{{Multiple issues| {{No footnotes|date=October 2016}} {{More citations needed|date=October 2016}}}} {{Infobox song | name = Tear Drop City | cover = The_Monkees_single_09_Tear_Drop_City.jpg | alt = | caption = US picture sleeve | type = single | artist = the Monkees | album = Instant Replay | B-side = A Man Without a Dream | released = February 8, 1969 | recorded = October 26-November 6, 1966 | studio = RCA Victor Studios (B)<br>Hollywood, CA | venue = | genre = Rock<ref name= "Masley 2024">{{cite web|first= Ed|last= Masley|title= Best Monkees songs of all time: 30 classics, from their biggest hits to album tracks|website= The Arizona Republic|date= January 7, 2024|url= https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/01/07/the-monkees-greatest-hits-of-all-time/72079810007/|accessdate= January 12, 2024}}</ref> | length = 2:01 | label = Colgems #5000 | writer = {{flatlist| * Tommy Boyce * Bobby Hart }} | producer = {{flatlist| * Tommy Boyce * Bobby Hart }} | prev_title = Porpoise Song | prev_year = 1968 | next_title = Listen to the Band | next_year = 1969 }}
"'''Tear Drop City'''" is a single by the Monkees released on February 8, 1969 on Colgems #5000 recorded on October 26, 1966. The song reached number 56 on the Billboard chart, and number 37 on Cash Box. The lyrics are about a man who feels low because his girlfriend has left him. Written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, it was the first single The Monkees released as a trio (Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Davy Jones; Peter Tork departed December 1968). Micky Dolenz performed the lead vocal. Boyce and Hart produced and arranged the song.
The flip-side was "A Man Without a Dream", with Davy Jones doing the lead vocal, and it hit no.127 on the Cash Box chart. Both single sides were from the album ''Instant Replay''.
==Background== Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote "Tear Drop City" in a park in Lankershim Boulevard. The song was built around a riff Boyce compared to the one used in "She's About a Mover" by the Sir Douglas Quintet. Boyce recalled the song was about Hart's troubled relationship with his girlfriend. Hart stated that he and Boyce "were experimenting along the lines of the seventh chord again, which The Beatles had used in several songs. We thought there was maybe room for another song besides 'Clarksville' using that seventh kind of progression, going from the fifth to the seventh and back, playing around those notes."{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|pp=65-66}}
==Recording== The basic track was recorded on October 26, 1966 at RCA (B) in Hollywood, California.{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|pp=65-66}} On October 30, Micky Dolenz added a lead vocal, and Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, and Ron Hicklin added backing vocals.{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|pp=67}} The song was completed on November 6, when Dolenz added another lead vocal to the recording, and Boyce, Hart and Hicklin added additional backing vocals. The recording was left unreleased for several years afterwards.{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|p=69}} The song was originally recorded in "the key of F-sharp near the tempo of 'Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day.'"{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|pp=65-66}}
==Release== On January 13, 1969, "Tear Drop City" received new mono and stereo mixes in preparation for its release as a single. According to Andrew Sandoval, this was an attempt by Lester Sill of Colgems and Monkees associate Brendan Cahill to boost the group's declining popularity in the charts. The finished master was sped up by nine percent, "giving it a sprightly pace similar to 'Last Train to Clarksville.'" The single was released in stereo only, although the mono mix was used for promotional copies sent to radio stations.{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|pp=225-226}}
In a March 1969 interview with ''NME'', Michael Nesmith claimed the release of "Tear Drop City" was "almost a concession on our part to certain people. It's one from the archives of Monkee music, one with Peter. You can call it a corporate swan song. And I'm sure it'll be commercially very profitable."{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|p=229}} On March 22, The Monkees appeared in a special "Monkee Day" episode of the TV series ''Happening'' to promote the single, but did not perform any music.{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|p=230}}
"Tear Drop City" was remixed in 1991 when it was included on The Monkees' ''Listen to the Band'' box set.{{sfn|Sandoval|2005|p=300}}
==Personnel== Credits adapted from Rhino Handmade 2011 "Deluxe Edition" box set.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |others=The Monkees |last=Sandoval |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Sandoval |title=Instant Replay (Deluxe Edition) |date=2011 |type=CD box set liner notes |publisher=Rhino Handmade |id=RHM2 528791 |location=Los Angeles, California}}</ref>
'''The Monkees''' *Micky Dolenz - lead vocals
'''Additional musicians''' * Wayne Erwin – guitar * Gerry McGee – guitar * Louie Shelton – guitar * Larry Taylor – bass guitar * Billy Lewis – drums * Gene Estes – tambourine * Tommy Boyce – backing vocals * Bobby Hart – backing vocals * Ron Hicklin – backing vocals
==References== {{Reflist}}
'''Sources''' * {{cite book|last=Sandoval|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Sandoval|title=The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation|year=2005|publisher=Thunder Bay Press|isbn=1-59223-372-4}} * ''Joel Whitburn's Billboard Top Pop Singles'' * ''Instant Replay'', Rhino CD booklet
{{The Monkees}}
Category:1969 singles Category:The Monkees songs Category:Songs written by Bobby Hart Category:Songs written by Tommy Boyce Category:1969 songs