Bobby Hart, co-wrote 'Last Train to Clarksville' and other hits for the Monkees, dead at 86
Source: AP
By HILLEL ITALIE
Updated 8:22 PM CDT, September 14, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) Songwriter Bobby Hart, a key part of the Monkees multimedia empire who teamed with Tommy Boyce on such hits as Last Train to Clarksville and Im Not Your Steppin Stone, has died. He was 86.
Hart died at his home in Los Angeles, according to his friend and co-author, Glenn Ballantyne. He had been in poor health since breaking his hip last year.
Boyce and Hart were a prolific and successful duo in the mid-1960s, especially for the Monkees, the made-for-television group promoted by Don Kirshner. They wrote the Monkees theme song, with its opening shot, Here we come, walkin down the street, and enduring chant, Hey, hey, were the Monkees, and their first No. 1 hit, Last Train to Clarksville. The Monkees eponymous, million-selling debut album included six songs from Boyce and Hart, who also served as producers and used their own backing musicians, the Candy Store Prophets, as session players.
I always credit them not only with writing many of our biggest hits, but, as producers, being instrumental in creating the unique Monkee sound we all know and love, the Monkees Micky Dolenz wrote in a foreword to Harts memoir, Psychedelic Bubblegum, published in 2015.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/bobby-hart-dead-86-monkees-b1fdf152699443429d21360d5a3d95fb

SheltieLover
(73,635 posts)
turbinetree
(26,548 posts)This song is one of many from my teen years.............and the best from them as far as I am concern............



RazorbackExpat
(595 posts)Ah, memories
turbinetree
(26,548 posts)The Ambushers (1967) Song by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
RazorbackExpat
(595 posts)
turbinetree
(26,548 posts)Hekate
(99,414 posts)I myself was a folkie, but no matter. Their music sticks with me too.
turbinetree
(26,548 posts)slightlv
(6,557 posts)C Moon
(13,177 posts)I'm just noticing how much it was like Ticket to Ride.
hlthe2b
(111,300 posts)
Clouds Passing
(5,791 posts)
BlueKota
(4,599 posts)I loved their songs especially for the
?si=FU4KzBNwLX4__kznMonkees. Didnt even realize they had written another song I loved until years later. This one by Helen Reddy.Celerity
(51,980 posts)Label: Dischord Records Dischord 5
Format: Vinyl, 7", Red
Country: US
Released: Dec 1981
Genre: Rock
Style: Hardcore, Punk
