"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:
“Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast. If a man habituated to a narrow circle of cares and pleasures, out of which he seldom travels, step beyond it, though for never so brief a space, his departure from the monotonous scene on which he has been an actor of importance would seem to be the signal for instant confusion.... The mine which Time has slowly dug beneath familiar objects is sprung in an instant; and what was rock before, becomes but sand and dust.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“Our roots are in the dark; the earth is our country. Why did we look up for blessing—instead of around, and down? What hope we have lies there. Not in the sky full of orbiting spy-eyes and weaponry, but in the earth we have looked down upon. Not from above, but from below. Not in the light that blinds, but in the dark that nourishes, where human beings grow human souls.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)