49 Years Ago: The Monkees Mock Suburban Life With Chart-Topping “Pleasant Valley Sunday”

Rainbow Room Sessions, 1967

1967 was a great year for The Monkees: their hit television show was wildly successful, they were outselling both The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, and finally – and most importantly – they won the freedom to write, record, and play their own original content, a crucial move that would gain them the respect they deserved as musicians. As part of their first ever run as a full fledged band, The Monkees recorded ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday,’ a song written by critically acclaimed songwriting duo Carole King and Gerry Goffin that would quickly become one of the band’s most successful singles and for one of the first times ever, featured all 4 Monkees either playing instruments or singing.

Fun Fact: Written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ is social commentary on the phenomenon of “Keeping up with the Joneses”.

One of our absolute favorite parts of ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ is the awesome little guitar riff played by lead guitarist and unsung hero Mike Nesmith – it’s an interlocking bass and guitar riff based on The Beatles’ ‘I Want To Tell You’ that holds the song together nicely, leaving room for Peter Tork and Davy Jones to contribute some really jazzy keyboard and piano parts. We also can’t forget the legendary Micky Dolenz doing what he does best: pulling lead vocal duties for what’s probably one of his most memorable vocal performances with The Monkees.

+ Pleasant Valley Sunday lyrics +

Your local rock group down the street
Is trying hard to learn this song
To serenade the weekend squire
Just came out to mow his lawn

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Charcoal burnin’ everywhere
Rows of houses that are all the same
And no one seems to care

See Mrs. Gray she’s proud today
Because her roses are in bloom
And Mr. Green he’s so serene
He’s got a TV in every room

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Here in status symbol land
Mothers complain about how hard life is
And the kids just don’t understand

Creature comfort goals they only numb my soul
And make it hard for me to see
My thoughts all seem to stray to places far away
I need a change of scenery

Ta ta ta

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Charcoal burning everywhere
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Here in status symbol land
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday