You better ‘Believe’ it: The facts about the song “I’m a Believer” for a younger generation.

             When I mention the song “I’m a Believer”, what do you think of first? If you said the 2001 movie “Shrek” then you are not alone. Some people from my generation and younger will remember this being sung by Smash Mouth for the aforementioned film, but you’d be wrong. Yes, they did cover the song. Rewind back to 1966, nearly five decades ago, to a band who originally was known for the, at the time number one hit according to Billboard when the 45rpm single was released on November 21, 1966 ("I'm a Believer.").

A photo of an original 1967 Colgems pressing of  "More of the Monkees

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            Written by Neil Diamond, who was a recognized song writer at that time, the song was performed by the band The Monkees for their second album, More of the Monkees ("I'm a Believer."). The song was recorded over a period of two days on October 15^th and 23^rd 1966 (Sandoval 292). Subsequently this song has been one of The Monkees staples at their performances and accredited to their name. Neil Diamond also sung this song and was released on his 1967 album Just for You. Since then Neil has placed this song on three different albums including one in 1979 where he included new lyrics (“I'm a Believer.”). I’ve never heard that version, but will check it out.  The Monkees also perform this song at most of their concerts including the summer tour of 2001 ("The Monkees: Live Summer Tour (2002) (V)) (The Monkees: Live Summer Tour).

          

Close up of Colgems release. Now this album can be found on Rhino records.

 I will get more into who The Monkees are in my next article. I have been a fan of them for many years and had the pleasure to meet one member in 2011 and to see the others in concert in the summer of 2013. But that I will get into more next time. Hope you are enjoying my blog thus far. Stay tuned for more groovy articles.

Side 2

Works Cited

"I'm a Believer." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 31 Jan. 2015. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

"The Monkees: Live Summer Tour (2002) (V)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

The Monkees: Live Summer Tour. Perf. Dolenz, Mickey; Jones, Davy; Tork, Peter. WIN Media, 2002. DVD.

Sandoval, Andrew. "Songography." The Monkees: The Day-by-day Story of the '60s TV Pop Sensation. San Diego: Thunder Bay, 2005. 292. Print.

Homage to the Breakdown

                A year ago I heard terrible news. A staple in my life and in Bayside, Queens, NY was lost. The long lived store of almost 27 years, Breakdown Records closed its doors to vinyl record heaven for good.

  It felt like a piece of my life was lost. My father introduced me to this haven when I was a toddler. This was when they were in a smaller store located across 48^th avenue were a fish market currently stands now I believe. It was a cramped little shop, dark and dusty, but my father would dig through the bins while I stood next to him staring up in amazement. Then he would take his treasures of Frank Zappa records and others up to the front to pay. I was so small I could not see into the bins of vinyl record paradise. It would not be until about twenty years later would I truly learn the pleasures of listening to vinyl records, but that’s another story.

Over the years my father and I would return to this store after they moved into a larger store on Bell Boulevard and 48^th avenue. Their place of residence until their unfortunate end.   I would always find something there. Whether it be an old Jimi Hendrix poster or a collection of Tommy Dorsey records, I would treasure my finds.

Breakdown Records was a haven for my father and I. Unfortunately he passed on almost two years ago and it seems he took his beloved Breakdown Records with him. I laughed when I thought of it that way. My wish was to eventually maybe pass on Breakdown Records to my children, but I have the memories and a very good video I found on YouTube of a tour of the shop from 2012 done by DJ Funktual. I was pleased to have found this video tour of Breakdown Records. Now I can visit the shop virtually whenever I want. Thanks to DJ Funktual for preserving this shop at least in a digital form. And thanks to Anthony Cascella, the owner of Breakdown Records for staying around for so long and giving my father and I a place to hang out and escape modern life. Breakdown Records was a time machine. For an hour or two we could forget what year it was. Thank you. Breakdown Reocrds, you will be missed.

Here is the video tour of Breakdown Records:

http://youtu.be/zj7BbtRX0xg

Note: Breakdown Records still has their Ebay store running. You can check them out at http://stores.ebay.com/Breakdown-Records

And if you would like to read more about Breakdown Records check out these articles:

The Bayside-Douglaston Patch:

http://patch.com/new-york/bayside/meet-the-owner-anthony-cascella-of-breakdown-records

Iwantmorefood.com : Queens Qustodian:

http://iwantmorefood.com/2008/09/29/breakdown-records-bayside-queens-ny/

A Forgotten NY article on Bayside Hills that mentions Breakdown Records:

http://forgotten-ny.com/2008/05/bayside-hills-queens/