I'm a Believer

I thought love was only true in fairy tales, meant for someone else, but not for me. Love was out to get me, that's the way it seemed. Disappointment haunted all my dreams. And then I saw his face, it made me a believer...
Davy Jones. My first real British teenage dream. Donny was my first American teenage dream, but there's something about those lads from across the pond that gets me every time. I met him on The Monkees and my life became a week-to-week anticipation of WWDD. "What would Davy do?" His comedic timing was spot on. His boyish charm and good looks made him the Monkee to crush on. His style was impeccable. And his smile? Well, his smile was like no other. He made saying, "groovy' elegant and cool. I still say 'groovy' because of Davy Jones. And because I'm elegant and cool. I was his biggest fan. I'll confess. Every cover of Tiger Beat that featured Davy Jones hung on my wall. I owned the albums. I knew all the words to all the songs. Especially because I knew he was singing those words to me. Joy. His fan. His coolest, elegant, groovy fan.

Years later, when my girls were of pop music appreciation age, I introduced them to The Monkees, and the beauty and romance that was Davy Jones. We had Davy Jones dance parties in our basement. It was the first cd we listened to anytime we went on a road trip. He taught them about all things British and led them down the road of boy-band adoration. Musically, he inspired me. Not only could he sing, but he made percussion instruments popular. I still secretly aspire to be the tambourine player in a band. Not just any band. A band featuring me. And Davy Jones. In a tambourine duet. Alas, now that will never come to pass. But a girl can still dream, right?
And dream this girl did. The moment he stepped in to the recording booth on The Brady Bunch and started singing, "Girl, look what you've done to me," I knew my dreams were coming true. "Me, and my whole world." He was singing to me. His groovy girl. Forget Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. He was singing to me. "I'm telling you girl, something unknown to me, makes you what you are." At that very moment I was unknown to him. But only in his dreams. In my dreams he was, "all that I want for me." The true magic occurred AFTER the recording session. Classic girl-gets-teen-heart-throb moment. Davy didn't have a date for the prom. Neither did Marsha. And of course, he was there to make everyone's "morning brighter, and nighttime nicer." Yes, he made a better world for me. And Marsha. And all the homecoming queens of the teenage dreams. So cheer up, sleepy Jean. Thanks to Davy Jones we will always be daydream believers.