Daydream Believer – The Monkees | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#1); 1967
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
With their television show a stone-cold ratings smash, the Monkees‘ recording career went from strength to strength. Beginning with I’m A Believer, the B-sides as well as the A’s also charted. Believer‘s flip, (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone climbed to #20.
Next up was A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You backed with The Girl I Knew Somewhere which reached #2 and #39 respectively. The Pleasant Valley Sunday/ Words combo did even better with peak positions of #3 and #11.
Whereas the first four A-sides were uptempo races, the Monkees kicked off their second chart year with a melodic mid-tempo tune. The composer of Daydream Believer – John Stewart – had risen to prominence as a member of the massively popular Kingston Trio between 1961 and 1967.
The year Stewart went solo the Monkees took his song to #1: their first chart topper since Believer. Unfortunately, it also broke their string of double-sided hits when B-side Goin’ Down didn’t go up the Hot 100.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Chip Douglas
Lyrics Written by:
- John Stewart
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).