| Your Auntie Grizelda | |
| Genre: | Psychedelic pop[1] |
| Album: | More of The Monkees |
| Recorded: | October 23, 1966 |
| Studio: | American, Studio City, California |
| Lyricist: | Diane Hildebrand |
| Composer: | Jack Keller |
| Label: | Colgems |
| Producer: | Jeff Barry, Jack Keller |
"Your Auntie Grizelda" is a song recorded by the American pop rock group The Monkees. Diane Hildebrand wrote the lyrics and Jack Keller composed the music. It is the first released song of the band with Peter Tork on lead vocals.
The song appeared on both the TV series and the 1967 album More of the Monkees. While originally published by Screen Gems-Columbia Music (BMI), it is now published by Colgems-EMI Music (ASCAP).[2] [3] [4]
Although it was never actually released as a single, "Your Auntie Grizelda" has appeared on several of the band's subsequent "Greatest Hits" albums, and the Monkees regularly performed it in their live shows. This was the first released Monkees song to feature Peter Tork on lead vocals. In the instrumental break, Tork was told beforehand to make nonsensical sounds, according to the songwriter Diane Hildebrand.
"Your Auntie Grizelda" is a general complaint about a prissy and spinsterish aunt named Grizelda. The verses condemn her as pushy, righteous, and judgemental, with the chorus concluding that "No bird of grace ever lit on auntie Grizelda".
An instrumental version of the song can be heard during Major Nelson's bachelor party in I Dream of Jeannie Season 5 Episode 6, and the hippie party in "Never Put A Genie on a Budget" Season 5 Episode 14. An instrumental version also is the background disco music in The Flying Nun Season 1 Episode 2.