He traveled to the beat of a different drum

“I have no more than I did before, but now I’ve got all that I need, for I love you and I know you love me.”

It was clear from the start that Mike Nesmith was the most talented of the Monkees. For one thing, he was a songwriter, not just a musician, and he wrote some of the band’s best songs, like “Papa Gene’s Blues” on their first album (quoted above), and “Mary Mary” and “The Kind of Girl I Could Love” on More of the Monkees, and my personal favorite, “You Just May Be The One,” and lots...