Your Auntie Grizelda

"Your Auntie Grizelda" is a song recorded by the American pop rock group the Monkees. Diane Hildebrand wrote the lyrics and Jack Keller composed the music. It is the first released song of the band with Peter Tork on lead vocals.

"Your Auntie Grizelda"
Song by the Monkees
from the album More of the Monkees
Released	January 10, 1967 (1967-01-10)
Recorded	October 23, 1966
Studio	American, Studio City, California
Genre	Psychedelic pop[1]
Length	2:30
Label	Colgems
Composer(s)	Jack Keller
Lyricist(s)	Diane Hildebrand
Producer(s)	Jeff Barry, Jack Keller

The song appeared on both the TV series and the 1967 album More of the Monkees. While originally published by Screen Gems-Columbia Music (BMI), it is now published by Colgems-EMI Music (ASCAP).^[2][3][4]

Popularization

Although it was never actually released as a single, "Your Auntie Grizelda" has appeared on several of the band's subsequent "Greatest Hits" albums, and the Monkees regularly performed it in their live shows. This was the first released Monkees song to feature Peter Tork on lead vocals. In the instrumental break, Tork was told beforehand to make nonsensical sounds, according to the songwriter Diane Hildebrand.

Lyrics

"Your Auntie Grizelda" is a general complaint about a prissy and spinsterish aunt named Grizelda. The verses condemn her as pushy, righteous, and judgemental, with the chorus concluding that "No bird of grace ever lit on auntie Grizelda".

Outside of The Monkees shows

An instrumental version of the song can be heard during Major Nelson's bachelor party in I Dream of Jeannie Season 5 Episode 6, and the hippie party in "Never Put A Genie on a Budget" Season 5 Episode 14. An instrumental version also is the background disco music in The Flying Nun Season 1 Episode 2.

References

1. "Peter Tork Dead: Monkees Bassist Dies At 77". Billboard. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
2. Eakin, Marah (23 February 2015). "With "Your Auntie Grizelda," The Monkees got even more madcap". avclub.com. AV Club. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
3. Martoccio, Angie. "Flashback: The Monkees' Peter Tork Sings a Gleeful 'Your Auntie Grizelda' in 2015". Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
4. Greenwald, Matthew. "The Monkees, Your Auntie Grizelda". Allmusic.com. AllMusic. Retrieved 13 March 2019.