"Pleasant Valley Sunday" is a song by the Monkees, released in 1967. It was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Inspired by a street named Pleasant Valley Way and their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey, Goffin and King wrote the song about dissatisfaction with the life in the suburbs. The Monkees' version differs somewhat from Goffin and King's demo, and their recording features a well-known guitar intro played by Michael Nesmith and a reverb ending. Micky Dolenz sang the lead. It became one of the Monkees' most successful singles, peaking at No. 3 and continuing their string of top 10 hits. The song was included on Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. Writing Cowriter Carole King stated in her autobiography that after she and her husband Gerry Goffin had earned enough money from songwriting royalties, they moved from New York City to West Orange, New Jersey. Goffin disliked their suburban life and wrote lyrics to document the feeling that became "Pleasant Valley Sunday". The lyrics are a social commentary on status symbols, creature comforts, life in suburbia and "keeping up with the Joneses". Many alternative interpretations exist regarding the lyrics. In the book SuburbiaNation, Robert Beuka described the lyrics as "a wry commentary on the materialistic and anesthetized sensibilities of the adult generation in suburbia..." Brian Ward wrote in The 1960s: A Documentary Reader that the song was more associated with the New Left and the counterculture. Michael Nesmith jokingly stated in a 1978 interview with Blitz magazine that the song was written about "a mental institution." Deanna D. Sellnow, author of The Rhetorical Power of Popular Culture, commented that, despite so many definitions about the song's meaning, its rhetorical message is actually "bleak." Recording King recorded a demo of "Pleasant Valley Sunday", later included in the 2012 compilation album The Legendary Demos, but the Monkees' version has a faster tempo and some alterations to the bridge lyrics ("Creature comfort goals/Can only numb my soul/I need a change of scenery/My thoughts all seem to stray/To places far away/I don’t ever want to see/Another Pleasant Valley Sunday…." was changed to "Creature comfort goals/They only numb my soul/And make it hard for me to see/My thoughts all seem to stray/To places far away/I need a change of scenery."). The Monkees' producer Chip Douglas, who was responsible for these changes, stated that King disapproved of them. "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was