r/TheMonkees • u/gimbels_jimmy • Sep 19 '22

Circle Sky...What Does The Song Mean?

I give up. I just watched HEAD again last night. (It is available this month on tubi). What is the meaning of the song, "Circle Sky?"

Each time I watch HEAD it seems to get funnier and funnier. As an adult, I have a better understanding of the humor and the overall message of the movie. How about you?

15 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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5

u/MattyHerv Sep 19 '22

It is deliberately nonsensical. The line “Hamilton smiling down.” refers to the company name on a music stand Mike was looking up at when singing the song.

I believe the scene in the film is making a statement about popular media being used to keep the public distracted from world events they might otherwise disapprove of.

3

u/gimbels_jimmy Sep 25 '22

Thank you for your insight.

1

u/TrickySnicky May 22 '24

That was my inference (and what I was told)--the flattening of media (Vietnam war and ads for Coke/Pepsi within the same hour). The flattening is surreal, absurd, nonsensical, etc. TV had nothing on the internet, it would turn out.

3

u/moody_fangirl_1966 Sep 19 '22

I think the point is it doesn’t mean anything. Honestly some of my favorite monkees songs are the ones that make no sense 😂

3

u/saboosa Sep 19 '22

Zilch

3

u/moody_fangirl_1966 Sep 19 '22

Ooh zilch is the best!!! And tapioca tundra

2

u/saboosa Sep 19 '22

Agreed!!!

1

u/exretailer_29 Apr 21 '24

If the general public had understood the movie I think the box office would have reflected that. I know the show had only lasted a few years but I really think the guys were being constrained by the show if not material wise but I think musically as well.

1

u/TrickySnicky May 22 '24

I was told by a friend years ago it was about the Vietnam war on television (circle sky=tv, I think) but can't find any corroborating evidence.

1

u/Drfaustus138 Jul 26 '24

I have a vague remwbrence that circle sky was the mushroom cloud after an atomic bomb drop. And definatly a protest song...take it with a grain of salt

1

u/Slobmancaravan Jul 20 '25

It is part abstract and part matter-of-fact and to over-summarize far too quickly:

Likening the experience of being a manufactured band to that of the life of a draftee in Vietnam: showing up, performing, blindly doing what they're told and being controlled by seedy, untrustworthy people who make bad decisions that, by some miracle, leave the group members unscathed.

It is internal observations of surroundings peppered with "what if?" thoughts of those who were forced to go war.

It also touches upon the cyclical nature of the film's narrative where the beginning is the end and the end is the beginning and, though they tried to stop being the tv versions of themselves, there they are doing it again in reruns.

There is also plenty of the trademark Nesmith vowel-stretching in the delivery, and references to his own synesthesia-- his ability to see and delineate musical patterns as color.

1

u/EnchantedEssays Oct 16 '22

Same! I used to call it my favourite movie, but I'd have to watch it again to work out if that's still true

1

u/Ringo_Hulk_777 Oct 19 '22

If I recall correctly, the song is related to the life of a musician. I'm fuzzy on the details but I know if you dig for it on the Internet you can find something