Last Train to Clarksville Clarkdale. We were throwing out names, and when we got to Clarkdale, we thought Clarksville sounded even better. We didn't know it at the time, [but] there is an Army base near the town of Clarksville, Tennessee — which would have fit the bill fine for the storyline. We couldn't be too direct with The Monkees. We couldn't really make a protest song out of it — we kind of snuck it in". Although "Clarksville", a common U.S. place name, is in the song title, the video accompanying the song on the Monkees' TV show showed a sign pointing to
Clarksville, Tennessee city. It closed out minorities from being able to elect candidates of their choice to represent them in local government. Clarksville changed its government system, and in the 21st century has a 12-member city council elected from single-member districts, which has increased the range of representation. In 2015, four of the members are African American and eight are white. The mayor is elected at-large. Mayor Kim McMillan was elected in 2010 as the first woman mayor of any Tennessee city with more than 100,000 population. The city consolidated its school system with that of the county, forming the Clarksville-Montgomery County