SCOTT MCKENZIE - “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)”
(12th August 1967)
The history of Britain’s summer hits and the history of British holidaymaking go together like sand and towels. The key factor is the balance between function and description, place and pleasure in pop - these days the summer hit templates are Whigfield or Las Ketchup, disco anthems that you hear on holiday and bring home with the duty free. In the package tour boom of the 70s, when going on holiday was itself a novel thrill, the models were “Y Viva Espana”, or “Barbados” - songs about the trip that would work as postcards to dancefloors at home.
And in the 60s, when holidays for most people were Bournemouth or Blackpool, the key notes were hit by Cliff and the Shadows - “Summer Holiday”, wistful, evocative, and the closest cousin to Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco”. McKenzie’s song is a document, a cash-in and a media-ready crystallisation of the love generation - but my guess is it made a mass British breakthrough because it’s also a fine piece of ‘if-only’ exotica. “Summertime will be a love-in there” - we’ve seen it in the movies, now let’s see if it’s true.
The song quickly runs out of anything much to say about San Francisco and its loving vibrations, but like most travel brochures the hook is the pictures, not the words. When I planned to write this entry Britain was overcast and chilly and “San Francisco” sounded as mocking and forlorn as a broken jelly shoe. Now the sun is out, I’m packing for the Mediteranean and the gentle people sound mighty appealing. Mind you, when I planned to write this entry, Sandi Thom wasn’t at Number One with her wretched answer record: a miserable illustration of how utopias curdle, the flowers in the hair becoming sticks to beat us with for not living up to someone else’s pop dream. 6
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FT's koganbot on July 5th, 2006
In the U.S. this song peaked (at number 5) in June, which makes a lot more sense, since it’s about a summer that’s about to happen, not one that’s in full swing.
I’d give it an 8 or a 9; it’s pretty. It’s canny but not wise, and even as a young ‘un I had the sense it was a commercial cash-in, more for squares than for hipsters. And I liked it anyway.
Chris Brown on July 21st, 2006
You think this is a cash-in? At least it’s not ‘Let’s Go To San Francisco’ by the Flowerpot Men. Actually I hate this, but I can’t deny that the retrospective hype is a big factor, (including Sandi Thom - well spotted).
My Mum says they used to joke about The Golden Hits Of Scott Mackenzie - Volume 2.
Marcello Carlin on July 22nd, 2006
That’ll be “Kokomo,” then, which Scott McKenzie co-wrote.
FT's Doctor Mod on July 31st, 2006
(Sigh) I am a Californian. I love San Francisco (unofficial capital of NoCal), even though I am from Los Angeles (unofficial capital of SoCal). I have always known this song is a crock. The San Francisco described therein was some glib songwriter’s “let’s make a fast buck off this hippie thing” fantasy/hoax. Yes, there were hippies and flowers in one’s hair and all that, but this was to evoke something (what?) in people in places like Iowa or Missouri and make them want to dress funny and acted stoned.
There is, though, one use left for this song. I’ve been in a number of gay bars in SF where this record is in jukeboxes–simply for its camp value.
FT's koganbot on August 8th, 2006
some glib songwriter’s “let’s make a fast buck off this hippie thing” fantasy/hoax
I agree with this completely except I would change the word “glib” to “brilliant.” The songwriters were Scott McKenzie and John Phillips, the latter of the Mamas & Papas. And he’s “pop” through and through, wasn’t a freak, didn’t get it but was willing to market it.
Lena on September 28th, 2006
Wasn’t this written as a kind of ad for the Monterey Pop festival?
I’m a native of California too, and as songs about my state go, this is definitely one of the better ones. It is brilliant and sad and alluring, just like the place…
Kenneth Wright on October 19th, 2006
Surprised no-one has mentioned how marvellously arranged and played this record is. The lead guitar sounds remarkably like Mike Bloomfield’s twangy little fills on the more laid-back tracks of Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, and the bass line is a cleverly developed counter-melody. As for the lyrics, we were all a lot less cynical in 1967 …
Ted Meyer on February 26th, 2007
A bit of cheesy L.A. marketing hype from Lou Adler & Papa John Phillips indeed, but what a beautiful tune it is.
From the intro when John Phillip’s shimmering 12 string acoustic strumming gives way to Scott Mackenzie’s silky tenor delivering the most gorgeous, mournful melody. I’m sure most of the big S.F. freak bands at the time (The Dead, Big Brother and the Airplane) did not dig the L.A. gatecrashers-