Carole King - Porpoise Song (demo, higher quality)

This is the original demo of the song from "Head", recorded sometime in either 1967 or early 1968. The recording is from a far better source than the commonly circulated bootleg version.
The source for this is very close to the original tape - though I've never been able to find out who actually has the original. It came with two other demos of the era (both posted on my channel) and presumably those other demos were also offered to the Monkees.
My copy of these demos was on cassette for many years before I transferred them to digital. This is a particularly stunning demo, crunch and raw as it should be - but sadly it is also still unreleased.

[@jameysummers1577]

I had no idea that Carole King wrote this song! My favorite Monnkees song!

[@trippcox2641]

She out Beatled and Floyded them all on this one ☝️ ❤

[@JimmyBarnesTPA]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZOto4iPr5aHbZo

[@duffdaddy7921]

ScreenGems Exec:"We need a song like Lucy in the Sky, or Strawberry Fields, or I am the Walrus" Goffin/King: "OK. Give us a week." Carole King is a genius.

[@dodibenabba525]

This is song as good as either of them....

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

Unfortunately, Goffin turned out to be a schmuck who openly cheated on Carole until she divorced him. What an idiot he was.

[@miked3168]

The Beatles were the genius. She just copied their work

[@dodibenabba525]

@miked3168 mate she really didn't she's one of the world's most well known songwriters.

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

@@miked3168, Uh.......sure, ma'am....

[@icarus8471]

Not to sell Carole King short. She was an all-time great and a gifted songwriter. But the contributions of her writing partner Gerry Goffin, who was the main lyricist in their partnership, should not be overlooked. Goffin cowrote this song.

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

Yes, unfortunately he was also a schmuck who cheated on her repeatedly, until she went through a deep depression and divorced him.

[@TiberiusStorm]

I had no idea Carole King wrote so many songs for the Monkees. What a great talent!

[@mafru2]

+Shaine MacDonald It's unclear how many she and Goffin actually wrote specifically for the Monkees. Porpoise song was definitely one of them. The Monkees covered 13 of her songs and only 10 were released back in the day. There are at least a few songs that seem to have been available to any artist who thought they could get a hit with a particular song (like So Goes Love which was covered by a few bands but never a hit).

[@Kelly14UK]

Mystery solved. Ta.

[@ModnificentTV]

co-wrote

[@retronostalgiafan8635]

Fun fact, in 1963 the Beatles covered chains for Carole King.

[@subg8858]

Beatles did a few king/goffin tunes on live at bbc, take your hands off my baby and don't you ever change, and Decca audition, take good care of my baby. Along with Chains most of these were sung by Harrison, and are excellent examples of his early vocal style, which I'm a big fan of. He must have particularly been a fan. Goffin/King were among those cited as influences when they first came to america

[@rcweber1953]

This song still elicits chills--in the same manner that "Strawberry Fields Forever" did. I was delivering newspapers as a 16-year-old when I first heard "Porpoise," and I couldn't make out the lyrics, of course. The psychedelic vibe was enough, however! Those of us who experienced the 60's first-hand realize that we were part of a sonic rennaisance. Better evolution than devolution. In addition to "Head," the movie "Model Shop" (with music by Spirit, including a teen Randy California) does an amazing job of documenting a hazy, trippy Los Angeles during the psychedelic era.

[@juni0r75]

The Lyrics in the begining: "Erue, Domine, animam eius requiescat in pace." From the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass for the Dead. Deliver his Soul, O Lord, May he rest in peace.

[@jonashermes]

thank you

[@Wellch]

RIP, Mickey D

[@GeeeKay]

Mickey is alive and well!!!

[@TIMROZIERLOCAL513]

What were the reasons for them borrowing from the Requiem Mass … I love it BTW ..

[@LordWellfleet]

juni0r75 Ideal for head, which encapsulates personal and societal suicide.

[@michaelrose3101]

Love this song Carole glad you gave it to The Monkees definitely in their top 5 best. Oh and also Pleasant Valley Sunday. Thanks so much.

[@williamashton9235]

I gotta say that I saw the Monkees (without Mike) about 9 years ago, and they did "The Porpoise Song." A few people left during the tune, grumbling that the hits were over! Poor, deluded people. This is one of the 50 best songs of all time.

[@michaelrose3101]

@@williamashton9235 Can't believe the people leaving. I have to 👍 agree with you 💯

[@adammartin7007]

This is why I love KZbin.

[@iconicshrubbery]

I Am the Porpoise. ( goo goo gi-choo) Carole moves me so with her voice +I love that demo sound of the piano, so reminiscent of Lennon's demo of Real Love.

[@RipReed]

I don't know why but I'm obsessed with this version. I want to do a cover based on THIS version! I'm so grateful you are sharing it here :)

[@Whofan1000]

Hi, Rip! I love this song, too. Also, to go off on a tangent about your KZbin name, I'm about 95% sure you already know this, but in case you don't: My understanding, given to me back in the 1960s by a friend who worked in radio, is that "Rip Reed" was a name used in radio circles back in the day for an on-air news reporter who would simply rip the printed wire service news reports (like from UPI) off the machine as they came in and read them, unchanged. Again, ignore this if you already knew it, unless you know more about it than I do and can correct or add to my understanding of it! Thanks.

[@Jamaicafunk]

This is just a totally badass song I recently discovered after watching 'Head' here on KZbin for the first time. I like this demo almost as much as the Monkees version... She actually sounds like she trying to sound like a Porpoise. It's got that 'I am the Walrus/Strawberry Fields' vibe that I really loved about the later Beatles. I really get goosebumps listening to this. Thanks for the post!

[@eddesautels9407]

+Jamaicafunk Head is one of the great movies of all time--a time capsule of the 60s (and I'm not being ironic).

[@Jamaicafunk]

Ed Desautels I dig it more & more each time I watch it... Especially the opening Porpoius song sequence. I don't know what I would've thought about it if I'd seen it in the 60's or 70's. But seeing it now...Hit me right away.

[@g.j9748]

exactly

[@sarahloffler1872]

Jamaicafunk you know what makes me happy? Seeing or hearing about young people who are open to listening to and watching the good stuff from those days.

[@rjtbutler]

I agree & I thought only the Monkees recorded it.

[@martinperlow5460]

Thanks, Carole! Thanks for this gem and all your genius compositions. Growing up in the age of rock music wouldn't of been the same without you! You are so appreciated!

[@Peshkatari]

Wish she and Mickey Dolenz would do a duet version of this!

[@steventaylor6212]

Peshkatari The Polyphonic Spree did a nice version with Mickey.

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

Check out the version he does with Circ LInk and Christian Nesmith.

[@magneto7930]

There is the original demo with Carol King and Micky Dolenz voice. It's on KZbin.

[@marcap9757]

They did. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmmXiJ-Ml6h2mtE

[@avalond1193]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmmXiJ-Ml6h2mtE

[@theiceman6941]

This is absolutely brilliant. Carole King was such a songwriting genius, one of the greatest ever

[@pietro5266]

This cut is a priceless gem. Thanks for posting this!

[@tonystfa]

Brilliant!!! The song was obviously meant for Mickey - "riding the backs of giraffes for laughs is alright for a while" is a reference to his days as "Circus Boy", also on NBC TV.

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

Damn that was haunting. Even more than the final polished version. They were planning on having that latin prayer for the dead played over Mickey's jumping off the bridge; but I think that would have made the scene just too grim, and convince the audience that Mickey's character really was about to die.

[@larry930legend]

Absolutely amazing!! Feel like I'm on an endless summer vacation. Carole King has that magical voice.

[@thecharlesfoley]

It doesn't get any better than what Carole King comes up with. She is such a monster musician.

[@danehlers9989]

I love demos of my favorite 🎵 songs... ❤ As much as I love Carol King ( and Co.) Mickey Dolenz does this song so much justice it's like it was made for him. These artists are the last of well, a certain caliber I don't think we will ever see again. We're lucky to be here, now to be on this planet with a lot of them still with us...❤ I can hear the psychedelic overtones she added to the piano and obviously some on her vocals during the chorus which shows me she was open to incorporating different things into the music 🎶 . I wonder who's production this was, Gerry's maybe? ❤

[@mafru2]

the song was made for Micky ;)

[@immediate66]

Thanks for uploading, this version is a lot clearer - you can hear King's enunciation much better and it's less distorted too, great.

[@samensa1]

wow! this is so far out that it makes me want to cry.

[@errepi75]

Thank you for sharing: this is absolutely amazing!!! Carole is a genius!

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

I agree. Also, you're cute.

[@errepi75]

@@maskedmarvyl4774 thank you! 😊

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

@@errepi75 :)

[@bmt3315]

These demos are some of the most beautiful versions.

[@JohnnySokko]

One of my all time favorite songs.

[@katecriley1350]

Holy crap..I had no idea She wrote this.. damn wish she would get more air play with stuff like this.

[@frankcarmack1442]

Such an extraordinary song. Jack Nietzche's arranging didn't hurt, either. His arranging for strings("Expecting to Fly" from Buffalo Springfield's 2nd album comes to mind) was 2nd to none.

[@carlrusk90]

100%. Nietzche doesn't get 1/16th of the credit he deserves for Phil Spector/Buffalo Springfield, and so many other others arrangements.

[@williamashton9235]

"You Can't Always Get What You Want "

[@theshameofthesun]

so uplifting on this day, your beautiful singing and writing, made me happy

[@Margaret2332]

Lyrics - The Porpoise Song - The Monkees - Head - - - - My, my, the clock in the sky - Is pounding away - And there's so much to say - A face, a voice - An overdub has no choice - An image cannot rejoice - Wanting to be - To hear and to see - Crying to the sky - But the porpoise is laughing - Goodbye, goodbye - Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye - Clicks, clacks, riding the backs of giraffes for laughs - S'alright for a while - sings of castles - And kings and things that go - With a life of style - Wanting to feel - To know what is real - Living is a, is a lie - The porpoise is waiting - Goodbye, goodbye - Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye - Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye - Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye - - - - - Songwriters: Carole King / Gerry Goffin - - - Porpoise Song (Theme From "Head") lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

[@GnarlsGnarlington]

It's actually very meta (is that the correct word the cool kids use?) in that she wrote the song about Mickey Dolenz's actual life. It's like when wrestlers break character and reveal who they actually are.

[@Margaret2332]

@@GnarlsGnarlington - "Porpoise Song" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and performed by the Monkees as the theme song for their 1968 film Head and its accompanying soundtrack album. The single version runs more than a minute longer than does the album version. The song also appears on several Monkees greatest-hits albums.

[@GnarlsGnarlington]

@@Margaret2332 Yes. "Riding the backs of giraffes for laughs" is referring to Micky's old show Circus Boy.

[@brucediamond4703]

I love this - it’s a true gem just as she is . It has that ‘ pictures of matchstick men’ vibe to it .

[@reddevil9554]

I had no idea she wrote this. I've always loved this song and the water and mermaid scenes to it in Head.

[@GasFinger1]

A very unique song from a totally unique era .wonderful

[@sisterdiggins]

WOW! So great to hear this ! Thank you for posting !

[@ralphyetmore]

Oh, Damn. That's like a third above the Monkees version. New vocal goal!

[@mrblue99999]

well, helps to be a girl.

[@niggato23]

@@mrblue99999 lol

[@milesbiddulph3283]

yes! thank you for posting this!

[@mothmanghost983]

Shame that Carol's version hasn't been released yet. I love how The Monkees performed it but this is mind-blowing.

[@marchenprinz9533]

I really love this picture.

[@swarlock]

Really psychedelic for the time. Wish Micky and Carol could record this as it was original intended with the mass quote at the beginning and end.

[@ambidextra_ambidextra]

Awesome🌟 She's so amazing. Also, GG was so jawdroppingly beautiful

[@justinparker4476]

she is pretty amazing

[@BaconTomatoCheese]

What wouldn’t I give to hear a un-fucked with version of this recording….such an amazing song… thank you, Carole❤️❤️

[@mafru2]

Agree. I'd be shocked if anything other than a closer to the source version of this one exists though. Seems they didn't really focus on the quality of the demo. :)

[@clyde9803]

I can just imagine Roy Orbison doing this song and it's unearthly.

[@bobgreen623]

Yeah!

[@2000madi2000]

Thank you so much. I have sung this song so many times my throat is all croaky.

[@Margaret2332]

- "Porpoise Song" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and performed by the Monkees as the theme song for their 1968 film Head and its accompanying soundtrack album. The single version runs more than a minute longer than does the album version. The song also appears on several Monkees greatest-hits albums.

[@stephenwalker2924]

'No one I think is in my tree, I mean it must be high or low...' 'Stayed in bed all morning just to pass the time...'

[@NakedReporta]

Thank you for posting this. Yes, this is a much clearer copy of the demo. The dropouts near the end, starting around 2:25, sound really odd, but I'm guessing it was just mixed in a very rough way to show where she envisioned there would be phasing effects or such.

[@PlumbPitiful]

NakedReporta I think they were trying to imitate the sound of a porpoise.

[@GregBreden]

@@PlumbPitiful Absolutely. You can hear it's a filter being switched to various settings to get the squealing effect. I think what she did there was incredibly clever and I imagine she made the demo be a multitrack by using two recorders and overdubbing so it was more than just singing one vocal while playing the piano. She mentions overdubbing in the lyrics so I feel fairly sure. In the 80s I was so short of cash and equipment I did all my early demos that way. Also the discordant hamonies on "Goodbye goodbye goodbye" is chilling and not something you'd normally hear in a pop song. Pretty amazing really.

[@barbarakirk3064]

@@PlumbPitiful She reminded me of Alison Goldfrapp doing the effects on the microphone in Lovely Head here!

[@longandwindingroad]

gotta respect that she wrote this, but in my opinion the monkees turned this song into a masterpiece, one of the best songs ever

[@mafru2]

Agree with your point but to be just a little nit picky the credit goes to Gerry Goffin as producer, Jack Nitzsche as arranger and Micky Dolenz on vocals (it's Micky's finest moment) and the arrangement puts it in another world all together. Otherwise there's not another Monkee on the record. :)

[@cinemascoper7628]

Davy is on it ("The porpoise is laughing...")

[@catterinax]

I got the Head album for my ninth birthday and even then, was blown away by The Porpoise Song.

[@genericgeorge]

@@cinemascoper7628 Davy is singing the high harmonies

[@georgeorr1042]

pet3rgriffin Monkees were nothing without these genius songwriters. Going from “E major” to “C major” to start a song! Nuts. But she makes it work. Only a handle of people (Beatle’s, Brian Wilson) could twist keys around like this. Brilliant woman. My favorite song of hers.

[@vincentedwards2617]

i loved carole king then ,and love her now the greatest lady songwriter on the planet, jve

[@robinaylott1264]

So long and thanks for all the fish....can't help but come to mind

[@magneto7930]

Always loved her voice!

[@pixoariz]

Flanged vocal. Oh, Carol!

[@trfesok]

In my Carole King playlist with, the hit by the Monkees, an alternate mix, and other covers by Bongwater, Trouble and the Church.Thanks for the upload!

[@patrickmcevoy5080]

Truly a bulletproof song. My favorite version is by Trail of Dead - have you heard that one?

[@CookiesSoundStyleLab]

I suppose it just proves the real genius. I mean it's fucking superb.

[@paulomauricioclarabarbosab6824]

Uma grande artista. Que tempo bom!

[@thefonzkiss]

Running this through a simple hiss removal filter would clean it up immeasurably.

[@mafru2]

Too many high frequencies. Hiss filter would ruin it.

[@MrMarkRGraves]

The Latin is from the Requiem Mass - or the Mass for the dead

[@mlucifersam]

I love this version, and it's miles better quality than the one i have! Great stuff

[@bwolf23]

wow, never heard this version. incredible

[@roderickhancox990]

Stately, unearthly - higher forces at work in the creation of this art.

[@Emanresuadeen]

“Erue, Domine, animam eius requiescat in pace." _Deliver his Soul, O Lord, May he Rest In Peace._ It’s a prayer for the dead, in Latin. 0:12

[@archieway6534]

Looking everywhere for this - thank you!!

[@rodgertaylor2387]

Love it ❤

[@berkshireboy62]

AH Summer 68

[@tyroneepps3018]

Carole King 4-ever !

[@DavidReynolds-Hanson]

Wow, never knew about this, brilliant😮

[@robin2012ism]

Good one, Carole!

[@foxxyloxx]

Whoa, the Latin mass chant in the beginning adds such darkness. Badass.

[@HoZacRecords]

Stunning, incredible, jaw-dropping. Fucking amazing!

[@1962jet]

that there is some art. i wish it was on vinyl & in my juke em box.

[@tolanstout]

Brill Building turned upside down by The Beatles.

[@garysladek9110]

There was a co writer, they wrote a great song together.

[@mafru2]

There certainly was. 😁

[@venom5610]

2018 listening

[@caseyhenry4217]

Though I doubt this to be the case, the ending of the regular vocals, where it seems to be a gargled mess I tend to think that was intentional. As if fading away, going down the drain, if you will. Either way, it's a largely unrecognized masterpiece.

[@simonmccreath3425]

Casey Henry It is intentional, it's mimicking the sound Porpoises make. This is a demo..you know;- try an idea out imperfectly. listen, see if it's worth working into a later takes..etc, etc. If nothing else it is a 'Porpoise Effect' so to speak, on her vocal track. I say vocal track; I would guess ALL of this is one track..If 2 then still definitely in mono. Tape Cassette recorders were available in the US by this time. Sounds VERY MUCH like a cassette recorder to me. I'd guess it was sat on the top of the piano in my opinion Fwiw.

[@Vichedges]

@@simonmccreath3425 No it's not, it's just the tape fucking up.

[@lostjohnny197]

For real, Trouble has a super good Heavy Metal version. also Polophonic Spree.

[@josephvengen9989]

Agreed....what a "expletive deleted" genius (saw that term used in an old Downbeat article)!

[@shaddersshadwell4941]

I always presumed the Monkees wrote the tunes on Head

[@dougrian9530]

Shadders, The Monkees did write multiple tunes on the Head soundtrack-Tork & Nesmith wrote some great stuff.

[@josepnavarro7195]

A fucking MASTERPIECE

[@michaelhaniotes36]

A very talented composer. The Monkees were lucky that she was in Ktisherners stable.

[@wfamdaxj]

Would love to hear a modern version of this but can't decide who I would like to sing it..... Jon Anderson perhaps ?

[@TheChequeredHorse1]

With all the advanced audio remastering tools we have today (including AI-based tools) I wonder how good this recording could be made to sound!

[@TheChequeredHorse1]

Just found this, the quality's even better: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kHzMhXuslMuUp68

[@mafru2]

@@TheChequeredHorse1 wow, that sounds good. Andrew would, naturally, have a better versions - though I don't think Dear Marm sounds much better than why I have - though mine is still cassette copy of a cassette. ;)

[@davidb2552]

I was this old when I found this...lmao

[@Zombywoof92553]

wow!

[@gerardcousineau3478]

Amazing 😊❤

[@StorytimewithMarie]

OMG💖

[@nathanmoak1515]

every time i bought a new album i looked to see who wrote the songs and who produced them. guess who's name is on hundreds of pop songs....oh carol!

[@maskedmarvyl4774]

Where did you Find this?? Thank you for posting this. What an underrated talent she is....

[@mafru2]

A friend got it in a trade back in the 80s. He would never tell me who he got it from - I suspect it's someone with a name in the business at the time, perhaps a musician. No better sounding source for this anywhere.

[@groovygirl23]

Great photo

[@richardm123uk]

I'm having a shit, this is AMAZING!

[@ModnificentTV]

what's amazing - the shit or the demo? both??

[@SecretAgentPaul]

Jaime Babcock - or him telling everyone about it.

[@dang2443]

thrilled by his own defecation.

[@ScobieLeprachaun]

Love it 😊

[@kenhoughton2594]

I actually like this better than the Monkees version, wow.

[@Felix_Effex]

reminds me so much of Status Quo- but Carole probly thought it up first anyway...

[@jimeponcho4235]

hey joe.

[@KrystalLake]

Tom Skerritt Where you going with that gun in your hand?

[@barbarakirk3064]

There's this electronic jew's harp effect that I also heard in ELO's Strange Magic and One Summer Dream later - is it a clavinet?

[@mafru2]

I am likely wrong but I thought it was just eq'd and effects.

[@johnjones3714]

Yeah just outstanding really Monkees version wonderfully psychedelic of course

[@MrMarkRGraves]

In other words, a Funeral Mass.

[@TheNewYorker360]

So, Carole King wrote this in 1967 or early 1968? Did she out-Sgt. Pepper the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" with this song? Not bad for a girl from Forest Hills, Queens. And, funny thing, but the Latin sung at the beginning and end of the song sounds like the music of 14th Century German nun Hildegard von Bingen. See: kzbin.info/www/bejne/maXbZpmlYp13iqs end

[@jatkinson3938]

when was this recorded? I'm guessing its before the Monkees version. Shame it didnt get a full relese. Its an awseome song

[@GeeeKay]

As stated, it is a demo. So yes - obviously before the Monkees FOR the Monkees.

[@dang2443]

This kicks ass on the Monkees cover. Fact. Not even open for debate.

[@marciomar2698]

2021 listening

[@jose243546]

what's she say in the beginning? Pd: LOVE IT! Pd2: Hermoso descubrimiento.

[@Emanresuadeen]

“Erue, Domine, animam eius requiescat in pace." _Deliver his Soul, O Lord, May he Rest In Peace._ It’s a prayer for the dead, in Latin. 0:12