#34: Theme For A New Love by Davy Jones

City: Calgary, AB
Radio Station: CKXL
Peak Month: June 1967
Peak Position in Calgary ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #51
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Theme For A New Love”
Lyrics: “Theme For A New Love”

David Thomas Jones was born in suburban Manchester, UK, in 1945. Jones began acting in his childhood. In 1959, his Aunt Jessie answered an ad in the Manchester Evening News calling for “school boys to audition for a radio play” with the BBC She helped David, at 13, get the lead role in There is a Happy Land. He was on an episode of Coronation Street  in March 1961, when he was 15 years of age. He also had a guest appearance in the BBC police TV show Z-Cars. He considered pursuing becoming a jockey riding on horses. However, he was encouraged to pursue acting. He appeared on stage as Little Michael in Peter Pan, and then as the Artful Dodger in Oliver! in the early 60’s in the West End of London. In 1964 he was in a Broadway production of Oliver! and nominated for a Tony Award at the age of 18. On February 9, 1964, Jones appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on one of the episodes where the Beatles also were guests.

Later in 1964, Davy Jones appeared in a number of episodes in the medical TV drama Ben Casey, and the sitcom The Farmer’s Daughter. 

As a singer, in 1962 Davy Jones and the Dolphins released “Strictly Polynesian”, which got some airplay in Connecticut. In 1965, Jones released several singles and had two Top Ten hits in Australia, including #4 hit “The Girl from Chelsea” and “Dream Girl”, which reached #7. Jones first single release to crack the Billboard Hot 100 was “What Are We Going to Do?”, which stalled at #93. His cover of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” reached #4 in Sweden in 1967.

Davy Jones joined The Monkees in 1966. The group had a string of hits, starting with “Last Train To Clarksville”, “I’m A Believer”, “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You”, and “Daydream Believer”. In the midst of this streak of chart-topping hits, Jones kept on releasing solo singles and albums. One of these was a cover of the 1962 Top Ten hit by Paul Petersen titled “My Dad”.

Davy Jones had a Top Ten hit in 1967 with “Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner”. It climbed to #3 in Denmark and #10 in Sweden. As well, “Theme For A New Love” was a hit in a number of record markets in Alberta in 1967.

“Theme For A New Love” was principally written by Hank Levine. There was a British-born jazz and dance band leader named Henry Levine who was born in 1906. He moved to America when he was small and became a naturalized American citizen. But Hank Levine, who released the instrumental single, “Dr. Kildare”, in 1962, was a completely different person. (For excellent background about British-born Henry Levine, see Nick Dellow’s article under the Reference section at the bottom of this post). Hank Levine was born in the USA. He graduated at Peabody High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1944. He went on to study at Carnegie Mellon University, also in Pittsburgh, where he graduated in 1952. Hank Levine and His Orchestra made instrumental versions of pop tunes from the late 1950’s into the 1970’s. According to information at Discogs.com, these included “Tequila”, “Walk Right In”, “Michelle”, “Downtown”, “Georgy Girl”, “California Dreamin’’” and “Groovin'”, “Since I Fell For You”, “Elusive Butterfly” and “59th Street Bridge Song”. He was also an arranger, composer and conductor for over four decades.

In 1960, credited to Hank Levine and the Blazers, Levine released the single “Midnight”/”Banjo Rock”. “Midnight” and “Banjo Rock” charted in San Bernardino, California, in April. In November 1960, “Midnight” charted in San Antonio, Texas. That spring, Levine also arranged the Dorsey Burnette single on Era Records, “Hey Little One”/bw “The Ghost of Billy Malloo”. The B-side made the Top 20 in Salt Lake City on KMUR. While “Hey Little One” charted to #13 on CKWX in Vancouver. (“Hey Little One” also charted on CFUN in Vancouver, climbing to #14 in May 1963). Meanwhile, in the fall of 1960, Hank Levine did the arrangement for a B-side of Donnie Brooks’ single, “Doll House”, titled “Round Robin”. “Round Robin” got some chart action in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Dallas and Des Moines (IA). And in the fall of 1960, Hank Levine arranged “And Her Name Was Scarlet” for Bob Wilson on Era Records. It was a minor hit in Oregon and California. And in 1960, Levine also arranged “Sticking Pins In A Dolly”, for 18-year-old Marlene Willis. At age sixteen, Willis had been cast in the 1958 film Attack of the Puppet People. The tune was a commercial failure.

In 1961, Hank Levine wrote the track for the Fleetwoods on their Softly album titled “I’m So Alone”. The album’s one hit single was a remake of the 1959 hit by Thomas Wayne, “Tragedy,” which Levine also arranged. In 1961 Hank Levine continued to arrange more songs for recording artists with Era Records. He arranged “Boomerang” for Donnie Brooks and the #4 hit in June 1961 in San Diego, “Sacred”, by the Castells. Over on Dolton Records, Hank Levine arranged “Hello Roomate”/”Little Altar Boy” for Vic Dana. Dolton also had him arrange “Little Bitty Heart” for Brady & Grady Sneed. Also with Dolton, Levine wrote “Silver City”, a track on The Ventures album, The Colorful Ventures. Over at Capitol Records, Levine was arranging the Afro-Cuban jazz album, Drums And More Drums for Dickie Harrell. And with RCA, Levine arranged “Little Lonely One” for Barry Martin.

One of Hank Levine’s best known tunes that he arranged was the Top Ten hit, “I Love How You Love Me” for the Paris Sisters in 1961. The single was a Top Ten hit in many radio markets in the fall of the year. It ended up the 52nd biggest hit of the year according to Billboard Magazine.

In September 1961, Levine released the instrumental, “Image Pt. 1”. This was credited to Hank Levine And His Orchestra. Levine’s instrumental, with a prominent saxophone, peaked at #98 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was used as a radio station jingle on KFWB in Los Angeles, KEWB in northern California, and KDWB in Minneapolis/St. Paul.The single went to #2 on WCOL in Columbus, Ohio, and #5 on KTKT in Tucson, Arizona.

In March 10, 1962, Billboard magazine reported that Dolton Records had signed a contract with Hank Levine. In the contract, Levine would “front an orchestra playing his arrangements, with Dolton reportedly set to build the Levine style into a readily recognizable disc commodity.” Under the contract, Hank Levine was free to produce, arrange and compose with other record labels. Dolton was a subsidiary of Liberty Records.

In 1962, Levine recorded versions of theme tunes for two TV series that year: Hong Kong and Dr. Kildare. He also recorded a cover of the “Theme From Dr. Kildare”. In 1962, Hank Levine was also busy as an arranger for the album, 50 Guitars Visit Hawaii, by the 50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett. In 1963, Hank Levine was the arranger for the album, Christmas On The Ponderosa, in conjunction with a Christmas TV special with the cast from Bonanza. And in 1965, Hank Levine arranged several singles that were released by David Jones on Colpix Records. Jones would go on to appear as one of the four members of The Monkees. In 1966, Hank Levine was a producer, composer and arranger for the comedy album, Washington Is For The Birds, credited to Lady Bird Johnson and L.B.J.

In 2008, in a departure from his previous musical pursuits, Hank Levine published The Armchair Real Estate Millionaire: The Complete Guide to Investing In Net Leased Commercial Properties With No Landlord Expense or Responsibility. A biographical note for the book reads: “Hank Levine is a Real Estate Broker in Hendersonville, Tennessee specializing in Net Leased Commercial Real Estate and Tax-Free Exchanges. Throughout his career starting in the 60’s as a composer/arranger/conductor in Hollywood and Nashville he purchased Commercial Real Estate for his own portfolio. In the early 90’s, as the Music Industry underwent a complete transformation he decided to make Commercial Real Estate his full-time profession. He presents this subject not only as a Real Estate Professional but also from the investor’s point of view.”

“Theme For A New Love” is a song about a guy who views a female for the first time. Or so it seems with lyrics like these: “You’re so much like a kitten that I hold in my arm.
When we laugh and you tease, I’m taken by your charms.” There is a “new love” on the mind of the singer. But the first-hand knowledge of his heartthrob is scant indeed. “I saw you only once, and I knew there could be no one for me but you.” From this brief encounter (either from some physical distance away, or in-person encounter) thoughts of this “new love” persist.
Hank Levine composed a list-making device as the singer rhymes off a list of qualities the object of his affection possesses.
1) The face I want to see
2) Surprising smile
3) Captivating eyes
4) Tilt of your head
5) The sound of your voice
6) The things that you said
7) Secrets are shared with him alone
8) Loving and sweet
9) Laughter is like music
10) Soft to touch
11) “You’re like the raindrops that fall and refresh everything”
12) “When I’m with you it’s eternally spring”

All this from one encounter. OR, after this one encounter, he made up his mind and they’ve been going steady ever since.

“Theme For A New Love” peaked at #1 in Manchester (NH), #2 in Lansing (MI), #3 in Birmingham (AL), #4 in Raleigh (NC) and Montgomery (AL), #5 in Calgary (AB) and Springfield (MA), and #15 in Cleveland. While in Australia, “Theme For A New Love” climbed to #1 in Canberra, #2 in Melbourne, #4 in Sydney, and #9 in Brisbane. The single also made it to #6 in Burnie, Tasmania.

All of the singles mentioned in this article so far: “Theme For A New Love”, “My Dad”, What Are We Going to Do?”, “Maybe It’s Because I’m A Londoner” and “Dream Girl” (with the exception of “The Girl from Chelsea”) came from the 1965 debut album, David Jones.

In 1971, Jones released another studio album titled Davy Jones. The single release of “Rainy Jane” was a minor hit that made the Top 20 in Montreal, Toronto and Windsor (ON). It reached #5 in Valleyfield, Quebec.

In 1975, ex-Monkees bandmates Davy Jones and Mickey Dolenz teamed up with Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to do a tour of 38 cities across 13 states. In 1976, they performed in twenty cities across the USA, Japan, Singapore and Thailand. Boyce and Hart had written numbers of songs for The Monkees and were a singer-songwriting team in their own right. In 1986 Davy Jones and Peter Tork went on a 17 concert tour of Australia. An even more ambitious tour saw Jones and Tork joined by Micky Dolenz across the USA for 145 concerts between May 24 and December 3. For one of these concerts ~ the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles ~ Mike Nesmith joined the concert for an original lineup on their 20 year reunion tour. Jones and Tork returned to Australia to perform in 42 concerts in 1987. There were more tours to follow in the USA, Australia and Japan. And in 1989 Jones, Tork and Dolenz went on a 32 concert tour of Europe. The trio went on a 30th Anniversary tour of the USA in 1996. And in 1997 they were joined by Mike Nesmith on a tour of the UK.

Jones, Dolenz and Tork continued to tour as Monkees in different combinations at a trio and a duo with their last big tour in 2011, 45 years after The Monkees TV show debuted. Over the decades, Davy Jones released eight studio albums. His last was in 2009 titled She. He also released seven live albums.

Davy Jones died in 2012 at the age of 66 of a heart attack.

February 17, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
Andy Greene, “Davy Jones: The Life of a Monkee: How a Child Actor Joined the Best Fake Band of All Time – and Never Escaped,” Rolling Stone, March 29, 2012.
Davy Jones bio, Davy Jones.net.
John Buck And His Blazers, “Forbidden City,” Warner Brothers, 1958
John Buck And His Blazers, “Chi Chi,” Warner Brothers, 1958
Don Sergeant, “Gypsy Boots,” World Pacific Records, 1959
Dorsey Burnette, “Hey Little One” Era Records, 1960
Paris Sisters, “I Love How You Love Me,” Gregmark, 1961
“LA’s NARAS to Fill 21 Slots,” Billboard, July 2, 1966.
Dr. Kildare (TV Series), Wikipedia.org
50 Guitars of Tommy Garrett, 50 Guitars Visit Hawaii, Liberty Records, 1962 (Discogs.com)
Hank Levine Credits, Discogs.com
Hank Levine, Second Hand Songs.com
Levine, Hank. The Armchair Real Estate Millionaire. (Holly, 2008).

CKXL 1140-AM Calgary (AB) | Top Ten | June 5, 1967