The Hits of The Mamas & the Papas

Caribbean and California dreamin' - 1965-1968

Rock ’n’ Roll with Me is a daily email newsletter (except Sunday) presenting one or more of my favorite danceable rock ’n’ roll songs, from the sixties onwards, along with some fun facts and memories.

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Songs of the day

The Mamas & the Papas didn’t last long, only four years (1965 to 1968), but they left an indelible impression with both their music and their playful ‘hippie’ insouciance.

The only surviving member of the group, Michelle Phillips, attributes their stratospheric success to the Ed Sullivan Show, where they were introduced in late 1966 to a national mainstream television audience that averaged over 40 million. (The Beatles’ debut had an astounding 73 million viewers.) The foursome had already scored radio hits, but she said “The minute we started doing Sullivan, people started buying those records.”

I like to use clips from the Ed Sullivan Show because Ed was renowned for giving new acts a break, including African-American acts that had few other avenues for national exposure. (He had the Supremes on 14 times.) And also because the performers went all out to entertain, as you’ll see with the first four clips below. And because, no doubt, I was watching that show as it aired. We were avid Ed Sullivan watchers in my family.

Herewith is a clip from the first show the group appeared on (December 11, 1966), in which John Phillips introduces the members of the group and Cass Elliot shows off her strong contralto and dance moves with the song “Words of Love”:

One thing that makes The Mamas & the Papas unique, in my estimation, is how many of their songs are an undiluted reflection of their own experience. Here, in one of their hits, “Creeque Alley,” they sing about how they came together as a group:

Their first big hit was “California Dreamin’,” purportedly written by the husband-and-wife members of the group, John Phillips and Michelle Phillips, in 1963 when they were living in New York City and pining for California. (John gave at least three dramatically different versions of how this song came about.) It was released as a single for the fledging group in the winter of 1965.

If you’re a Stranger Things fan, like I am, you may recognize it from the very atmospheric Beach Boys cover included in season 4.

On their September 1967 appearance on Sullivan, the group was reportedly told they would have to lip synch. In protest, Michelle brought a banana on stage and ate it, as well as engaging in other hijinks. Only Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty made an effort to appear as if they were singing the song. I particularly enjoyed the wild get-ups the group wore on this show. I had a Nehru shirt not that different from Denny’s!

Here’s their hit “Monday Monday”:

Another one of their highly danceable hits is “I Saw Her Again,” and this video of the group monkeying around in a clothing store is great fun.

I wonder how many people have really listened to the lyrics of that song? The tune leads you to feel one thing, the lyrics quite another. A ‘trick’ I would suggest the group uses with “California Dreamin’” as well.

Some fun facts

• The group gave Ed love beads on one show. Remember love beads?

• John admitted that, whereas other groups dressed up in suits and gowns for the Ed Sullivan Show, they just went “raggle-gaggle,” putting on whatever they had in their closet. (Although they appear to be in costumes on the September 1967 show.)

• Cass Elliott sounds like she was a heckuva lot of fun. She was one of the centers of the party scene in Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, where many members of L.A.’s music scene lived. She kept an open house where regulars like David Crosby (of the Byrds) dropped by to hang out and strum some tunes, and, of course, get high and get their groove on.

• Before The Mamas & the Papas, Denny Doherty was a member of the Hepsters (cool name!) and the Colonials, which became the Halifax III. When that broke up, he joined Cass’s band, the Big 3, formerly called the Triumvirate, which reformed as the Mugwumps. You gotta love the creative band names in the 60s!

• When the Mugwumps went kaput, Cass went solo and Denny joined John and Michelle’s group, the New Journeymen, replacing Marshall Brickman (who left to become head writer for Johnny’s Carson’s Tonight Show — you can’t make this stuff up!). Denny convinced them to hire Cass.

• John wanted to name the group Magic Cyrcle, an occult name, but the group finally agreed on The Mamas & the Papas. I don’t know if Ed would’ve invited them on his show with John’s preferred name — or if he knew what John was ‘into.’ (Read Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon by David McGowan, chapter 18. That book may blow your mind about the music industry in L.A. during the 60s, and about John Phillips, although I make no claims as to its accuracy. You’ll have to make up your own mind.)

• The height of the group’s creativity, and where many of their hits were penned, appears to be their sojourn in the Caribbean on the islands of St. Johns and St. Thomas. They lived in an unfinished home on Creeque Alley (title of one of their songs, featured above), what John referred to as an open house and a “commune,” until the governor reportedly kicked those “crazies” off the island for corrupting his nephew with drugs.

• John Phillips was co-organizer of the famous Monterey International Pop Festival with Lou Adler, the band’s producer/manager (among others). Credited by some with ushering in the Summer Of Love and the flower power counterculture movement, the festival was a key event in rock ‘n’ roll history with its line-up of up-and-coming acts that would go on to become iconic, such as the Who, Janis Joplin, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

• The band broke up in 1968 and reunited briefly in 1971 to meet their record company commitment to record another album. In 1981, John formed the New Mamas & the Papas, involving Denny but not Michelle (from whom he was divorced), which toured in various configurations until 2000 and can be heard on three albums of live and demo material.

Questions for discussion in the comments

1. Do you dream of California? In California? Despite California?

2. Did you see her again? Were you leading her on too? (C’mon, fess up.)

3. Have you gone wild in a clothing store? What did you do?

4. Is lip-synching underrated as a musical talent? Could you eat a banana or grapes while doing it, as Michelle did?

5. Any other thoughts, musings, favorites of this group?