"Different Drum" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Michael Nesmith in 1964. It was first recorded by the northern bluegrass band The Greenbriar Boys and included on their 1966 album Better Late than Never! Nesmith offered it to the Monkees, but the producers of the TV show, who had wide control over the group's musical output early on, turned him down (though Nesmith did perform a short comic version of the song in an episode of The Monkees). The song became popular in 1967 when it was recorded by the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt, who took their version of "Different Drum" to No. 12 on the Cash Box Top 100, No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and No. 16 in Record World magazine. "Different Drum" did best in New Zealand, where it reached No. 5. In 1972, Nesmith recorded his own version. "Different Drum" has since been covered by other artists. The Greenbriar Boys version Michael Nesmith wrote the song in 1964, when he was looking to start performing as a singer-songwriter. "Different Drum" tells of a pair of lovers, one of whom wants to settle down, while the other wants to retain a sense of freedom and independence. Its narrator is the lover who wants to remain free, telling the other that "we'll both live a lot longer" if they part ways now. Nesmith said: "The lyrics ... had nothing to do with my personal life – I was newly married with a pregnant wife." In 1965, he shared the song with John Herald of the Greenbriar Boys. The following year, Herald's group recorded it on their album Better Late Than Never. The song reached a wider audience when Nesmith rushed through a version of it in a comedy bit while pretending to be Billy Roy Hodstetter, in the Monkees television show episode "Too Many Girls", which aired in December 1966. Davy Jones mentions this during the commentary track on some DVDs of this episode. The Stone Poneys version The song is best known for the 1967 version credited to the Stone Poneys, issued by Capitol Records. featuring a vocal performance by an up-and-coming 21 year old singer named Linda Ronstadt. It was Ronstadt's first hit single, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as No. 12 on the Cash Box magazine singles chart. (It went to No. 1 in the Los