Hart's father was a church minister. Hart served in the Army after leaving high school, and on discharge travelled to Los Angeles seeking a career as a singer. Boyce was separately pursuing a career as a singer. After being rejected numerous times, Boyce took his father's suggestion to write a song called "Be My Guest" for rock and roll star Fats Domino. He waited six hours at Domino's hotel room to present him with the demo, and got Domino to promise to listen to the song. The song hit #8 in the US and #11 in the UK, becoming Domino's biggest hit there in serveral years, and sold over a million copies. 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 to 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.
In late 1965, they wrote, produced and performed the soundtrack to the pilot of 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 substantially the same role. It was Boyce and Hart who wrote, produced and recorded (with the help of their 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 of which was 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.
After their departure from the Monkees, and the negative publicity that erupted when word got out that the band hadn't played the instruments on their early records, Boyce and Hart were unsure how the Monkees felt about them personally. Attending one of their concerts, though, the duo were spotted in the audience, and singer Davy Jones invited them onstage, to introduce them: "These are the fellows who wrote our great hits — Tommy and Bobby!" Every original Monkees album (except for the Head soundtrack) included Boyce and Hart songs.
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 several hit singles; the most well-known of these were "Out and About," "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," "Alice Long" and "I'll Blow You A Kiss in the Wind", which they performed on the television show Bewitched. They also appeared on other TV shows including The Flying Nun and I Dream of Jeannie ("Jeannie the Hip Hippie").
They also were involved with producing music for motion pictures for Columbia Pictures, including two Matt Helm movies (The Ambushers and Murderer's Row), Winter A-Go-Go and Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.
In 1971 a sitcom named Getting Together appeared on ABC-TV, starring Bobby Sherman and Wes Stern as two struggling songwriters, who were friends of The Partridge Family (and were introduced on their show). The series was reportedly based loosely on Boyce and Hart's partnership. At this point, they decided to work on various solo projects.
In the mid-1970s, Boyce and Hart reunited with Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz, performing the songs Boyce and Hart had written for The Monkees a decade before. Legally prohibited from using the Monkees name, they called themselves Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart. The group toured amusement parks and other venues throughout America, Japan and other locations from July 4th, 1975 to early 1977, also becoming the first American band to play in Thailand. Signed to Capitol Records by Al Coury, the group released an album of new material in 1976. (A live album was also recorded in Japan, but was not released in the United States until the mid-1990s.) The tours coincided with the syndication of the Monkees TV series, and helped boost sales of Arista's The Monkees Greatest Hits.
Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart also starred in their own TV special called The Great Golden Hits of the Monkees Show, which appeared in syndication. It featured a medley of other Boyce and Hart songs, as well as the songs they had produced for the Monkees. Strangely, it did not include any songs from their new album.
In 1979 Boyce formed his own band, called The Tommy Band, and toured the UK as support to Andrew Matheson (ex-Hollywood Brats). The tour was largely ignored by the public especially in Middlesbrough where reportedly just one person paid to watch the show. Boyce and Hart reunited during the 1980s resurgence of the Monkees, and performed live.
After a stint living in the UK, Tommy Boyce returned to live in Nashville, Tennessee, where he struggled with depression, and later suffered a brain aneurysm. In 1994, Boyce died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Hart was nominated for an Oscar in 1983 for his song "Over You", written for the film Tender Mercies.
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.
Words
Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It hurts so bad, cause when I see you, I start crying,
I've tried everything to stop, but there's no denying,
That falling in love with you, girl, is just like dying.
Oh, don't walk away,
How, how can I make you stay?
Don't turn away,
Just spoken to help nobody but you,
Words with lies inside,
But, small enough to hide till your playing was through.
Girl, don't you know we could work it out with talking?
You won't look around or slow down your walking,
I've given you everything with kiss to seal it,
You had to get your kicks out of trying to steal it.
Now, I'm standing here,
Strange, strange voices in my ears,
I feel the tears,
But, all I can hear are those words that never were true,
Just spoken to help nobody but you,
Words with lies inside,
But, small enough to hide till your playing was through, ahh.
Now, I'm standing here,
Strange, strange voices in my ears,
I feel the tears,
But, all I can hear are those words that never were true,
Just spoken to help nobody but you,
Words with lies inside,
But, small enough to hide till your playing was through.
Words that never were true,
Just spoken to help nobody but you,
Words with lies inside,
But, small enough to hide till your playing was through.
Words that never were true,
Just spoken to help nobody but you,
Words with lies inside,
But, small enough to hide till your playing was through.
In Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart's song "Words," the singer is expressing his deep hurt and heartbreak caused by a woman who has been deceptive and dishonest with him. He says that every time he sees her smiling, it hurts him because he loves her so much, but she has made him cry countless times. He's tried to stop loving her, but he can't help the way he feels. He compares falling in love with her to dying because it's so painful.
The chorus pleads with her not to walk away and asks how he can make her stay. He says that he can still hear her saying false words that were meant to benefit only herself. She spoke lies that were small enough to hide until she was finished with him. The singer believes that they could work things out if they just talk about it, but she refuses even to look back and acknowledge him.
In the second verse, he says that he has given her everything, even sealing their love with a kiss. But she was only interested in stealing what she could from him. He is left standing there with strange voices in his ears and tears on his face, overcome with emotion at the memories of all the lies she has told him.
Overall, the song is about the pain and frustration of being in a one-sided relationship with someone who only cares about themselves. The singer feels used and manipulated, but he can't help but love her anyway. The lyrics are heartfelt and emotional, making the song a classic in the pop-rock genre.
Line by Line Meaning
Girl, don't you know every time I see you smiling,
The sight of you makes me feel both happy and sad, causing me to cry.
It hurts so bad, cause when I see you, I start crying,
My heart aches every time I see you because loving you feels like torture.
I've tried everything to stop, but there's no denying,
Despite my efforts, I cannot stop myself from falling for you.
That falling in love with you, girl, is just like dying.
Loving you is such an overwhelming and painful experience that it feels like dying.
Oh, don't walk away,
Please don't leave me.
How, how can I make you stay?
Tell me how I can convince you to stay with me.
Don't turn away,
Please don't look away.
I can still hear you saying those words that never were true,
I still remember the lies you told me to manipulate me and protect your own interests.
Just spoken to help nobody but you,
You only said those lies to benefit yourself and not consider my feelings.
Words with lies inside,
Your words were full of deceit and falsehoods.
But, small enough to hide till your playing was through.
You were able to hide your deception until you achieved your own goals.
Girl, don't you know we could work it out with talking?
Communication might help our relationship.
You won't look around or slow down your walking,
You don't care enough to slow down and talk to me.
I've given you everything with kiss to seal it,
I've shown you all my love and affection through physical displays of affection like kisses.
You had to get your kicks out of trying to steal it.
You enjoyed trying to manipulate and take advantage of my love for you.
Now, I'm standing here,
Now I find myself here.
Strange, strange voices in my ears,
I feel like I'm hearing things that don't make sense.
I feel the tears,
I am overwhelmed with emotion to the point of crying.
But, all I can hear are those words that never were true,
All I can think about are the lies you told me.
Words that never were true,
Lies.
Just spoken to help nobody but you,
You lied to benefit yourself and ignored how it might affect me.
Words with lies inside,
Your lies were insidious and designed to deceive.
But, small enough to hide till your playing was through.
You were cunning enough to deceive me until you'd achieved your own goals.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: TOMMY BOYCE, BOBBY HART
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@longandwindingroad
That bass is seriously amazing.
@thomassullivan9692
Indeed, it's the legendary Joe Osborn!
@longandwindingroad
@@thomassullivan9692 Don't remember if I knew that at the time, but now he's my favorite bass player, sadly died last year.
@Foldisfitch
Nice!