Micky Dolenz, definitely the most gifted singer of the Monkees, and George Harrison “The Quiet Beatle,” were a little harder to pigeonhole. Ringo and Peter Tork each took on the “cute and dumb one” title, the “Harpo Marx” of their respective teams. Paul’s trademark ballad song was “Yesterday,” (originally titled: Scrambled Eggs) while Davy warbled “I wanna be free.” Paul McCartney and Davy Jones were the “heart-throbs” of the teams- the two romantic leads, the best looking of the eight and the girls’ favorites. Both somehow seemed “older” than the other three (Nesmith was, but Ringo Starr was actually the oldest Beatle). John Lennon and Mike Nesmith were the “leaders” of their respective groups- the smartest ones, cracking sly jokes and asides, each with their droll sense of humor.
The exact character comparisons were fairly obvious too. Even in the very last Monkees episode, we see the boys waking up to their alarm clock / record player, which blares out “Good Morning, Good Morning,” the John Lennon song.Īlmost every “Monkees” episode, in fact, featured a rollicking romp of the fours boys running around Helter-Skelter, in the exact same manner as the Beatles did in the famous “running in the field” scene from “A Hard Day’s Night.” In another Monkees episode, we see the four boys lying on the ground, mumbling, all four heads pushed together, in a shot directly taken from “A Hard Day’s Night.” In yet another episode, Davy’s British grandfather comes to the states to pay him a visit (Paul’s grandfather was the main center of “A Hard Day’s Night”). In the very first episode of The Monkees TV show, we see Mike Nesmith throwing a dart at a Beatles poster (hitting Ringo).
The series made no attempt to hide or shy away from their all-too-obvious Beatles influence.