First of all - I was never ever a Monkees fan (ducking into fireproof 
bunker). I was a 10 year old Beatles fanatic and saw them as nothing more 
than competition to the fab 4. Now, I of course love many of their tunes. My 
all time fave is Mary, Mary.

And Jamie, as a longtime veteran of dealing with publishing contracts I 
completeley understand mechanicals and how they work. But I still bet there 
were side deals involved when the Monkees covered a lesser known songwriters 
tune. Maybe that didn't apply to someone like Neil Diamond but even then I 
wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some form of kickbacks involved.

Bobby Sutliff
(who will never, ever again sign a publishing deal for only 75% of 
mechanicals)