Valleri

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Valleri is a song by the Monkees, written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. Don Kirshner, the TV show’s music supervisor, asked for a “girl’s-name” song, so Boyce and Hart improvised Valleri on their way to his office. The original 1966 session included a flamenco-style guitar solo by Louie Shelton and featured the Candy Store Prophets, but contract issues kept that version from being released.

A new version was recorded in December 1967, produced by Boyce and Hart, with a brass overdub added after Kirshner’s insistence that it needed something extra. This remade Valleri was released as a single on February 17, 1968, with Tapioca Tundra as the B-side, and later appeared on the Monkees’ album The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees.

The song was a big hit. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, topped the Cash Box chart, and went to number one in Canada. It also charted in the UK. Valleri became the Monkees’ last Top Ten hit in the United States and their last single pushed by the TV show.

Musically, Valleri is built around four chords, with a bridge that adds variety and a distinctive guitar moment. The original 1966 version wasn’t released until 1990, when it appeared on Missing Links, Volume II. A cold-ending version, sometimes called “Valerie,” appeared on the 1986 Then & Now compilation, and some later releases use the longer ending.

Valleri has a long live and touring history. It was performed in the 1976 shows with Boyce and Hart and became a staple in the Monkees’ reunion tours through 2011. After Davy Jones’s death, it wasn’t always featured in later tours, but in 2022–2024 Micky Dolenz included Valleri in his performances to honor the band’s history.