"Tapioca Tundra" is a 1968 song written by

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the Monkees and co-star of their The Monkees (TV series), TV series of the same name (1966–1968) ...

and originally performed by the

Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees'' television series, they were one o ...

Lyrics

The lyrics of "Tapioca Tundra" poetically describe how a writer of poetry or prose loses control of a work's meaning and impact once consumed by its audience. Michael Nesmith described his songwriting style for "Tapioca Tundra" as poetry set to music. "One of the ways I got into songwriting was to find poems by great poets and see if I could put them to music," he said in an interview. "At the time that 'Tapioca Tundra' and 'Daily Nightly' came along, I had been writing my own poetry for a while. ... They weren't really designed as songs at all." A handwritten early version of the poem on which the lyrics were based was printed in the July 1967 issue of ''

Tiger Beat ''Tiger Beat'' was an American teen fan magazine published by The Laufer Company and marketed primarily to adolescent girls. The magazine had a paper edition that was sold at stores until December 2018, and afterward was published exclusively o ...

'' magazine, for which Nesmith served as guest editor.

The Monkees

Released as the B-side of "

Valleri "Valleri" is a song written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart for the Monkees. The single peaked at #3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent two weeks at #1 on the ''Cash Box'' chart in early 1968, and reached #1 in Canada and #12 in the UK. B ...

", "Tapioca Tundra" was the first of the Monkees' singles to feature a lead vocal by Nesmith and it was his biggest hit as a songwriter for the Monkees. The song also appeared on the Monkees' fifth studio album, '' The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees''. Sandoval, Andrew.
The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees
' (CD box set liner notes) (8 February 2010). Retrieved 11 April 2025. Despite being a B-side, it was a

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hit in the United States, reaching #34 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.''Billboard'' Hot 100
. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 80:13 (30 March 1968). Retrieved 11 April 2025.McCutcheon, J. D.
USA Colgems Singles: Valleri / Tapioca Tundra
. ''Monkee45s.net''. Retrieved 11 April 2025. It also shared the #1 position with its A-side for one week in April on Canada's ''

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'' chart.The RPM 100
. ''

'' 9:7 (13 April 1968).

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

. Retrieved 17 April 2025.

Charts

A: Chart position shared with A-side "

Other versions

Later in 1968, an instrumental version of "Tapioca Tundra" appeared as the B-side of "Don't Cry Now" by Michael Nesmith's side project, the Wichita Train Whistle. Both sides of the single appeared on the album ''

The Wichita Train Whistle Sings ''The Wichita Train Whistle Sings'' is the ''de facto'' first solo album by Michael Nesmith, although the artist credited on the initial release is actually "The Wichita Train Whistle". It was recorded while Nesmith was still a member of the Mo ...

''. The Wichita Train Whistle project was an attempt by Nesmith at orchestral arrangements of his compositions with a large group of session musicians, with the help of arranger

Shorty Rogers Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arra ...

, in the vein of other composer-arrangers such as

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flutist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, ...

. In 1971 Nesmith re-recorded the song with the First National Band, though vocals were never finished for the track. The instrumental was released on ''Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings'' in 2021. Japanese jazz drummer Takeuchi Wasaburō teamed with

Tokyo College of Music is a private music school and university in Tokyo, Japan. Offering a range of undergraduate, post graduate and doctoral degree programs, the college was originally named as the in Kanda, Tokyo, in 1907. History The college moved to Toshima, T ...

vocal group School Mates on a 1969 album of Monkees cover songs, a majority of them from ''The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees'', including "Tapioca Tundra".

Reception and legacy

''Billboard'' magazine described the song as "a driving swinger with a clever megaphoned vocal workout and old-timey feel" in its "Top 20 Pop Spotlight" feature.Top 20 Pop Spotlight
. ''

'' 80:9 (2 March 1968). Retrieved 11 April 2025. An acoustic demo of "Tapioca Tundra" recorded in 1967 was used in the sixth-season episode of ''

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American legal crime drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for AMC. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–201 ...

'', "

Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...

". The episode's writer-director

Thomas Schnauz Thomas Schnauz (born ) is an American television producer and television writer. His credits include ''The X-Files'', '' The Lone Gunmen'', '' Night Stalker'', '' Reaper'', ''Breaking Bad'', and ''Better Call Saul''. Personal life Schnauz was ...

told ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' he thought the lyric, "It cannot be a part of me, for now it's part of you", fit well with Saul Goodman's character arc, saying, "It fits so well with ... 'I'm not that person anymore. It's part of this person.' It just feels like it works so well with the emotion that he's going through."Picurro, Allison.
Better Call Saul Writer-Director Thomas Schnauz on How Gene's 'Emotional Struggle' Influenced Those Breaking Bad Cameos
. ''

'' (1 August 2022). Retrieved 11 April 2025.

References