THE MONKEES - THE GIRL I KNEW SOMEWHERE

THE GIRL I KNEW SOMEWHERE

THE MONKEES

SONGWRITER: MICHAEL NESMITH

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: HEADQUARTERS

LABEL: RCA VICTOR

GENRE: POP ROCK

YEAR: 1967

 

          The Monkees were a rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose line-up consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conceived in 1965 by television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the situation comedy series of the same name(described by Dolenz as "a TV show about an imaginary band ... that wanted to be the Beatles... was never successful".). Music credited to the band was released on LP, as well as being included in the show, which aired from 1966 to 1968. The group's popularity would ultimately endure well beyond the television series.

         While the sitcom was a mostly straightforward affair, the music production quickly generated tension and controversy. Music supervisor Don Kirshner was dissatisfied with the actor/musicians' musical abilities, and he limited their involvement during the recording process, instead using a stable of professional songwriters and studio musicians to craft multiple hit albums and singles. Upset with the arrangement and facing public backlash for not playing on the recordings, the band members soon gained full control over the recording process. For two albums, the Monkees mostly performed as a group, but within a year, each member was pursuing his own interests under the Monkees name. By the end of 1968, they were once again a group in name only, the show had been canceled, and their motion picture, Head, had flopped. Tork left the band soon after, followed by Nesmith a year later, and the Monkees officially broke up in 1970.

         A revival of interest in the television show came in 1986, leading to a series of official reunion tours, a television special, and four new full-length records, spanning the next 35 years (though these rarely comprised all four members performing together). With Jones' death in 2012 and Tork's in 2019, Dolenz and Nesmith were left to embark on a farewell tour in 2021, finishing shortly before Nesmith's death at the end of the year.

         Spurred by the success of the show, the Monkees were one of the most successful bands of the 1960s. The band sold more than 75 million records worldwide making them one of the biggest-selling groups of all time with international hits, including "Last Train to Clarksville", "I'm a Believer", "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", and "Daydream Believer", and four chart-topping albums. Newspapers and magazines falsely reported that the Monkees outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined in 1967, a claim that originated from Nesmith in a 1977 interview.

       "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" is a song by the American pop rock band the Monkees, written by Michael Nesmith and first released as the B-side to the "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You" single on Colgems Records on March 8, 1967. It was distributed in support of the group's third álbum Headquarters, and later appeared on the reissued version of the LP. The song was recorded as the Monkees finally achieved the independence that enabled them to freely produce their own material, with the actual band members featured on both vocals and instrumental arrangements.

          "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" peaked at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100, while its A-side "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You" reached #2.

You tell me that you've never been this way before

You tell me things I know that I've heard somewhere

You're standing in the places and you're staring down through faces

That bring to mind traces of a girl, a girl that I knew somewhere

 

I just can't put my finger on what it is

That says to me, watch out, don't believe her

I can't give any reasons girl, my thoughts are bound down in a whirl

I just can't think who in the world was that girl, I know I met her somewhere

 

Someway, somehow this same thing was done

Someone, somewhere did me this same wrong

Well goodbye dear, I just can't take this chance again

My fingers are still burning from the last time

And if your love was not a game, I only have myself to blame

That's as maybe, I can't explain, just ask the girl that I knew somewhere

 

And if your love was not a game, I only have myself to blame

That's as maybe, I can't explain, just ask the girl that I knew somewhere.