![]() It claims that the God of the Universe is madly in love with each one of us – and why wouldn’t he be? After all, he created us according to his design! True, part of his plan was allowing us the freedom to mess up. Our Christian faith is a love story which sometimes seems too good to be true. But then he sees a particular woman – and he is smitten! In that moment he becomes a believer! In his experience, loving seems to mean putting a lot of effort in, and getting little in return. He asks whether love really happens outside fairy-tales. It’s a song about a man feeling jaded about love. Either way, the song has something to teach us about faith. If you’re a bit younger, you’ll be thinking of Smash Mouth’s soundtrack to the first Shrek movie. ![]() If you’re older than me, you’ll link those words with a hit by the Monkees in the 1960s. It’s the first thing Wyatt released after he fell out of a fourth-floor window and paralyzed himself from the waist down.I’m a believer! I’m a believer! I’m a believer! Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason played on it, as did future Police guitarist Andy Summers. And then Nesmith had to pretend to play “I’m A Believer” on four Monkees episodes in a row.īONUS BEATS: In 1974, the wizardly prog songwriter Robert Wyatt, formerly of the Soft Machine, released a cover of “I’m A Believer” that made it to #29 on the UK charts. The story goes that producer Jeff Barry kicked Nesmith out of the studio when Dolenz was recording his vocal. One possibly-apocryphal story says that guitarist Michael Nesmith got pissy during the recording of “I’m A Believer,” claiming that the song was just not a hit, and he should know, he’s a songwriter. Some of them were OK with the idea that they were actors on a TV show, and others were mad that they were being presented as musicians but not allowed to play music. Diamond had already recorded his own version of the song, but he wouldn’t release it until 1967.) The actual Monkees’ lack of input in their own musical careers was already bothering them. The Monkees didn’t play on “I’m A Believer,” of course. The Monkees wasn’t even a huge hit! More people bought the records than watched the show! ![]() And think how amazing it was that this goofy sitcom was working as the delivery mechanism for these incredible songs. I don’t think it’s as towering a songwriting achievement as “Last Train To Clarksville,” but it’s close. It’s a perfect little tension-and-release machine. The entire tone of the production shifts when it hits the chorus and those other Monkees come in sighing. The song itself is an economical marvel, all twangy guitar and ahh-ahh backing vocals. And all it takes is a look: “I saw her face! Now I’m a believer!” ![]() Micky Dolenz, who sang lead on “I’m A Believer,” sold the emotion of the song just as well as he’d done on “ Last Train To Clarksville.” He’s someone who’s been a hopeless wanderer, wounded and disconsolate: “What’s the use of trying? / All you get is pain / When I needed sunshine, I got rain.” But then he sees this girl, and his entire point of view does a full 180. And it happens to be an amazing song, a sharp and dazzling evocation of what it’s like to have your whole world flipped upside down. It’s friendly and unthreatening and all about love. It has a monster chorus and an organ riff so big that you could see it from space. It’s propulsive and catchy and immediate. If you’re trying to figure out the right song to give to your prefabricated mid-’60s sitcom boy band, “I’m A Believer” is your platonic ideal.
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