turned it in with the beautifully drawn drawn airplane on the Front cover by me - a twin tailed Beechcraft model 18. Cool plane, by the way. The title in 1975 was "FAR OUT AND FUNKY". This seemed pretty cool to me. I was into music and knew that the word funky meant unusual, cool, groovy. I think I even heard Morgan Freeman use the term on the kid's show The Electric Company in the 1970's. When she called me up to her desk, she was completely astonished and shocked that I would use such a word left me completely flummoxed and stammering. Then it hit me. I do know some nasty words. "Oh she is misreading it and thinks it says FUxxy." I tried to say, "oh it's not THAT word, it's FUNKY, you know like groovy man." She blustered out all red faced trying to shut me down mid-sentence getting extremely agitated and elevating her complete astonishment that I would say THAT WORD again, "I KNOW WHAT THE WORD IS!!" Innocent as a lamb, I stopped talking and returned to my seat very confused with her admonition to change the tile on the project, which I still have by the way. The title then became "FAR OUT AND FUNNY". For literally decades I could never figure out why she was so upset. I never knew it to be a swear word or curse word or anything other than a musical term/pop-culture term as a modern 1970's alternative to GROOVY or COOL or something like that. You know, funk music. Black music. Soul music. This mystified me for decades as I said. Then, years later and into my 50's while remembering this shocked reaction from my teacher, I decided to look into it with the help of the internet. I actually discovered that the word indeed did have a baser use. The word has been know to describe smell or specifically the smell of the sex act. Who knew? This surprised me now. I never knew this, certainly not at 11 years old. Makes me wonder what my grey haired old teacher in 1975 and the wife of a Lutheran pastor, was into. Perhaps we should not discuss such things.
“You don’t know it is a hit until it is a hit” 100% True, and today most people would say, “How could you have NOT known that Daydream Believer was a hit ?” I was once in the position of being able to watch major motion pictures before they were released to the public and way too often I was 100% wrong in my prediction of the film’s success. I wasn't alone.
A funny and very talented man! "Gold", was and is pure gold. I had to laugh out loud when he said, "Happy's working real good for me right now." Money talks. Bullshit walks. LOL!!
spanky and our gang passed on it well i only recently discovered them in 2012. spanky already have some incredible songs that didn't make it big in the united kingdom . thanks to WABCRADIO77 and another youtuber who put them in a mix else i'd never have discovered them.
Good lyrics melody and arrangements and you got yourself a hit example three dog night songs all cover versions now go out listen to the original copies by those artists/groups any song can be a hit its how you present it though audience can be fickle
I reckon the arrangement had a lot to do with what made it a hit. That opening piano riff is one of the catchiest intros in pop. Nobody’s going to hear that riff and change the radio station.
