Davy Jones: The Last Train

Davy Jones came to fame playing the "Artful Dodger" in the musical Oliver on Broadway in 1963. Then, he became the "Paul McCartney" figure of the Monkees, a band created to tried to ride the crest of Beatlemania by getting other surfers on that wave. Not sure the surfing analogy works, maybe better with the Beach Boys genre groups. Like Jan and Dean...

Quite interesting that Davy Jones was on the Ed Sullivan Show the same night the Beatles were. The Monkees' music was catchy. Basically Pop tunes with a certain sweetness. For some reason Archie, Jughead, Veronica, and Betty, come to mind. The high school world of the 1950's.

I actually saw Davy Jones in person. It was at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, restaurant/bar several years ago. Davy was quietly sitting with some friends and the guy I had befriended--a man who worked for the Olive Garden as a trainer--kept shouting intermittently "Davy!" It was embarrassing and Davy would look over and nod. Ah fame, a divorced man with musical aspirations that amounted to little--who missed his daughter--shouting your name in a no name joint in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Not the throngs of adoring cute chicks that Davy imagined and experienced all those years before.

The man who I was sitting with had a mantra at the Olive Garden called NCO. "Neat, Clean, and Organized." It was ironic considering that his life seemed quite the mess. He told me he had written a song from an experience he had with his daughter as he was preparing to hit the road once again for the Olive Garden training gig. His daughter--a preteen--said a quick goodbye to him and went about with what she was doing with no tears or emotional heart-wrenching sobs to her departing Daddy. The songs title was "It is Getting Too Easy to Say Goodbye." The man became very emotional and distraught as he recounted how he wanted to be missed by his daughter. And, she just wasn't there anymore. She had moved on.

The best thing I could do at the time was give away my beloved "Sticks and Stones" tape from the 77's to him, hoping somehow that he would find hope in his pathos. It took several years for me to find that album again. It was in the bargain rack at a Christian bookstore. I am telling you, giving him that tape was akin to Abraham sacrificing Isaac. And I had no idea it would be so difficult to obtain a replacement at that time either.

Since then, it has been re-released as a CD. What was lost was found, hopefully for the man too. I am quite excited that two of the four 77's are coming to Lancaster, Pa. for a show on March 18th to play songs from "Sticks and Stones." Verily, a case of life coming full circle. Here is my favorite song from the record: "Nowhere Else.". Music truly matters and it sounds like I will have the opportunity to hang out with the musicians after the show. Sweet! 

How often the world moves on. We are all on a train to eternity. We want to matter, to count, for someone to miss us when we are gone. We want to leave something behind from our lives that lasts. Godspeed Davy, we will be joining you soon. It is becoming too easy to say goodbye..