"Cruisin'", also known as "Lucy and Ramona and Sunset Sam", is the last single to be released by

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith or Mike Nesmith, (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series ''The Monkees'' (1966� ...

as a solo artist. The song was released in 1979 under

Pacific Arts The Pacific Arts Corporation, Inc. is a company formed by Michael Nesmith circa 1974 to manage and develop media projects. History Pacific Arts Corporation, Inc. began as Pacific Arts Productions, Inc. when incorporated on October 18, 1974, as ...

(PAC 108) from the album ''

Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma ''Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma'' (or simply, ''Infinite Rider'') is Michael Nesmith's ninth post-Monkees studio album and the third studio album from his own company, Pacific Arts Records & Tapes. To continue developing Pacific Arts' multimed ...

''. The B-side of the single was "Carioca". "Cruisin'" tells the story of three individuals who live on the streets of Los Angeles, California and are related by their lifestyle.

Background

A promotional video was made for ''Cruisin and was released on Nesmith's ''

Elephant Parts ''Elephant Parts'' is a collection of comedy sketches and music videos made in 1981 by Michael Nesmith, formerly of the Monkees. Nesmith produced the video through his company Pacific Arts. ''Elephant Parts'' is one hour long with parody commercial ...

''. Contrary to popular belief, the video did not debut

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...

, but rather, featured wrestler Steve Strong who resembles a young Hulk Hogan. Nesmith mistakenly stated in 1989 that Hogan played the role, but he corrected his statement in 2003. The song received considerable airplay on AOR rock stations during the summer of 1979. Cleveland AOR station

WMMS WMMS (100.7 FM) – branded ''100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard'' – is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Widely regarded as one of the most influential rock st ...

music director Denny Sanders had the song in "high rotation" during the months of July and August. Although it did not chart in the US, it peaked at No. 6 on the New Zealand singles chart. The

Original Spanish Kitchen The Original Spanish Kitchen was a restaurant on Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax District (Los Angeles, California), Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, US, that became the subject of an urban legend starting in the early 1960s. The rest ...

appears briefly in the background of the video for the song. It is in a five-second vignette which accompanies the words, "passing up the treats from a Kid named Cisco", in the second verse of the song.

Charts

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, producer,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Lenny Castro –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Joe Chemay – arranger, background vocals * John Hobbs –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, background vocals * Paul Laim –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* David MacKay –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Al Perkins – guitar * Tom Saviano –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

References

{{authority control 1979 singles Songs written by Michael Nesmith Songs about Los Angeles 1979 songs