Different Drum

"Different Drum" is a classic song written by Mike Nesmith in the year 1965 (also copyrighted that year) and originally recorded by the northern bluegrass band the Greenbriar Boys and included on their 1966 album, Better Late than Never!. The song tells of a pair of lovers, one of whom wants to settle down, while the other wants to retain a sense of freedom and independence. Its narrator is the lover who wants to remain free, telling the other that they "will both live a lot longer" if they part ways now.

The song reached a wider audience when Nesmith rushed through a version of it in a comedy bit while pretending to be Billy Roy Hodstetter, in the Monkees television show episode "Too Many Girls", which aired in December of 1966. Davy Jones mentions this during the commentary track on some DVDs of this episode.^[1]

The song is best known for the 1967 recording performed by the Stone Poneys^[2] featuring a young and upcoming singer named Linda Ronstadt. The song was Ronstadt's first hit single, reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as #12 on the Cash Box magazine singles chart.^[3] Ronstadt's version flips the gender references in Nesmith's original lyric, replacing "girl" with "boy" when referring to the person she's singing to. The Stone Poneys version is noted for the use of a harpsichord played in the baroque style, as well as the use of strings and guitar.

Nesmith later rerecorded the song for his 1972 LP And the Hits Just Keep on Comin'. His version contains four verses, as opposed to the three in Ronstadt's version.

The song has been covered by

• Pete Burns
• Flying Emus - Australian band
• Susanna Hoffs with Matthew Sweet
• The Jayhawks
• The Lemonheads
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
• The Pastels
• Victoria Shaw
• Sara Watkins
• Paul Westerberg
• P.P. Arnold
• The Poppy Family with Susan Jacks

References

1. ^ "Too Many Girls". The Monkees. NBC. 1966-12-19. No. 15, season 1.
2. ^ Show 44 - Revolt of the Fat Angel: Some samples of the Los Angeles sound. [Part 4] : UNT Digital Library
3. ^ CMT.com : Linda Ronstadt : Biography

External links

• Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Poneys Alternate take on Different Drum