Biography
Born in Houston, Texas, Nesmith was an only child, and his parents, Warren Audrey Nesmith and Bette Nesmith Graham, separated when he was very young. With his father gone, Nesmith's mother worked as a secretary. Their fortunes changed when Bette invented typewriter correction fluid, later known commercially as Liquid Paper.
Nesmith was an indifferent student, and in his teen years an occasional prankster. An urban legend says a prank with a firecracker went wrong, leaving Nesmith with a hand injury, and that a doctor suggested he learn to play guitar to recover his dexterity (the incident never actually happened). An early accident with a hammer smashed the ring finger on Nesmith's right hand, and he did not learn to play guitar until his twenties. He did, however, participate in choral and drama activities during his years at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas. He also began to write verse poetry.
In 1962, Nesmith's mother married Robert Graham, triggering a rebellious phase for Nesmith. He took the family car without permission and drove to California. Upon his return, he discovered that his mother had enlisted him in the U.S. Air Force. Nesmith was stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas and he later claimed that he had been discharged after he tipped over a general's airplane while washing it.
After leaving the Air Force, Nesmith obtained a G.E.D. and then moved in with an uncle, Chick Adair. Nesmith enrolled in San Antonio College, where he met John Kuehne (later to be known as John London) and began a musical collaboration. He also met 16-year-old Phyllis Ann Barbour, whom he later married.
During this time John Kuehne decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career, and Nesmith decided to follow him. Nesmith and Barbour moved back and forth from Texas. Nesmith landed a role in the Monkees pilot, which was filmed in October 1965. In October 1967, the episode "Monkees in Texas" was filmed, in which a brief cameo appearance was given to Nurit Wilde, a socialite and former mistress of John Phillips (of The Mamas & the Papas), and close friend of Peter Tork.
In late 1967, Barbour was pregnant with the Nesmiths' second child when she suffered a head injury in a car accident. Because they were practicing Christian Scientists, they decided to just rest instead of seeking medical treatment. Their second son, Jonathan, was born in February 1968.
Nesmith was divorced and remarried to Kathryn Bild from 1976 to 1988. In 2000, he married Victoria Kennedy.
Early work
After a tour of duty in the Air Force, Nesmith won a singing spot with a band by knowing a number of Chuck Berry's songs. He bought a guitar with his parents' help, learning as he went, and joined a series of working bands, performing folk, country, and occasionally rock and roll. His verse poems became the basis for song lyrics, and after moving to Los Angeles with Phyllis and friend John London, he published a number of his own songs. Nesmith's "Mary, Mary" was recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, while "Different Drum" was recorded by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. "Pretty Little Princess", written in 1965, was recorded by Frankie Laine and released as a single in 1968 on ABC Records. Later, "Some of Shelly's Blues" and "Propinquity" were made popular by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1970 album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy.
Nesmith began his recording career in 1965 with a one-off single released on Edan Records. He followed with two singles recorded under the name "Michael Blessing", released on Colpix Records—coincidentally also the label of Davy Jones, though they had not met.
The Monkees
From 1965 to early 1970, Nesmith and Jones were members of the pop rock band The Monkees, created for the television situation comedy of the same name. The only Monkee to learn of the audition from the famous press advertisement asking for "four insane boys", Nesmith won his role largely by appearing blasé when he auditioned. He further distinguished himself by carrying a bag of laundry to be done on the way home, and wearing a wool cap to keep his hair out of his eyes, riding his motorcycle to the audition. Producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered "Wool Hat", and called Nesmith back.
Once he was cast, Screen Gems bought his songs so they could be used in the show. Many of the songs Nesmith wrote for The Monkees, such as "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", "Mary, Mary", and "Listen to the Band" became minor hits. One song he wrote, "You Just May Be The One," is in mixed meter, interspersing 5/4 bars into an otherwise 4/4 structure.
The Gretsch guitar company built a one-off natural finish 12-string electric guitar for Nesmith when he was performing with The Monkees (Gretsch had a promotional deal with the group). He earlier played a customized Gretsch twelve-string, which had originally been a six-string model.
As with the other Monkees, Nesmith came to be frustrated by the manufactured image of the whole project. He was permitted to write and produce two songs per album, and his music was frequently featured in episodes of the series.
The Monkees succeeded in ousting supervisor Don Kirshner (with Nesmith punching a hole in a wall, to make a point with Kirshner and attorney Herb Moelis), and took control of their records and song choices, but they worked as a four-man group on only one album. The band never overcame the credibility problems they faced when word spread that they had not played on their first records (at Nesmith's instigation, calling the band's first non-studio press conference, where he called More of The Monkees "probably the worst record in the history of the world"). However, their singles and albums continued to sell well, until the disastrous release of Head.
Nesmith's last Monkees commitment was a Kool-Aid commercial, in April 1970. With the band's fortunes continuing to fall, Nesmith asked to be released from his contract, and had to pay a default: "I had three years left...at $150,000 a year," which he had to pay back. He continued to feel the financial bite for years afterwards, telling Playboy in 1980 "I had to start telling little tales to the tax man while they were putting tags on the furniture."[citation needed]. Indeed, while Nesmith had continued to produce his compositions with the Monkees, he withheld many of the songs from the final Monkees' albums, only to release them on his post-Monkees solo records.
Later career
As he prepared for his exit from The Monkees, Nesmith was approached by John Ware of The Corvettes, a band that featured Nesmith's friend John London (who played on some of the earliest pre-Monkees Nesmith 45s as well as numerous Monkees sessions) and had 45s produced by Nesmith for the Dot label in 1969. Ware wanted Nesmith to put together a band. Nesmith said he would be interested only if noted pedal steel player Orville "Red" Rhodes would be a part of the project, and a long musical partnership was born that would continue until Rhodes' untimely death in 1995. The new band was christened Michael Nesmith & The First National Band and went on to record a trilogy of albums for RCA Records in 1970.
Nesmith has been considered one of the pioneers of country-rock (along with Gram Parsons) and had moderate commercial success with the First National Band. Their second single, "Joanne," hit #21 on the Billboard chart & #17 on Cashbox, with the follow-up "Silver Moon" making #42 Billboard/#28 Cashbox. Two more singles charted ("Nevada Fighter" #70 Billboard/#73 Cashbox & "Propinquity" #95 Cashbox) and the first two LP's charted in the lower regions of the Billboard album chart. No clear answer has ever been given for the band's breakup, the albums they recorded remain on par with the Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco and New Riders of the Purple Sage as some of the best country-rock music.
Nesmith followed up with the Second National Band, a band that besides Nesmith, consisted of Michael Cohen (keyboards and Moog), Johnny Meeks (bass), Jack Panelli (drums) and the always present Orville Rhodes (pedal steel), as well as an appearance by singer, musician, and songwriter Jose Feliciano (conga drums). The album, [album artist=Michael Nesmith & The Second National BandTantamount to Treason, Volume One[/album], was a commercial and critical disaster. Nesmith then decided to cut one of the best albums of his career, featuring only him on guitar and Red Rhodes on pedal steel, And the Hits Just Keep On Comin'.
Nesmith got more heavily involved in producing, and was given a label of his own through Elektra Records, Countryside. It featured a number of artists that were produced by Nesmith, including Garland Frady and Red Rhodes. The staff band at Countryside also helped Nesmith on his next, and last, RCA album, Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash.
In the mid-1970s Nesmith briefly collaborated as a songwriter with Linda Hargrove, resulting in the tune "I've Never Loved Anyone More," a hit for Lynn Anderson and recorded by many others, as well as the songs "Winonah" and "If You Will Walk With Me" which were both recorded by Hargrove. Of all three songs, only "Winonah" was recorded by Nesmith himself. During this same period, Nesmith started his multimedia company Pacific Arts, which initially put out audio records, 8-tracks and cassettes, followed in 1981 with "video records." Nesmith recorded a number of LPs for his label, and had a moderate worldwide hit in 1977 with his song "Rio", the single taken from the album From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing. More importantly, Nesmith created a video clip for "Rio" which, in a roundabout way, helped spur Nesmith's creation of a television program called Pop Clips for the Nickelodeon cable network. The concept was sold to Time Warner/Amex, who developed it into the MTV network. His single "Cruisin'" was the first video of the MTV generation. Nesmith also won the first Grammy Award (1981) given for Video of the Year for his hour-long Elephant Parts and also had a short-lived series inspired by the video called Television Parts.
Pacific Arts Video became a pioneer in the home video market, producing and distributing a wide variety of videotaped programs. Pacific Arts eventually ceased operations after an acrimonious contract dispute with PBS over home video licensing rights and payments for several series, including Ken Burns' The Civil War. On February 3, 1999, a jury awarded Nesmith $46.8 million in compensatory and punitive damages, prompting his widely-quoted comment, "It's like finding your grandmother stealing your stereo. You're happy to get your stereo back, but it's sad to find out your grandmother is a thief." PBS appealed the ruling and a settlement was reached with the results kept confidential.
He was the executive producer for the movies Repo Man, Tapeheads, and Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann, as well as his own solo recording and film projects. In 1998, Nesmith published his first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora. His latest studio album, Rays, was released on April 4, 2006.
Since 1990, Nesmith has hosted the Council on Ideas, a gathering of intellectuals from different fields who are asked to brainstorm solutions to world problems.
In 1992, Nesmith undertook a concert tour of North America to promote the CD release of his RCA solo albums (although he included the song "Rio", from the album From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing. The concert tour ended at the Britt Festival in Oregon. The Live at the Britt Festival recording was released on both video and compact disc.
In 1995, he reunited with The Monkees to record their last studio album (and first to feature all four since Head) titled Justus, released in 1996. He also wrote and directed a Monkees television special, and briefly toured the UK with the band in 1997. He re-departed when the tour came to America later in the year, following media criticism of his recent stage performances.
Nesmith spent a decade as a board of trustees member and nominating member of the American Film Institute and is currently President and chairman of the board of trustees of the Gihon Foundation.
Nesmith's instigated a project titled Videoranch 3D, a virtual environment on the internet that hosts live performances at various virtual venues inside the Ranch.
In 2017, he released a memoir and companion "soundtrack" album titled Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff.
In 2019 Nesmith toured focusing on his 1972 album, And the Hits Just Keep on Comin', in a two piece configuration with pedal steel player Pete Finney, the first time in this format since 1974 with Red Rhodes.
Cruisin
Michael Nesmith Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hopin' to promote a dream somewhere along the way
Rollin' through the streets, lookin' for a disco
Passin' up the treats from a kid named Cisco
Trying to make connections
With their blemish-free complexions
And just as fate would have it
They ended up with Sunset Sam
Sam was sellin' watches from a suitcase on a TV tray
And Lucy and Ramona were tryin' to figure out if he was gay
The three of them were standing, staring at each other
When the light behind their eyes blew each other's cover
The ancient code was branded
And each of them was handed
A ticket to their kingdom
'Cause they saw their brother Sunset Sam
Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam
People on the streets tryin' to find a plan
People on the streets lookin' for the land
Lucy and Ramona and their brother Sunset Sam
Lucy was from Compton and she met Ramona at the zoo
Ramona was from Brooklyn, but she left when she was twenty-two
Sam was a native of the Arizona desert
But he split when he was slated for some governmental make-work
Their differences subsided when the common bond was sighted
They were all from the same place
That made the famous Sunset Sam
Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam
People on the streets tryin' to find a plan
People on the streets lookin' for the land
Lucy and Ramona and their brother Sunset Sam
Yes it's Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam
People on the streets tryin' to find a plan
People on the streets just lookin' for the land
Lucy and Ramona and their brother Sunset Sam
The lyrics to Michael Nesmith's "Cruisin" paint a picture of three individuals - Lucy, Ramona, and Sunset Sam - cruising through the streets of Los Angeles in search of their respective dreams. The song speaks to the universal human experience of trying to find one's place in the world, while also touching on themes of acceptance and unity.
First, we are introduced to Lucy and Ramona, two women on a mission to promote their dreams. As they roll through the streets, they pass by a kid named Cisco and continue their search for a disco. The theme of connection is prevalent throughout the song, as the two women hope to connect with people who can help them achieve their goals.
Shortly after, Lucy and Ramona meet Sunset Sam, a man selling watches on a TV tray. They soon realize that despite their differences, they share a common bond - they are all from the same place. The ancient code is branded, and the three of them are handed a ticket to their kingdom. The song ends with the chorus, emphasizing the importance of community and the shared human experience.
Overall, "Cruisin" is a compelling story about three individuals finding acceptance and unity through their shared experiences. The song speaks to the universal human experience of trying to find one's place in the world, while also touching on themes of connection and belonging.
Line by Line Meaning
Lucy and Ramona, cruisin' through the jungles of L.A.
Lucy and Ramona are driving through the busy Los Angeles streets.
Hopin' to promote a dream somewhere along the way
They are hoping to find success and fulfill a dream while they travel.
Rollin' through the streets, lookin' for a disco
They are driving around searching for a nightclub to go to.
Passin' up the treats from a kid named Cisco
They ignore the offerings of a boy named Cisco as they continue their journey.
Trying to make connections
They are attempting to network and make important connections.
With their blemish-free complexions
Their clear skin is one of their positive physical attributes.
And just as fate would have it
Coincidentally, something happened as if it was meant to be.
They ended up with Sunset Sam
They met a man named Sunset Sam.
Sam was sellin' watches from a suitcase on a TV tray
Sunset Sam was selling watches from a makeshift stand on the street.
And Lucy and Ramona were tryin' to figure out if he was gay
The two women were questioning if Sunset Sam was attracted to men.
The three of them were standing, staring at each other
The trio stood there in silence, looking at each other.
When the light behind their eyes blew each other's cover
They connected on a deep level and revealed hidden aspects of themselves.
The ancient code was branded
They formed a strong connection that was rooted in a timeless code of brotherhood/sisterhood.
And each of them was handed
They were each given something valuable.
A ticket to their kingdom
They were welcomed into a community of like-minded people.
'Cause they saw their brother Sunset Sam
They recognized the shared experiences and struggles of Sunset Sam.
Lucy was from Compton and she met Ramona at the zoo
Lucy was from Compton and met Ramona at a zoo.
Ramona was from Brooklyn, but she left when she was twenty-two
Ramona is originally from Brooklyn but left at a young age.
Sam was a native of the Arizona desert
Sunset Sam was born and raised in the Arizona desert.
But he split when he was slated for some governmental make-work
He left when he was assigned to do some undesirable government work.
Their differences subsided when the common bond was sighted
Their differing backgrounds didn't matter when they saw the shared humanity in each other.
They were all from the same place
They all shared a commonality or experience.
That made the famous Sunset Sam
This same shared experience is what made Sunset Sam famous in this community.
Yes it's Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam
The three of them make up the new trio of friends.
People on the streets tryin' to find a plan
People outside are searching for a purpose or direction in their lives.
People on the streets lookin' for the land
People are also searching for a sense of belonging or home.
Lucy and Ramona and their brother Sunset Sam
The trio of friends traverses the streets together.
Contributed by Bailey L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@HugoToledo
Hey, thanks for sharing your story. Same age. Lost my dad a few years ago. Had a similar experience–not Mike Nesmith but a similar unexpected trigger. 😢
Did you also think it was a young Hulk Hogan? I mentioned this to someone and they said no it wasn’t Hulk hogan, so I looked it up on Wikipedia this morning and was amused to find that even Mike Nesmith years later thought it was Hulk Hogan. 😊
Good thing I know this now. An acquaintance I see a couple of times a month works for one of Hulk Hogan’s businesses. I’m sure if I met him I probably would’ve said, “hey! I remember the very first time I saw it was in that Mike Nesmith video!” 🤦♂️
Tragedy averted. 😂😂😂
Take care!
@pierre4145
when i was much younger, my dad tried to get me into mike nesmith by showing me this video because it was his favorite. I never really got it or the monkees, and I mostly forgot about it completely. But a few weeks after my dad died, this popped up on a spotify radio and I thought it was so good that I listened to all available Nez songs for like a month straight, and then moved on to the whole monkees discography and the TV Show, but I never got around to elephant parts so I never realized the connection until about 6 months later when I finally sat down to watch elephant parts and sure enough, the second sam came on screen I suddenly started bawling, haha. It's been two years since my old man died but I like to think that if there is some higher power, then this song coming back to me after so many years is due to them.
@craigcarnachan7153
Im Now 60 and i loved this Song in My teens and it's still a frigging good song 40 years on lol .. Good Things Never Die they Just Get Better lol ..
@HugoToledo
Hey, thanks for sharing your story. Same age. Lost my dad a few years ago. Had a similar experience–not Mike Nesmith but a similar unexpected trigger. 😢
Did you also think it was a young Hulk Hogan? I mentioned this to someone and they said no it wasn’t Hulk hogan, so I looked it up on Wikipedia this morning and was amused to find that even Mike Nesmith years later thought it was Hulk Hogan. 😊
Good thing I know this now. An acquaintance I see a couple of times a month works for one of Hulk Hogan’s businesses. I’m sure if I met him I probably would’ve said, “hey! I remember the very first time I saw it was in that Mike Nesmith video!” 🤦♂️
Tragedy averted. 😂😂😂
Take care!
@emmarae4322
“Trying to figure out if he was gay.”😂 I watched Elephant Parts with my parents when I was 10.😂
@tonymichael4531
That’s the way it is with Bee Gees disease
@jharres4065
I vividly remember watching this video on MTV and Friday Night Videos and thinking it was so cool that I knew who Mike Nesmith was. It's totally not my kind of music, but it burns so brightly in my memory that it's a true classic in my mind.
@MsAhmebah2000
As a Monkees fan, Mike's style here took a while for me to catch on. Now I love his creations!! RIP Nez
@wildbell
I appreciate this so much. I return to hang out with this video every now and again like an old friend.
@jamesswapinski9190
The highlight most definitely from "Elephant 🐘 Parts"!
@mikevanblommestein5726
Thanks for upscaling this clip and posting it…..Mike Nesmith was an amazing creative talent.