In the years since their original disbanding, the group has reunited in various incarnations, mostly involving Dolenz, Tork and Jones, but not Nesmith. The first reunion began in 1986 and at first featured only Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork. Davy Jones joined the others and a new album was released before they split again in 1989.
The next regrouping took place between 1993 and 1997 and featured a new album that included the particpation of all four members. A further reunion between 2001 and 2002, was followed by another reunion in 2011 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the television show. This reunion was cut short before 2011 had ended due to scheduling problems with the anniversary tour.
The unexpected death of Davy Jones at the beginning of 2012 prompted the most recent reunion tour, this time featuring Dolenz, Tork and Nesmith.
Created by producers of a TV series to be an American Beatles, the antics of the Monkees band members on the television series were very reminscent of Beatles' antics in films like 'Help' and 'Hard Day's Night'. Indeed, in songs like 'Forget that Girl...', the band and even the lead singer could sound just like the Beatles. With songs provided by Don Kirshner from such writers as Neil Diamond and Carole King, among others, the Monkees were assured of pop success. However, in the beginning, the four group members were hired only as actors to front the band and to provide the vocals whilst studio musicians recorded the backing music. These recordings were provided by Kirshner. Things changed though after the success of the single Last Train to Clarksville, the first hit, leading to demands that the band play live gigs. Having learned to play the music, the band became angry when the second LP was recorded (by Kirshner) by studio musicians, without their knowledge or musical input. They therefore demanded and obtained control of the music.
Nesmith who revealed that the band did not perform on their records was also instrumental in getting Don Kirshner sacked. the next album Headquarters was recorded by The Monkees alone, using hand picked producer Chip Douglas. While not as successful as their first two albums it made it to number one, only to be replaced a week later by The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album. The Monkees eventually settled on a formula of using their own talents as well as those of studio musicians. After two seasons the network and the group could not reach agreement on the format of a third season and the show was canceled even though the ratings were still high. A feature film named Head co-written by The Monkees, Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson) followed.
Peter Tork was the first to leave the band, in 1968, during 1969 The TV show went into Saturday morning reruns and the three remaining Monkees recorded two more albums. in 1969 Nesmith departed and began a serious foray into merging country and rock music. He also eventually developed a format that became MTV. By the way his mother invented a product called Liquid Paper, sold it to the Gillette Company for $47 million dollars then died a year later leaving the money to her only son. The remaining two Monkees Dolenz and Jones recorded one last album named Changes in late 1969.
There has, however, been a resurgent interest in The Monkees' music Rhino Records has been instrumental in restoring all their albums, adding bonus tracks, and equipping them with complementary liner notes and stories.
Davy Jones died on February 29, 2012 in Indiantown, Florida.
Peter Tork died on February 21, 2019, at his home in Mansfield, Connecticut.
Michael Nesmith died on December 10, 2021, in Carmel Valley, California.
DISCOGRAPHY (from www.themonkees.net):
The Monkees (1966)
More of The Monkees (1967)
Headquarters (1967)
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. (1967)
The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees (1968)
Head (1968)
Instant Replay (1969)
The Monkees Present (1969)
Changes (1970)
Then & Now...The Best of the Monkees (1986)
Pool It! (1987)
Live 1967 (1987)
Justus (1996)
Good Times! (2016)
Shades of Gray
The Monkees Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just yesterday
Live was such a simple game
A child could play
It was easy then to tell right from wrong
Easy then to tell weak from strong
When a man should stand and fight
Or just go along
But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light
Today there is no black or white
Only shades of gray
I remember when the answers seemed so clear
We had never lived with doubt or tasted fear
It was easy then to tell truth from lies
Selling out from compromise
Who to love and who to hate
The foolish from the wise
But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light
Today there is no black or white
Only shades of gray
It was easy then to know what was fair
When to keep and when to share
How much to protect your heart
And how much to care
But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light
Today there is no black or white
Only shades of gray
Only shades of gray
The Monkees' "Shades of Gray" is a melancholy reflection on the loss of youthful innocence and certainty as the complexities and ambiguities of the world become more apparent. The song muses on how as children it was simple to distinguish between right and wrong, strong and weak, love and hate, truth and lies. However, in the present day, those binary distinctions have been rendered unclear, and everything seems shrouded in "shades of gray."
The first verse invokes nostalgic memories of simpler times, suggesting that the world was more straightforward when we were young. The second verse acknowledges the loss of clarity and confidence that comes with age and experience, and the confusion that comes with confronting moral and ethical ambiguities. The chorus serves as a melancholy refrain, emphasizing the absence of any clear delineation or binary in today's world.
Overall, the song is a poignant reminder that growing up and gaining experience comes at a cost, and that we can never recapture the simplicity of our youth or the sense of certainty we once had.
Line by Line Meaning
When the world and I were young
In the past, when I was youthful and innocent
Just yesterday
Recent memories of a simpler time
Life was such a simple game
Life was easy and uncomplicated
A child could play
Even a child could understand the rules
It was easy then to tell right from wrong
It was simple to distinguish between good and bad
Easy then to tell weak from strong
It was straightforward to identify the strong and the weak
When a man should stand and fight
Determining when it was appropriate to fight was clear
Or just go along
Alternatively, knowing when to avoid conflict
But today there is no day or night
Nowadays, it is difficult to distinguish between opposites
Today there is no dark or light
There is no longer a clear contrast between darkness and light
Today there is no black or white
There are no absolutes, only gray areas
Only shades of gray
The world is ambiguous and uncertain
I remember when the answers seemed so clear
Recalling a time when everything made sense
We had never lived with doubt or tasted fear
A time when there were no uncertainties or anxieties
It was easy then to tell truth from lies
It was simple to differentiate between truth and falsehoods
Selling out from compromise
Distinguishing between giving up your values or reaching a mutual agreement
Who to love and who to hate
Knowing who to like or dislike
The foolish from the wise
Easily recognizing intelligence from stupidity
But today there is no day or night
Now, it is challenging to differentiate between various perspectives
Today there is no dark or light
There are no clear-cut contrasts in today's world
Today there is no black or white
It is no longer possible to define something as strictly right or wrong
Only shades of gray
Everything is an uncertain, gray area
It was easy then to know what was fair
Knowing what was fair and just was a simple task
When to keep and when to share
Determining whether to keep or share something was straightforward
How much to protect your heart
Knowing how much to guard your emotions was clear
And how much to care
Concurrently, knowing how much to show affection
But today there is no day or night
Currently, there are no universal truths or extreme options
Today there is no dark or light
Everything is blurred with no clear contrast
Today there is no black or white
There are only relative shades of gray
Only shades of gray
Everything is ambiguous, and nothing is concrete
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BARRY MANN, CYNTHIA WEIL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gjpopper
Watching this after hearing about Mr. Nesmith's passing . Seeing him , Mr. Tork and Mr. Jones here smiling and laughing and being so young hurts a little .
Lillie Halumi
Made me cry. I grew up watching the original show, not the re-runs. It's sad now that Micky is alone. May his musical brothers rest peacefully after the pain they suffered.
Rainkatt Studio
Man, I'm crying too...those beautiful young men, doesn't seem like over 50 years since I fell in love with Davy...I was 11, I remained a fan f o r many years after it was cool to be a Monkee fan.
Davy passed the same morning as my first horse, a grey Arabian similar to the grey Arabian Davy was riding that morning. That day I lost 2 of my first loves.
Shirley Cruickshank
I know...it all hurts more than a little.
Andy Winslow
I lost it when Michael died. Only one left? Why? And no the correct answer isn't we all die and it would happen sooner or later. If that's the case why were none of them in there 80s with the youngest dying first? Why couldn't they have still been performing in there 90s? I try to believe they're in a better place but I'll never understand the loss of these wonderful men
Paul Kearns - Thin Ice Music
I know what you mean George.
It only seems 5 minutes ago that I was 14, it was 1967 and the Monkees were 4 very funny young men, making music that seemed as good back then as it does now!!
To be born is to die - that's the nature of things. I just thought we got longer between one and the other.
Baritone45
Who says the Monkees weren't a real band? This is a great song! One of many.
Glenn Lego
They weren’t at first but they became popular and became a real thing.
Joe Acker
Yes and this is them playing on this tune...Mike even wrote the music for the horn parts.
Dawn's Star
People think just because they did not know each other at first, oh, they were "fabricated"
The SHOW was fabricated, not their music.
Who really thought all four of them lived in an apartment....LOL
In reality, they got to know each other. They all could sing, they all played instruments, They wrote their own music as well as some others wrote their music....... as well as they wrote for other bands.....they were in the mix.
Nesmith was the guy that wrote for the Stone Ponies (Linda Ronstadt) Different Drum.
And tell me, what band can you name that has not had someone else write the lyric, tune, have someone else play an instrument.....and a LOT copy a riff. off a tune from 20 even 50 years ago.
To my knowledge, they never re MADE a song letting the public think they were the writers, like some do.