Head (1968)

“Coming… Soon…
Head… Head… Head…”

My, my, the clock in the sky is pounding away
There’s so much to say
A face, a voice, an overdub has no choice
An image cannot rejoice

Wanting to be
To hear and to see
Crying to the sky

But the porpoise is laughing, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

Clicks, clacks, riding the backs of giraffes for laughs
Is alright for a while
The ego sings of castles and kings and things
That go with a life of style

Wanting to feel
To know what is real
Living is a, is a lie

But the porpoise is waiting, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

Mike: Well?
Lady Pleasure: Are you kidding? Ha ha!
Mike: Hey, now wait a minute!

Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies

We hope you’ll like our story
Although there isn’t one
That is to say there’s many
That way there is more fun

You’ve told us you like action
And games of many kinds
You like to dance, we like to sing
So let’s all lose our minds

We know it doesn’t matter
’Cause what you came to see
Is what we’d love to give you
And give it one, two, three

But it may come three, two, one, two
Or jump from nine to five
And when you see the end in sight
The beginning may arrive

For those who look for meanings
And form as they do fact
We might tell you one thing
But we’d only take it back

Not back like in a box back
Not back like in a race
Not back so we can keep it
But back in time and space

You say we’re manufactured
To that we all agree
So make your choice, and we’ll rejoice
In never being free

Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
We’ve said it all before
The money’s in, we’re made of tin
We’re here to give you more
The money’s in, we’re made of tin
We’re here to give you

Girl: AHHH!
Crowd: We want The Monkees! We want The Monkees!…
Davy: Gimme a W!
Peter: Gimme an A!
Micky: Gimme an R!
Mike: What does it spell?

Circle sky
Telling lies
Here I stand
Happy man

’Cause it looks like we’ve made it once again
Yes, it looks like we’ve made it once again

Color sound
Is all around
Wing-tip smile
Sees for miles

And it looks like we’ve made it once again
Yes, it looks like we’ve made it once again

It’s a very extraordinary scene
To those who don’t understand
But what you have seen you must believe
If you can, if you can

Hamilton
Smiling down
Telling more
Than before

And it looks like we’ve made it once again
Yes, it looks like we’ve made it to the end

?: Quiet, isn’t it, George Michael Dolenz? I said…

Something doesn’t change
There is only one
Always changing inside
What does it become?

Can you dig it?
Do you know?
Would you care to let it show?

Those who know it use it
Those who scorn it die
To sing that you can dig it
Is to make your soul to fly to heaven

Can you dig it?
Do you know?
Would you care to let it show?

[break]

Can you dig it?
Do you know?
Would you care to let it show?

There is only feeling
In this world of life and death
I sing the praise of never change
With every single breath

Can you dig it?
Do you know?
Would you care to let it show?

Davy: And, uh, I’d like a glass of uh, cold gravy with a hair in it, please.
Lady Pleasure: Ha ha!

David Manners: Sounds like a lot of supernatural baloney to me.
Bela Lugosi: Supernatural, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not.

I can tell by your face
That you’re lookin’ to find a place
To settle your mind
And reveal who you are

And you shouldn’t be shy
For I’m not gonna try
To hurt you or heal you
Or steal your stars

Open your eyes
Get up off your chair
There’s so much to do in the sunlight
Give up your secrets
And let down your hair
And sit with me here by the firelight

Why think about
Who’s gonna win out?
We’ll make up our story
As we go along

There’s so little time
For us to try and rhyme
And so many highways
To travel upon

Open your eyes
Get up off your chair
There’s so much to do in the sunlight
Give up your secrets
And let down your hair
And sit with me here by the firelight

Bela Lugosi: Supernatural, perhaps…
Inspector Shrink: Change one tape; the entire process is re-geared. Leisure. The inevitable by-product of our civilization. Tragedy of your times, my young friends, is that you may get exactly what you want.
Officer Faye Lapid: Out.
Mike: Oh.
Officer Faye Lapid: C’mon, out, get outta here.
Micky: Hey, what’s going on?
Officer Faye Lapid: Oh now, move it! Out!
Peter: Oh, hello officer, certainly glad to—
Officer Faye Lapid: Shut up! Okay, weirdoes.
?: Alright fellas, will you come forward, please?
Micky: Who’s that?
?: Alright, now, jump up and down a little, huh, fellas? Get lost in it.
Micky: Jump into this? What is?
?: There you go, very good. Look, you’re supposed to be dandruff, fellas!
Davy: Dandruff?
?: Will you work at it, please? Jump up and down a little bit.
?: Dandruff, dandruff, dandruff, dandruff, dandruff.
?: Good, that’s better, that’s good.

Years ago, I knew a man
He was my mother’s biggest fan
We used to walk beside the sea
And he’d tell me how life would be
When I grew up to be a man

Years ago, we used to play
He used to laugh when I ran away
But when I fell and hurt my knee
He would run to comfort me
And the pain would go away

Years ago, I knew a boy
He was his daddy’s pride and joy
But when the daddy went away
It was such a rainy day
That he brought out all his toys

Now the mama did explain
Trying to take away the pain
But he just couldn’t understand
That his father was not a man
And it all was just a game

The years have passed and so have I
Making it hard for me to cry
And if and when I have a son
Let it all be said and done
Let the sadness pass him by

The Critic: Song was pretty white.
Mike: And I’ll tell you somethin’ else too. The same thing goes for Christmas!
[gasp]
[instrumental excerpt from “Circle Sky”]
Davy: He’s crazy!
[laughter]
[gun shot]
Lord High ’n’ Low: Boys, don’t never, but never, make fun of no cripples.
?: Somebody come up and giggle at you, that’s a violation of your civil rights.
?: Skunk bait. That’s what the world is full of. That’s what it’s based on. That’s what this economy is based on.
?: Are you telling me that you don’t see the connection between government and laughing at people?
Peter: Well, let me tell you one thing, son. Nobody ever lends money to a man with a sense of humor.
[evil laughter]
[heart beat]
[door creak]

Do I have to do this all over again?
Didn’t I do it right the first time?
Do I have to do this all over again?
How many times do I have to make this climb?
Didn’t I?
Didn’t I?

Can I see my way to know what’s really real?
They say time can fix things by itself
I know life’s more than just some kind of deal
Yeah, why won’t you tell me what all, when my soul comes off the shelf?
Didn’t I?
Didn’t I?
Oh, didn’t I?

[break]

Do I have to do this all over again?
Didn’t I do it right the first time?
Do I have to do this all over again?
Oh, how many times do I have to make this climb?
Didn’t I?
Oh, didn’t I?
Oh, didn’t I?
Didn’t I?
Oh, didn’t I?
Oh, didn’t I?
Oh, didn’t I?…

Swami: We were speaking of belief. Beliefs and conditioning. All belief possibly could be said to be the result of some conditioning. Thus, the study of history is simply the study of one system of beliefs deposing another. And so on, and so on, and so on. A psychologically tested belief of our time is that the central nervous system, which feeds its impulses directly to the brain—the conscious and subconscious—is unable to discern between the real and the vividly imagined experience. If there is a difference, and most of us believe there is. Am I being clear? For to examine these concepts requires tremendous energy and discipline. To experience the now without preconception of belief, to allow the unknown to occur and to occur requires clarity, for where there is clarity, there is no choice, and where there is choice, there is misery. But then why should anyone listen to me? Why should I speak? Since I know nothing! Heh heh heh!

[excerpt from “Porpoise Song”]

[instrumental]

Testy True: Quick, suck it before the venom reaches my heart!
Micky: Okay, I will.

Mike: Oh, you’re gonna start recording them now?
Peter: Why not?
Mike: We’ve got to do the first one together, right?
Micky: And the last.
Bob: Jack, you’re the chorus leader.
Mike: Ahhh!
Peter: Can you turn down the talkback volume?
Mike: Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees, you know we’d love to please…
Peter: For Bert so that he doesn’t pound us down.
Mike: …a manufactured image, with no philoso—
Mike, Peter: —phies.
Mike: Okay, shall we do that together?
Micky: Who does this first one?
Mike: We gotta do that together. You gotta go one, two, three, four…

All:
Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies

Mike:
We hope you like our story
Although there isn’t one
That is to say there’s many
That way there is more fun

Peter:
You’ve told us you like action
And games of many kinds
You like to dance, we like to sing
So let’s all lose our minds

Micky:
To mix it all together
Pictures, sounds, and songs
And time and place and weather
And even rights and wrongs

Davy:
We know it doesn’t matter
’Cause what you’ve come to see
Is what we’d love to give you
And give it one, two, three

Mike:
It may come three, two, one, two
Or jump from nine to five
And when you see an end in sight
The beginning may arrive

Peter:
For those who look for meanings
And form as they do fact
We might tell you one thing
But we would only take it back

Micky:
Not back like in a box back
Not back like in a race
Not back so we can keep it
But back in time and space

Micky: Ahhh!
Peter: He’s in there, he’s, he’s in there now!
Micky: Who?
Mike: He’s coming!
Davy: It’s, well, the thing that threw me was—
Micky: Uh buh, uh buh, uh guh gee…
Davy: —no man, wait a minute—
Micky: You’re supposed to be over here.
Davy: —I was really carried away—
Peter: The silence threw you!
Micky: He’s supposed to be over here.
Davy: —the thing that threw me—
Mike: You were carried away?
Davy: —was Micky’s reading!
Mike: I don’t want to know, man.
Davy: Man, that really threw me… blew my mind… your whole reading, man!
Jack: Wait a minute, who’s got the first one?
Micky: Bert…
Jack: “You’ll like our story”?
Bert: What?
Peter: Mike.
Jack: Mike, okay, you’re in position.
Davy: Oh, this is, this is all gem stuff, this is.
Mike: This is all what?
Micky: No, Peter, you’re next over.
Peter: Oh, you want me—we should go in order?
Micky: Yeah, Jack wants us in order.
Peter: I can’t stand here, this one’s the short mike.
Jack: Hey, now it’s the—
Peter: Wait uh, no no, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!
Jack: Don’t fuss around with the mike, you understand?
Peter: This last time it says, “Hey, hey we’re the”. Wouldn’t it, shouldn’t be “Hey, hey, we are the” again?
Jack: “Hey, hey we are…” Yeah, do it that way… “Hey, hey we are…”
Peter: Thank you.
Davy: Wait a minute, let’s not do it “Hey, hey we are”, let’s “Hey, hey! We are The Monkees”, like that.
Micky: Wait a minute—mine says here but I’m not standing over here!
Jack: Alright, he’s right, he’s not standing over there!
Micky: Now we got it, now.
Peter: We got it now, man. You can’t stand the—
Mike: Let me tell ’bout that, that Mick.
Micky: Okay, we got it now.
Jack: We got a man not standing over there, for sure.
Peter: —wait a minute, get it down, we got here.
Davy: Let’s do another one, okay?
Mike: Yeah, let’s—
Bert: Sure, go ahead!
Mike: —but we can do it tighter.
Jack: I’d rather that you do ’em back-to-back here, ’cause then is the way… one, two, three…

All:
Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies

Peter: “Hey, hey we are The Monkees”, right? “We’ve said it all before”. You want another one of those too, don’t you? Take the last one?
Jack: Take a slight break. “With no philosophies”, two, three, four, “Hey”…
Micky: Okay.
Mike: No, no, you gotta…
Peter: No philosophies…
Mike: That’ll never work, Jack. That’s a lame idea, I want you to know that.
Davy: Let’s take our own time.
Mike: That won’t work.
Jack: Alright, you guys do it your own way.
Micky: Let’s do it from the top and go through the whole thing.
Davy: Oh, shit, man…
Peter: Start from the top, go through the whole thing.
Mike: We’ve got the bottom, we’ve got the top. We’ll do it again.
Micky: One, two, three, four…
Micky, Peter: One, two, three.

All:
Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
You know we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies

Mike:
We hope you like our story
Although there isn’t one
That is to say there’s many
That way there is more fun

Peter:
You’ve told us you like action
And games of many kinds
You like to dance, we like to sing
So let’s all lose our minds

Micky:
To mix it all together
Pictures, sounds, and songs
And time and place and weather
And even rights and wrongs

Davy:
We know it doesn’t matter
’Cause what you’ve come to see
Is what we’d love to give you
And give it one, two, three

Mike:
But it may come three, two, one, two
Or jump from nine to five
And when you see an end in sight
The beginning may arrive

Peter:
For those who look for meanings
And form as they do fact
We might tell you one thing
But then we’d only take it back

Micky:
Not back like in a box back
Not back like in a race
Not back so we can keep it
But back in time and space

Davy:
You say we’re manufactured
To that we all agree
So make your choice, and we’ll rejoice
In never being free

All:
Hey, hey, we are The Monkees
We’ve said it all before
The money’s in, we’re made of tin
We’re here to give you more

Mike: Oh, that was good. I liked that.
Peter: I thought so too.
Jack: Now, let’s do one more that same way, except there’s a couple…
Mike: I don’t want to do any more. I’ll see you later.
Jack: There’s a couple of spots where you, you can get that, that, that doggerel kind of… di-di-di-di-di-di…
Peter: Oh, yeah—
Jack: …so that it’s almost as though…
Peter: —oh not so much, uh, romantic reading, okay.
Bert: Sillier.
Jack: …as though it’s one guy reading it. Like Gilbert and Sullivan.
Peter: Aren’t I being silly enough? “Although there isn’t one”.
Mike: Oh, I see. I thought there…
Jack: “…although there isn’t one. That is to say there’s many.”
Mike: I thought it was “there isn’t one”. But that’s not what you meant at all, was it?
Jack: No.
Mike: Boy, dumbass me!

Circle sky
Telling lies
Here I stand
Happy man

And it looks like we’ve made it once again
Yes, it looks like we’ve made it once again

Color sound
All around
Wing-tip smile
Sees for miles

And it looks like we’ve made it once again
Yes, it looks like we’ve made it once again

It’s a very extraordinary scene
To those who don’t understand
But what you have seen you must believe
If you can, if you can

Hamilton
Smiling down
Telling more
Than before

And it looks like we’ve made it once again
Yes, it looks like we’ve made it to the end

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday, dear Mike
Happy birthday to you

Something doesn’t change
There is only one
Always changing inside
What does it become?

Can you dig it?
Do you know?
Would you care to let it show?

Those who know it use it
Those who scorn it die
To sing that you can dig it
Is to make your soul to fly to heaven

Can you dig it?
Mm, do you know?
Would you care to let it show?

[break]

There is only feeling
In this world of life and death
I sing the praise of never change
With every single breath

Can you dig it?
Do you know?
Would you care to let it show?

See “Daddy’s Song”

“Coming soon… Head…
Coming soon… Head…
Coming soon… Head…”

“Now… playing…
Head… Head…”