"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" | |
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Song by Paul Revere & The Raiders | |
from the album Midnight Ride | |
Genre | Rock |
Songwriter(s) | Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart |
Producer(s) | Terry Melcher |
"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" | ||||
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US single cover
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Single by The Monkees | ||||
from the album More of the Monkees | ||||
A-side | "I'm a Believer" | |||
Released | 12 November 1966 | |||
Format | 7" | |||
Recorded | 26 July 1966 Western Recorders Studio #1 Hollywood, CA |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 2:23 | |||
Label | Colgems | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
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The Monkees singles chronology | ||||
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"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" is a rock song written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. It was first recorded by Paul Revere & the Raiders and appeared on their album Midnight Ride, released in May 1966.
The song is simple musically, with a repeating verse chord progression of E major, G major, A major, and C major, and a repeating bridge in cut time of E major, G major, A major, and G major.
It is best known as a hit for The Monkees (US #20), released in November 1966, (making it the first Monkees B-side to chart). Musicians featured on the Monkees recording are: Micky Dolenz (lead vocal); Tommy Boyce (backing vocal); Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee, and Louie Shelton (guitar); Bobby Hart (organ); Larry Taylor (bass); Billy Lewis (drums); and Henry Lewy (percussion).
The various Monkees' versions differ across the single, stereo album, and mono album versions. In the stereo version, the track's title is sung just before the second verse, whereas on the single and mono album versions, this segment is left instrumental. Additionally, the stereo version has an edit in the fade out. The mono album version does not have this edit and therefore has a longer coda. The single also does not have the edit, but it fades the song earlier than the mono album. All Monkees' hits compilations through the mid-1980s used the stereo version, and afterward typically used the single version.
The song has been covered by many artists, such as the Liverpool Five, Sex Pistols, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Vicious White Kids, Johnny Thunders, The Merton Parkas, Blutgräfin, Minor Threat, Denny Darrison & the Heavy Bertations, State of Alert, The Flies, The Farm, The Catalina Scramblers, The Feminine Complex, DS-13, Six Feet Under, The Trashmen, Intruder, The Untouchables, Hi-NRG act Modern Rocketry, Hot Nasties, Per Gessle, Les Thugs, Fang, The W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band, The Pivots, Deadlok, The Rebounds, Barbi and the Kens, the Argentinian band Massacre, The Flares, and the UK band Scholars. It was also a hit for Modern Rocketry in 1983, #7 on the U.S. Disco/Dance/House Charts as well as PJ & Duncan in 1996, when it reached number #11 on the UK Singles Chart.