The Monkees Are Back With a New Song Written by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo

Earlier this year, it was announced that beloved 1960s pop outfit and television stars the Monkees were making a new album, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the group. Now, the first single “She Makes Me Laugh” has just been released and it puts the words of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo into the Monkees’ sunny pop songs to great effect. The accompanying lyric video is equally fun, drawing the Monkees into an Archie-style comic.

Original Monkees members Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Mike Nesmith (Davy Jones passed away in 2012) headed to the studio for Good Times! the band’s first new album in 20 years. The album pairs the Monkees with songwriters like Oasis’s Noel Gallagher, Brit rock legend Paul Weller, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, and XTC’s Andy Partridge, and was produced by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne.

The album also features a handful of unreleased songs written for the band in their heyday, including contributions by Neil Diamond, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, along with the title track, whose name comes from a previously unreleased Harry Nilsson song.

The Monkees’ new album is due out 5/27 and the group will launch a 50th anniversary tour on May 18. Check the full list of dates here.

[H/T Brooklyn Vegan]