8/17/06: I’m A Believer (1993)Currently in heavy rotation at the RightWingTrash office: Classic rock from The Good Rats, classic synth-pop from Ian North, and suave musings from the grandly-named duo of Oppenheimer—all now shoved aside for the new Deluxe Editions of the first two albums from the greatest pop/rock/psych/country band in the history of recorded music.
While we compare the new mono and stereo versions of
The Monkees and
More of the Monkees, others might catch up on American History with Mickey Dolenz’s
I’m A Believer: My Life of Monkees, Music, and Madness. Despite being the TV show’s comic relief—or at least the comic relief that wasn’t Peter Tork—Dolenz took his share of serious stands. The best example might be when Dolenz penned “Mommy and Daddy,” telling his young fans (however many were left by ’69) to “ask your daddy why that soldier doesn't care who he kills.”
We don’t think Dolenz was going for a reasonable answer like, “Because he’s a godless Viet Cong, sweetie.”
I’m A Believer isn’t the work of a conservative. The book, however, is clearly the work of a guy who wised up over the years. At the very least, you’ll have sympathy for Dolenz whenever he has to deal with a real hippie like Tork. Dolenz doesn’t even have much sympathy for a real hippie like himself. The photo section includes a ludicrous shot of Dolenz being interviewed while sporting an Indian headdress. The caption: “White man come to Indian land, killum wife, rapeum buffalo.”
Dolenz wasn’t too stupid back in ’69, either.
I’m A Believer includes a story—told in script form—in which Dolenz and singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson have a minor car accident with the neighborhood drug dealer. The dealer is brandishing a knife, and Nilsson is demonstrating his typical brand of self-preservation. Which is to say, none at all.
As Dolenz writes, “Mickey does what any fine red-blooded American man would do in a situation like this…escalate!”
That means Dolenz heads for his house and wakes up his in-laws while screaming for the gun he keeps in a guest bedroom. He runs back to the street, gets the drug dealer to retreat (as Dolenz does “his best Clint Eastwood”), and may very well save Nilsson’s life so that he can later record the really great
Son of Schmilsson album.
Nilsson, incidentally, would later campaign for tougher handgun control after the death of his good drug buddy John Lennon. Things might have been different if Mark David Chapman had gone after Mickey Dolenz.
Make it your own: I’m A Believer was recently reissued with an updated filmography and discography. Nothing new in the way of content, but that doesn’t matter. Dolenz already had his happy capitalist ending back in ’93.
