< The studio/Kirshner heard Paperback Writer, knew they needed a song that began with a riff, and came back with Pleasant Valley Sunday. >> 1. "Paperback Writer" begins with the *a capella* chorus, not the riff. 2. "Paperback Writer" was released in late May (US) / early June (UK) of 1966. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was released as a pre-album single in mid-July 1967, well over a year later. The Monkees put out six other singles after the release of "Paperback Writer" before they put out "Pleasant Valley Sunday", which seems to indicate that the latter hit was not designed to fill a need created by the former. 3. Don Kirshner and The Monkees parted ways long before "Pleasant Valley Sunday" came out. The last Monkees song with which he was involved was "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" in the spring of 1967. The Monkees actually had quite a bit of creative autonomy by the time "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was recorded, so it's not likely that "the studio" was dictating terms to them at that point. You may be thinking of "Last Train To Clarksville" rather than "Pleasant Valley Sunday", as the liner notes in one of The Monkees' box sets claims that Boyce and Hart were at least partly inspired to write "LTTC" after listening to "Paperback Writer". By the way, you made some very solid points about Andy Bopp in your reply to Kerry Kompost. Greg Sager