"Circle Sky" is a song written by Michael Nesmith of The Monkees, which appeared on their sixth album, the Head soundtrack, and also in the film Head as a live concert performance.
The song is written and performed in a Bo Diddley style, staying mostly on a single chord (A Major), while strumming barre chords (from B Major to E Major) down a guitar neck for the intro, outro, and breaks, and from B minor to D minor for the bridge. The lyrics are impressions of sights and sounds on a Monkees tour, while "Hamilton's smiling down" refers to a Hamilton music stand, used for rehearsals and recording.
While the movie included the song performed live by the Monkees in Salt Lake City, Utah (on May 21, 1968, during a free show at the Valley Auditorium), the original soundtrack album instead substituted a studio recording, made by Nesmith and session musicians (an unexplained decision that became a major source of tension in the group). The movie version intercut Vietnam War footage, and several mirrored shots of the band onstage.
A lo-fi transcription of the concert version was included on an Australian Monkees compilation in the early 1980s, while an alternate studio take appeared on a Rhino Records album, Monkee Flips, in 1984.
A stereo recording of the concert version finally appeared on Missing Links, Volume II, in 1990. This version on the Apple iTunes Store is incorrect, but Amazon's MP3 matches.
A reworked version of the song opened the Monkees's 1996 reunion album, Justus, featuring a rare Davy Jones guitar performance. This version is harder rocking than the original but is otherwise identical musically. The lyrics, however, have been changed in several spots.
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Famous quotes containing the words circle and/or sky:
“A circle swoop, and a quick parabola under the bridge arches
Where light pushes through;
A sudden turning upon itself of a thing in the air.
A dip to the water.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“The first promise exchanged by two beings of flesh was at the foot of a rock that was crumbling into dust; they took as witness for their constancy a sky that is not the same for a single instant; everything changed in them and around them, and they believed their hearts free of vicissitudes. O children! always children!”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)