Jack Nicholson’s Only Songwriting Credit is This 1968 “War Chant” He Wrote for the Monkees

By the mid 1980s, Jack Nicholson started showcasing his vocals as a singer in film, singing two duets with Meryl Streep in their 1986 romantic comedy Heartburn—“Yes Sir, That’s My Baby,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”—along with two more solo songs, “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby?” and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel song “Soliloquy.” A year later, Nicholson also collaborated with Bobby McFerrin on the children’s album The Elephant’s Child, which won a Grammy Award for Best Children’s Music Album.

Nicholson, whose musical talent spanned learning piano for he 1970 film Five Easy Pieces, and singing “Go to the Mirror!” with Roger Daltrey and Ann-Margaret in the The Who‘s 1969 rock opera Tommy and “The Star Spangled Banner” as Randle McMurphy in the 1975 drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The actor also picked up one writing credits during the late ’60s.

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[RELATED: 4 Songs Neil Diamond Wrote for The Monkees (1966-1967)]

‘Head’

In the 1968 satire musical film Head, written and produced by Nicholson and Bob Rafelson, The Monkees starred in several vignettes, including a Western, a war, a mystery, and more. For the soundtrack, the Monkees released their sixth album Head, featuring the theme, “Porpoise Song,” written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Harry Nilsson‘s “Daddy’s Song,” and another song, also co-written by Nicholson and Rafelson: “Ditty Diego—War Chant.”

In the song, the Monkees start off singing Hey, hey, we are the Monkees / You know we love to please / A manufactured image / With no philosophies before each member takes on a verse, beginning with Mike Nesmith, followed by Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, and Davy Jones, and repeats in that order, with all closing the chorus.

Hey, hey, we are the Monkees
You know, we love to please
A manufactured image
With no philosophies

We hope you like our story
Although there isn’t one
That is to say, there’s many
That way there is more fun

You’ve told us you like action
And games of many kinds
You like to dance, we like to sing
So let’s all lose our minds!

We know it doesn’t matter
‘Cause what you came to see
Is what we’d love to give you
And give it one, two, three!

But there may come three, two, one, two
Or jump from nine to five
And when you see the end in sight
The beginning may arrive!

“Ditty Diego – War Chant” was written as a parody of the Monkees’ Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart-penned theme song from their television series (1966-’68).

“Jack was fabulous,” said Tork of Nicholson in a 2011 interview. “We adored him, all of us. Michael practically fell in love with him, in a manly sort of way.” Dolenz added, “He was such a wonderful, charismatic, funny guy. Jack spent a lot of time with us. He hung out on the [TV] set and came out on tour, just picking up the vibe.”

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