The Monkees were a manufactured band. The television show, The Monkees, had been pitched and accepted. The producers of The Monkees wanted an American alternative to the Beatles and so, auditions went out to find four young men who could perform together as a band. They got Peter Tork, born Peter Halsten Thorkelson on February 13, 1942 in Washington, D.C. Then there was Micky Dolenz, born George Michael Dolenz in 1945 in Los Angeles, California. Davy Jones was born David Thomas Jones in 1945 in Manchester, England. And finally, we have Michael Nesmith, born in 1942 in Houston, Texas.

They all auditioned for their respective roles on the show and gradually came together as a band. Davy Jones was more of an actor than a musician, but he was hired primarily because of his British accent. After all, they were trying to copy the Beatles.

When it came time to produce their first record, they needed a label. Don Kirshner, their publisher, arranged with RCA Victor to create a brand new label just for the Monkees, called Colgems (I’m assuming that it is a combination of Columbia and Screen Gems for which Kirshner worked.)

The first record released by the Monkees was “Last Train to Clarksville,” written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. The flip side was “Take a Giant Step,” and the record was released in August of 1966, just a month or so before the debut of the television show. It skyrocketed to number one on the Billboard charts. It also reached number twenty three in the United Kingdom. England was listening to the Monkees, also. Listen to “Last Train to Clarksville” and you’ll hear hints of the Beatles’ song “Paperback Writer.” Bobby Hart heard the Beatles on the radio and liked the guitar intro to the song. He heard the first word of the song “Paperback” and what he heard in his mind was “take the last,” just those words, and the song was built from there.

In my book about the Monkees, I claim that the song is about Clarksville, Tennessee which is right across the state line from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, the home of the 101th Airborne Division who served in the Vietnam War. The boy singing is about to leave for duty and wants one more night with his girl before he leaves because he doesn’t know if he will ever be coming back.

Bobby Hart says they did not have Clarksville, Tennessee in mind when they wrote the song. He was actually thinking about Clarkdale, Arizona and the just changed the name a little. I guess I will have to update my book.

“Last Train to Clarksville” was the Monkees first hit and they started out at number one. Their second single, “I’m a Believer” also went to number one and we’ll get to that before the end of 1966.

“Last Train to Clarksville”debuted on the pop charts on September 24, 1966 and spent one week at number one.