Thread: Goodnight Sleepy Jean

I was going to marry him you know,
that beautiful boy
who seemed a man to me—
my eight year old heart
was sure of this.

My secret pleasure each night;
to kiss his poster in fierce adoration,
only the young can feel.

I hadn’t thought of him in years.
Now, the soft bite; a sad
but sweet nostalgia, stings my eyes.

Goodnight Sleepy Jean...sweet dreams.

Sis prefered "Herman's Hermits". I presume there was a Herman in the group? Oldest bro thought "head" was pretty cool. Ten years later, "Stepping Stone" was often covered by the punk bands we listened to. Hardly anyone knew it was the monkeys' who did it first. ....Who knows what it means...you're a....
Yes , I can feel it. I remember now.

Lol! Yes, that makes me old enough to be your mother, probably.

Love you for this, Sis. That song plays in my head a lot along with I'm Henery the Eighth I Am. The only thing good about being the baby with siblings so much older was their albums, remember records? lol. Thanks for bringing me back, love, I needed that today, for a few moments I got to be "a daydream believer and a homecoming queen".

Originally Posted by Gumby

Lol! Yes, that makes me old enough to be your mother, probably.

It makes you old enough to be my sis, unless you had an eight yo heart, in a twenty somethin' body. We also had a "tijuana brass" 45. My favorite t.v.commercial was the"winchester kuh-bee-brow"(winchester cathedral?) no idea what it was, but it was a catchy jingle.

Not sure what the specific reference is to, but I really like how this piece can really be applied to anyone, boy or girl, who has that superstar crush. Just lovely. Just some thoughts:

Originally Posted by Gumby

I was going to marry him you know,
that beautiful boy
who seemed a man to me—
my eight year old heart
was sure of this.

My secret pleasure each night;
to kiss his poster in fierce adoration, Syntactically, I think you need to get rid of the comma and change "in" to "with"
only the young can feel.

I hadn’t thought of him in years.
Now, the soft bite; a sad
but sweet nostalgia, stings my eyes. Great sounds in this stanza

Goodnight Sleepy Jean...sweet dreams. I think you should remove the ellipsis and use a dash.

My wife liked Peter (she said I looked like him, I kinda did), but her favorite Monkees tune was sung by Davie. I liked the subtle references to the songs. Nice.

Kevin, yes I do remember those 45's. Boy, music sure took up a lot of space to store back then. "winchester kuh-bee-brow" LOL!

Thanks Lisa, yes those albums were so precious to us teenagers. To be guarded from those pesky younger siblings sticky little fingers. You're always a daydream believer and a homecoming queen to me.

S.G. thank you for commenting here. Being a young man, you wouldn't have a first hand knowledge of the Monkees that us old fogies have.
As to the poem, I was so attached to that 'you know', probably because that's exactly what I said to my daughter when we discussed Davy's death. The 'in' and 'with' I went back and forth on, but you are probably right about that. Love your suggestion of a dash instead of elipsis. Thank you again!

Van, my sister loved Micky Dolenz, we had us some arguments over which one was the cutest. Peter always seemed the quiet, shy one. Thank you for reading and commenting.

Ah, Gumby, my mum loved the Monkees, and Davy Jones were her fav, too. Such a sweet, simple poem. I pretty much agree with everything Glass said, but if you're attached to the "you know," then by all means, leave it in. This is a highly personal poem, even as it is relate-to-able to anyone who's loved someone famous... I was actually pretty shocked to hear of his death - he really wasn't that old, comparatively speaking. I hated those stupid Brady Bunch movies, but the scene in the first one where Davy Jones is singing "Girl" and all these middle-aged women are screaming and crying with delight - priceless.

Thank you Miss B. You're right in that this is a personal poem, even if it could apply to so many. Davy was definitely too young to die. And I remember that Brady Bunch. Priceless is just about right.

Edit:

Goodnight Sleepy Jean

I was going to marry him,
that beautiful boy
who seemed a man to me—
my eight year old heart
was sure of this.

My secret pleasure each night;
to kiss his poster with fierce adoration
only the young can feel.

I hadn’t thought of him in years.
Now, the soft bite; a sad
but sweet nostalgia, stings my eyes.
Goodnight Sleepy Jean— sweet dreams.