Paul Williams, The "Someday Man"

Birthday shout-out to the great American singer-songwriter and actor

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PAUL WILLIAMS With his amazing run as an actor and singer-songwriter, he wrote or co-wrote (with Biff Rose and Roger Nichols) songs covered by David Bowie, The Carpenters (“Rainy Days & Mondays,” “We’ve Only Just Begun”), Jack Jones, The Muppets, Helen Reddy, 3 Dog Night (“Old Fashioned Love Song”—also covered by Micky Dolenz), and Dionne Warwick—not to mention award-winning film and TV scores

He’s been Chairman and President of ASCAP since 2009 and is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In recent years he’s had a resurgence, working with Richard Barone, Daft Punk, and The Scissor Sisters. Somewhere he’s found time to take up skydiving and become a UCLA certified Drug Rehabilitation Counselor, co-authoring the book GRATITUDE & TRUST: RECOVERY IS NOT JUST FOR ADDICTS.

Paul wrote the confessional “Someday Man” as a single for The Monkees. Upon release in 1968, it under-performed and got lost as a “deep cut” + Paul’s own version didn’t do much better.

However, as cream rises to the top, in time the sophisticated and art-y song grew in popularity, in part because Davy Jones revived it for his solo set in 2009. Now it’s considered to be a Jones/Monkees evergreen and (speaking as a former band member) it was one of our favorites to play. Here’s the song from the 2011 tour Davy did w/The Monkees. Meanwhile, HB PW and thank you for your many musical gems.

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