The Lie that Led to a Hit Song: The Story Behind “Valleri” by The Monkees

A song written against the clock, recorded twice, and featuring a session guitarist who was clearly not a member of the band—this was The Monkees‘ last song to benefit from the massive exposure of a hit primetime television show. Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote it; they’re the same team that wrote “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I Want to Be Free,” and “(Theme from) The Monkees.” Let’s take a look at the story behind “Valleri” by The Monkees.

Against the Clock

Monkees music supervisor Don Kirshner called Boyce one morning at 10 a.m. and told him he wanted the next Monkees single to be a girl’s name. The songwriter lied and told Kirshner they had just written a song for Davy Jones to sing the night before, and it was a girl’s name. Kirshner wanted to hear it immediately and asked if they could be at his Beverly Hills Hotel room at 12:30 to play it for him. Boyce called his songwriting partner to find he had been up until 5 a.m. When he told him of the situation, Hart asked him to bring a cup of tea, and they would come up with something.

With the clock winding down, Boyce pressed Hart for a girl’s name. He recounted the memory of a girl who broke his heart when he was 14. When Boyce asked him what her name was, Hart replied, ‘Her name is Valleri.’ Boyce had the riff and a name. They drove to the Beverly Hills Hotel and played the chorus for Kirshner. It was all they had. Kirshner declared it a smash and gave them the green light to go into the recording studio with it. Now, they had to make up some verses.

Valleri I love my Valleri
There’s a girl I know who makes me feel so good
And I wouldn’t live without her, even if I could
They call her Valleri
I love my Valleri

They Recorded It Twice

The rest of “Valleri” was written, and the recording occurred in August 1966. The song was produced by Boyce and Hart, and they used session musicians to record the backing track. Jones added the lead vocals. The song appeared in two episodes of The Monkees on February 20, 1967, and again on April 17, 1967. Kirshner planned to include the song on the second album, More of The Monkees, but had a falling out with the band as they were looking to gain more musical control. From then on, songs would only be released with the credit “Produced by The Monkees.” Union contracts had already been filed listing Boyce and Hart as the producers.

Two disc jockeys in Illinois recorded the song off the television and played “Valleri” on the air, leading fans to call in asking where they could purchase the song. This prompted the record label to urge Boyce and Hart back into the studio to rerecord the song with the understanding they would not receive producer credit but would receive the songwriting payday. The song was rerecorded on December 26, 1967. When Screen Gems-Columbia Music president Lester Sill heard the track, he requested horns be added, and they were overdubbed two days later.

Valleri I love my Valleri
There’s a girl I know who makes me feel so good
And I wouldn’t live without her, even if I could
They call her Valleri
I love my Valleri

A Session Guitarist Who Clearly Wasn’t a Monkee

Session musician Louie Shelton provided the flashy guitar work. He had also played the iconic guitar part on “Last Train to Clarksville.” The guitar part started as a joke. Shelton told Denny Tedesco in an interview for The Wrecking Crew documentary, “As a guitar player, in my record collection, I had all kinds of stuff. I would sit down and work on all of the different stuff, classical, all of the jazz guys, but also flamenco. I remember I had quite a bit of Carlos Montoya flamenco things, so I don’t know what happened, but, I was feeling pretty confident when we cut that tune. Enough to joke around, so they started counting that tune off, and with those particular chord changes, I just started, as a joke, playing this Carlos Montoya stuff on electric guitar. And then, like, when it was over, I said, ‘I was just joking.’ And they said, ‘Oh, no, no. That’s great. Play that!’ And I said, ‘You gotta be kidding.’ They said, ‘No, let’s do it.’ So, we recorded it, and I played that same stuff, which is just a bunch of hammer-ons and pull-offs and stuff like that.”

Valleri I love my Valleri
There’s a girl I know who makes me feel so good
And I wouldn’t live without her, even if I could
They call her Valleri
I love my Valleri
Oh yeah, come on

The Second Time’s the Charm

The rerecording of the song was released as a single on February 17, 1968, and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was The Monkees’ last Top-10 hit, as their show was removed from NBC’s primetime lineup after the March 25, 1968 episode.

She’s the same little girl who used to hang around my door
But she sure looks different than the way she looked before
I call her Valleri
I love my Valleri

The First Version

The disc jockey recordings of the first version that received radio airplay surfaced on bootleg albums throughout the ’70s and ’80s. It received a proper release for the first time in 1990 when Rhino Records included it on Missing Links, Volume II, a three-volume collection of Monkees rarities and unreleased recordings, including other songs only featured in the television series.

Valleri I love my Valleri
I love my Valleri
I need you, Valleri

Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart

Boyce and Hart had a hit of their own as performers with “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight.” In the mid-70s, they recorded and toured with Monkees members Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz. Prohibited from using The Monkees’ name, they were billed as Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart.

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Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images