A Dawning Dilemma

Song 523: This week the playlist puts the spotlight on Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow) by The Monkees, written by Neil Diamond, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I quickly became a Monkees fan soon after they came along, and I watched the TV show whenever I could. While I couldn't own LPs back in my HS years, a few good friends had More of the Monkees and so I got to hear it quite a bit, and got to know the tracks very well. This was the first time Neil Diamond showed up on my radar - at some point, hanging out with a friend who played the album, I looked at the label to find out who wrote this tune. He actually got a lot more attention for writing the 33's hit single I'm a Believer, and I liked that piece too, but not nearly as much as this one. I remember doing a field trip to NYC with an HS class in the spring of 1968, and hearing someone's radio playing this cut during the Catskill Mountain segment of the ride. At that moment, I felt it might apply to a romantic dilemma unfolding in my life, though, as it turned out, I had viewed the situation more optimistically than it warranted, but still, hearing this recording felt truly magical then, just as recalling that scene does now. Of course, with so many question marks lingering in the air due to the pandemic, we all might have a reason to sing Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow), though an amorous complication seems quaint compared to the current calamity, but, as I have said from the very beginning of it, what we really know about the COVID-19 story is… WE DON'T KNOW.