The Monkees - Mommy and Daddy [Original Lyrics] (1969)

In early 1969, Peter Tork left The Monkees. He claimed his reason was exhaustion, but with rising tensions amongst the group members and his absence from the band lasting until 1986, it was probably much more than that. Continuing on without Tork, the remaining group members, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Michael Nesmith, created their seventh album, Instant Replay. In October 1969, their eighth studio album, The Monkees Present, was released. This eighth album would prove to be Nesmith’s last, as he had been working on creating a country-rock band called the First National Band. With The Monkees down to just Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz, they headed to New York in 1970 to create their ninth, and last, studio album. Titled Changes, the album was released in June 1970 to public indifference. Shortly after, the two remaining members lost the rights to the band’s name and their last single was credited to a (misspelled) “Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones.” Although the band would reunite and record new albums in the years to come, this was the end of the initial incarnation of the band.

This song, written by Micky Dolenz, was considered far too edgy for 1969, let alone for the band’s innocuous appearance and reputation. The final version of the song, upon its initial release on the The Monkees Present album in 1969, had been stripped of numerous controversial verses which Dolenz had written. When the song was again released as the B-Side to the “Good Clean Fun” single, it was again only presented in its watered-down form. The particular version heard below is the demo recorded by Dolenz, Jones, and Nesmith, featuring all of the lyrics the author had initially written. Differences heard in this version that were missing on the album and single include references to the war in Vietnam, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, drug use, and sexual reproduction.



The Monkees - Mommy and Daddy [Original Lyrics] (1969)

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Lyrics:

Ask your mommy and daddy
“What happened to the Indian?”
Ask your mommy and daddy
To tell you where you really came from
Then mommy and daddy
Will probably quickly turn and walk away
Then ask your mommy and daddy
“Who really killed J.F.K.?”

Ask your mommy
If she really gets off on all her pills
Ask your daddy
“Why doesn't that soldier care who he kills?”
After they've put you to sleep
And tucked you safely down in your bed
Whisper, “Mommy and daddy”
“Would it matter if the bullet went through my head?”

“If it was my blood spilling on the kitchen floor?”
“If it was my blood, mommy, would you care a little more?”
Don't be surprised when they turn and start to cry

And tell your mommy and daddy
(Tell your mommy and daddy)
Scream it to your mommy and daddy
They're living in a lie, lie, lie
It's all a lie, it’s all a lie
Lie, lie, lie
It’s all- it’s all- it’s all
Lie, lie, lie
It’s all a lie
Lie, lie, lie
It’s all a lie, lie, lie
Lie, lie, lie…