When the world and I were young…
And another representative of ones childhood theatrical and musical mileu has gone.
I was sorry to hear that Michael Nesmith had died. He was my favourite ‘Monkee’ as a kid because he was by far and away the coolest of the quartet. Personally, I’ve never been able to rock the wool hat look myself (my head, quite literally, is too big) and the sideburn vibe that he pioneered (and became a ‘must have’ for any self-respecting 1970s rugby player) was also beyond me (I was bristly enough but with the wrong shaped face!). I lack creativity and can neither sing nor play a musical instrument so, all in all, I could never have been him however much I would have wished it at a young age.
I am, nevertheless, fond of the aphorism that it’s not what you look at that makes you different, but what you see. I found that to be a truism every time in my professional life when I ended up in discussions as a minority of one (I’m arrogant enough still to believe that I was usually right – in fact I know I was!) and from reading his obituaries it certainly seems that Nesmith saw things in a different way too. At least we might have had that in common!
Anyway, with apologies for the misquoted line from the Monkees Theme Song, here’s the limerick…
The Monkees were once heard to say
“Get ready, ‘cos we might come your way”,
But their fans are bereft
Now there’s only one left
Since ‘Wool Hat Papa Nez’ passed away!
Postscript: I do apologise for the use of ‘rock’ and ‘vibe’ in this post, but sadly (horrifically?) they were the words that came to mind when I was scribing it. I’m aghast!