"The Monkees" Rewatch: I've Got a Little Song Here

“I’ve Got a Little Song Here” begins with a mail delivery seemingly made up of mostly advertisements; one, for Peter, is for a bodybuilding school and another for High Class Music Publishing. Believing it a ticket to “a million dollar business,” Mike decides to submit his own song, “Gonna Buy Me a Dog.” He meets with Bernie Class, who promises to give the song to a movie star for an upcoming film as long as Mike gives him $100 for “legal fees.” Micky is convinced Class’s business is nothing more than a scam, so the others decide to gather proof. Unfortunately, while they spy on Class, Mike confronts the actress Class claimed to know and finds out the “crummy” truth.

As I’ve said before, I have a weak spot for Mike-centric episodes and this is certainly no exception. Mike’s initial excitement is endearing and oh, man, is his disappointment relatable. Said disappointment led to one of the best quotes in the episode (if not the season):

Davy: Well, what do you want to do?

Mike: Oh, I don’t know, I thought I’d just sorta sit around the house and fail.

Another great thing about the episode is how it shows how tight the Monkees are as friends. Yes, most of the episodes so far show them banding together for the sake of a common goal, but there’s something especially endearing about how Davy, Peter, and Micky come together to help Mike, whether through exposing Class, cheering Mike up, or getting his money back. Not only are these things all endearing, but they’re quite hilarious as well. For instance, exposing Class is the first job for one my favorite recurring gags, Monkee Men, and of course Micky’s performance as MD steals the scene.

Micky: No fawning. Why must they always fawn?

While I do love this episode, I find it curious that they’d write the episode with Mike as a songwriter but use “Gonna Buy Me A Dog” instead of one of his compositions. It’s not as if the show and records didn’t ever make use of his songs, it happened all the time. Hell, the episode’s second romp is set to Mike’s “Mary, Mary!” Why not use “Mary, Mary” instead? Eh. It doesn’t ruin the episode or any of the performances; like I said, I just think it’s weird. In weird way it’s almost symbolic of the fight for creative control the Monkees would eventually have against Don Kirshner, in the sense that their own capabilities and sometimes superior work had to take a backseat to lame nonsense seemingly just because. But now I’m just rambling.