CoDoDo: My Countdown to Micky Dolenz, part 1

I love the Monkees.  Always have, always will.  And Micky Dolenz is performing live this Saturday at the Marquee in Tempe.

I'm counting the days this week with some of my favorite Micky songs from the Monkees' extensive catalog.  I thought I'd start with a bang: "Sometime In The Morning."  

"Sometime In The Morning" is from the Monkees' second album, aptly titled More of the Monkees. It was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, a songwriting power couple that penned many amazing songs for the Monkees.  Thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can hear Carole's guiding vocal track for Micky here:

Of course, I grew up with Micky's rendition, so when I first heard Carole's, her vocals were a bit haunting.  At the time, I don't think this was meant for public consumption -- just in-studio, so Micky knew how to sing to the melody.  Now, the demo stands as a powerful example of great pop lyric writing, straight from the artist's lips.

The Monkees' songs often debuted in "romps" on their TV show -- a romp was a video montage of the guys messing around, usually in a sped-up cartoonish fashion, sometimes confronting the villain of that episode.  Those segments truly were the prototypical music video.  "Sometime In The Morning" played for two romps, though "romp" hardly describes this sweet sequence starring the beautiful Rose Marie.  By far one of my all-time favorite uses of a song in the Monkees' series:

"Sometime In The Morning" has become a staple for the Monkees' and Micky's solo concerts, and it took my breath away last year as the first half of a medley with their latest hit "Me & Magdalena."  If I were to pick an "ultimate" live version, though, I'd offer this, from the online reality show myRecordFantasy.  If the narrative is to be believed (and, ahem, I am a believer!) Micky didn't see this one coming.  You see him search for the "in" with the vocals at the beginning, starting quietly, then building to fill the cafe with that great last chorus.  I close the first installment of my countdown here, with the hopes that one day Micky will walk into the coffee shop where I'm drawing or whatever, to serenade.