Born Today In Music

September 29th

1939 - Tommy Boyce
Tommy Boyce, singer, songwriter. 1968 US No 8 single with Bobby Hart, 'I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite'. Wrote 'Last Train To Clarksville', 'I'm Not Your Stepping Stone' and 'Scooby-Doo Where Are You.' Sold over 40m records. Boyce committed suicide on 23rd November 1994.

Born Today In Music

February 18th

1939 - Bobby Hart
American singer, songwriter Bobby Hart, who had the 1968 US No 8 single with Tommy Boyce, 'I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite'. He also wrote 'Last Train To Clarksville', and 'I'm Not Your Stepping Stone' covered by The Monkees.

Boyce and Hart

Sidney Thomas "Tommy" Boyce (September 29, 1939 – November 23, 1994) and Bobby Hart (born Robert Luke Harshman; February 18, 1939) were a prolific songwriting duo, best known for the songs they wrote for The Monkees.

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Early years

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Boyce met Hart in 1959, and the following year played guitar on Hart's single "Girl in the Window", which flopped, but marked the first time he used the name Bobby Hart, since his manager shortened it to fit the label.

Their partnership made a breakthrough with a song recorded by Chubby Checker, "Lazy Elsie Molly", in 1964. They went on to write hits for Jay & the Americans ( "Come a Little Bit Closer" ), Paul Revere and the Raiders ( " (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" ) and The Leaves ( "Words" ). The latter two songs provided the Monkees with hit B-sides in 1967. The duo also wrote the theme song of the daytime soap Days of Our Lives. At one point in this period, Hart also co-wrote "Hurt So Bad" for Little Anthony & the Imperials with Teddy Randazzo and his regular songwriting partner, Bobby Weinstein.

The Monkees

In late 1965, they wrote, produced and performed the soundtrack of the pilot for The Monkees, including singing lead vocals (which were later replaced, once the show was cast). In 1966, despite some conflicts with Don Kirshner, who was the show's musical supervisor, they were retained in essentially the same role. It was Boyce and Hart who wrote, produced and recorded, accompanied by their backing band, the Candy Store Prophets, backing tracks for a large portion of the first season of The Monkees, and the band's accompanying debut album.

The Monkees themselves re-recorded their vocals over Boyce and Hart's when it came time to release the songs, including both " (Theme from) The Monkees" and "Last Train to Clarksville", the latter being a huge hit. Kirshner suddenly relieved Boyce and Hart as producers, by claiming they were using studio time booked for Monkees songs to record tracks for their own solo project. .... Every original Monkees album (except for the Head soundtrack) included Boyce and Hart songs.

Other successes

While working with The Monkees, Boyce and Hart embarked on a successful career as recording artists in their own right, releasing three albums on A&M Records: Test Patterns, I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight, and It's All Happening on the Inside (released in Canada as Which One's Boyce and Which One's Hart?). The duo also had five charting singles; the most well-known of these was "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight", which reached #8 in early 1968. .... Boyce and Hart also did promos for the U.S. Army Reserve and Coca Cola. This included the creation of two Coca-Cola commercial jingles, one being a powerful psychedelic song, "Wake Up Girl", while the other was their single "Smilin'" with totally different lyrics.

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Later years

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After a stint living in the UK, Boyce returned to live in Memphis, Tennessee, where he taught songwriting on Beale Street, and Nashville, Tennessee, and later suffered a brain aneurysm. On November 23, 1994, Boyce committed suicide by gunshot.

According to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Boyce and Hart wrote more than 300 songs, and sold more than 42 million records as a partnership.

Discography

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Singles

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Singles notes:

"L.U.V. (Let Us Vote)" was the official campaign song for the Let Us Vote movement to lower the voting age to 18.

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"COME A LITTLE BIT CLOSER" JAY BLACK and the Americans ~ 1964
300,010 views • Mar 12, 2013

ClassicPerformances2
162K subscribers

Till this day Jay Black's vocal range continues to amaze! The tenor, who's hit songs from the sixties continue to shine today can still sing those songs on the original key as he did some 45 years ago!
VISIT OUR BLOG SITE for articles and commentary on great Music and Audiophile Sound: The Sound Advocate https://www.thesoundadvocate.com

Jay & The Americans - Come A Little Bit Closer
1,483,340 views • Feb 24, 2007

JohnnyVangelis
736 subscribers

A Great song, by a bunch of guys having some fun. Isn't this what music is all about???

Paul Revere & The Raiders - Steppin' Stone
1,705 views Jan 25, 2020

brucster99b
973 subscribers

Killer song and band. The Raiders miming on U.S. T.V. from 1966. This is already on YouTube, but this clip is better quality, and in the correct aspect ratio.

The Monkees - Last Train To Clarksville (Rare "Clarksville" Footage)
10,801 views Jun 6, 2016

The Monkees Archives
22.7K subscribers

Written by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart. The one that started it all! According to Peter Tork, the song's original title was "Last Train To Home, Girl"! (Imagine that?)
Besides the usual series video, I wanted to incorporate footage of "Last Tran To Clarksville Day" (promoted by Radio's KHJ 12/9/66 in "Clarksville" ( Del Mar Renamed for the day) From noon till 7:30pm. The Monkees landed on the beach in a helicopter and ride with the contest winners from Del Mar to L.A.on the train. This was supposedly filmed for an episode! (Come on blu ray set!!) They perform 2 songs on the train, "Papa Gene's Blues" and "She's So Far Out She's In". arrive at LA where they perform "Clarksville" on a platform ( am pretty sure!).
KHJ had a local music TV show called Boss City" (after their "Boss" DJ's!) which aired the color footage on 9/17/66! "The Monkees" aired it's 2nd pilot episode, "Royal Flush" the day after "Clarksville Day" September 12th, 1966 at 7:30pm Eastern, in color! (No footage from "The Complete Monkees" Blu Ray set was used. at time video was made, I had not received it.

I am not attempting to misuse any copyright. This video and it's audio have been uploaded for entertainment purposes only! Both are absolutely in accordance with "fair use" standards (Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright act).

To purchase The Monkees music, visit Amazon or monkees.com

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart - I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight
329,716 views Sep 19, 2011

John1948TwelveC
11.9K subscribers

Boyce & Hart, the songwriting and performing team of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, are most famous for writing several of the Monkees' big hits, including "Last Train to Clarksville," "Valleri," and " (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone. " Together and separately, they also wrote or contributed to hits by several other acts in the 1960s, including Freddy Cannon, Curtis Lee, Little Anthony & the Imperials, and Jay & the Americans.

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