Listen to The Monkees' new single, "Me & Magdalena"

5/19/2016

"Me & Magdalena" is the third single from The Monkees' upcoming album, Good Times! The song was written for The Monkees by Ben Gibbard (lead vocalist and guitarist of Death Cab for Cutie) and features Michael Nesmith on lead vocals, accompanied by Micky Dolenz on harmony vocals. It was previewed on NPR's World Cafe program on May 9, 2016, and Michael shared an unofficial recording of it on Facebook later that day. Andy Greene, Associate Editor of Rolling Stone, tweeted that the track "is not just their best tune since the 1960s, but one of their best ever."

"Before The Beatles, before The Velvet Underground and before punk and/or indie rock, The Monkees were the first band I truly loved. Their albums were always on in our home when I was a kid (especially Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.), and I learned to sing alongside them. I spent countless hours in front of the TV in the '80s watching Monkees reruns wishing I could climb through the screen and be in the show with them. They made being in a band seem so fun — and goddammit, it should be! For these reasons and a million others, I can say with absolutely zero hyperbole that contributing 'Me & Magdalena' to this album has been the greatest honor of my career."

-Ben Gibbard

13 Comments

Justin

5/19/2016 14:08:03

I wonder if that's Peter on piano?

rob

5/19/2016 14:48:54

Ben that is sooo awesome!!! Me and Magdalena is such a really sweet and really emotional song.. you knocked it out of the park!!

JJ Lloyd

5/19/2016 16:08:23

Wow. Seriously...... just... wow.

Gregg McKenzie

5/19/2016 19:12:09

I've been staring at keys on my keyboard for 5 minutes now.. What can I really say to sum this one up ? It's haunting, it's beautiful, it's maybe - just maybe, the most goose bump causing piece of music that Papa Nez and Micky have ever put down. Thank you both for making this 53-year-old man an emotional wreck. Going to play this again and again and again and....

Monkees Live Almanac

5/20/2016 10:00:31

It's a great song, isn't it, Gregg? Thanks for commenting.

5/20/2016 18:39:46

An emphatic Yes to your obvious rhetorical question. In fact it's more than lovely it's bordering on ethereal.
David - I appreciate your observation concerning the mix of the song. It was similar to my first thoughts upon hearing the track. However, I just finished downloading the track from iTunes and am now of another mindset. Nez's vocals aren't a razor sharp and defined as Micky's, but to me that has been done purposefully to take the listener along on a rather magical ride through space and time with the narrator and Magdalena. Micky' countering harmony vocals are clear and sharp allowing us listeners to keep one foot in the present as we go back in time where "everything lost can be recovered." An amazingly for 3:33 I believe it. To me, this track is perfection.

David

5/21/2016 11:11:48

Greg,

OK, now it's starting to get downright creepy....

My ears are playing tricks on me. On my end the distortion is now gone or at the very least it has been reduced in contrast. It was very strong on the opening verse but now it sounds normal. Same file or did someone swap it in the night? One of two possibilities: What I was hearing was never there to begin with or someone caught what I perceived as a mastering goof. You made mention of the iTunes download and I am wondering if there might have been file modifications along the way.

Maybe the entertainment world waits for my every word and my posting was read by the powers in charge or it was all a dream?

Look, this reminds me of the old Steve Martin bit where he is deeply unsatisfied with the quality of his listening experience. He keeps upgrading his Stereophonic system throwing thousands and thousands of dollars at it until he has what he calls a Dodeckaphonic which he claims consists of one speaker short of infinity, only to come to an epiphany when he says "Hey, maybe it's the needle".

Thanks for acknowledging my original observation...

5/20/2016 11:02:18

First the good:

These new recordings are bringing me to tears. Do these guys honestly have I any idea how much they have effected our lives for so many years. They feel like old friends who have never made it over for dinner.

Now for an observation:

I am in a quandary over the vocal mix. Certainly not intending to be negative in any way but Nez sounds distorted when paired with Micky throughout the verses. Almost resembles analog tape drop-out. When he sings alone on the bridge it is beautifully clean and unaffected. I heard it first on the World Cafe Broadcast and thought it was an artifact of the compression format but here it is in living color with the same presentation. If it is in fact mixing with creative license than I stand corrected albeit disappointed. Certainly not the sweet mix of Dolenz and Nez on "While I Cry" but again it likely was not intended to be.

For the record, I feel that I am succinctly qualified to assert this criticism considering I wore the full Davy Jones in a box Halloween costume in October of 1967.

5/21/2016 13:27:42

David - I'm drinking the same Kool-Aid as you. The 'initial' file wasn't as clear sounding as the one 'now' available. At first, I thought maybe iTunes (and the Mastered for iTunes) had cleaned the track up a little, but now - well, gee who knows 'maybe it was the needle.' lol Anyway, the only thing that's clear is that this is another fantastic track from an album (OK - CD) that I can't wait to land. I fact, I've already been slowly adding the tracks from iTunes, have one on order from Amazon, and fully expect to make a trip to the mall next Friday to pick up the FYE version to get the bonus track by Peter.

Patrick

5/20/2016 13:20:54

What an unexpected gift, a strange but wonderful hybrid of Headquarters, As We Go Along, The Grateful Dead and the great bands of the '90's like Counting Crows. Gorgeous...goose bumps.

Robert

5/20/2016 20:58:06

Wow! What great song. I can't wait to hear the whole album.

mary

5/22/2016 09:32:04

I love the piano on this piece. Happy to hear about Nesmith being involved with the new Monkees album even though he's not currently on the 2016 Monkees tour.

Miho Oshima

5/21/2017 21:02:28

I appreciate for your song.

Listen to The Monkees' new single, "Me & Magdalena"

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Listen to The Monkees' new single, "Me & Magdalena"

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Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart returns