On December 10, it was revealed that Michael Nesmith of The Monkees died at 78 years old, with his family saying in a statement that he “passed away this morning in his home, surrounded by family, peacefully and of natural causes.” He was influential for his work with The Monkees and beyond, and Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard was impacted enough by his passing to perform some Nesmith covers on Instagram.
In a 21-minute video shared on the day of Nesmith’s passing, Gibbard covered a handful of songs, most of which were written by Nesmith: “Different Drum” (most popularly recorded by The Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt), “The Crippled Lion” (by Michael Nesmith & The First National Band) “Joanne” (a Nesmith solo track), “Me & Magdalena” (which Gibbard wrote for The Monkees’ 2016 album Good Times!), and “You Just May Be The One” (by The Monkees).
Gibbard wrote alongside the video, “Mike Nesmith passed today and I feel completely gutted. I also feel so fortunate to have called him a friend. I believe the best way to mourn the loss of a musician is to play their music. When we do so we keep the beauty of their spirit alive in our hearts. With that said, please enjoy this selection of some of my favorite Nez songs. Rest In Peace, Papa Nez. I am so grateful to have known you.”
Between songs, Gibbard spoke about the last time he saw Nesmith, saying (as Indie88 notes), “He was not in good health these last couple of years. The last time I saw him was in June. His spirit was there, he was still very funny and very personable as always, but he didn’t seem like he was doing too great physically. So the news today is sad but not entirely surprising. I just felt instead of posting with crying emojis or heartbreak emojis, I’d just play a couple of his tunes for you guys. It’s just the right way to do it, I think.”
Watch Gibbard’s covers above.
Death Cab For Cutie is a Warner Music artist. .
