For Davy Jones.

It was only after I’d gone to bed on Wednesday that I realised that this song might have suited the mood better.

“Today there is no day or night,
Today there is no dark or light,
Today there is no black or white,
Only shades of gray.”

Shades of Gray was written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil whose list of song-writing credits is mightily impressive.

The Monkees: Shades of Gray

I was sad to hear that former Monkee Davy Jones has died, apparently from a heart attack.

Though Davy was nominally the Monkees lead singer, that duty frequently fell to fellow actor Micky Dolenz, leaving Davy to flail away somewhat unconvincingly with a pair of maraccas.

They were probably the first manufactured band, brought together to reproduce the Beatles films’ format on TV, but had some of the best pop songwriters of the day composing for them. This – I chose it because it actually features Davy on lead vocals – was written by Neil Diamond.

The Monkees: A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You

A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You was the only Monkees single I bought back in the day and I came to love the B-side The Girl I Knew Somewhere, written by group member Mike Nesmith. So much so I referenced its title in a line of A Son of the Rock.

David Thomas Jones, 30/12/1945 – 29/2/2012. So it goes.