San Francisco, Flowers in the Hair, and Scott McKenzie
Birthday tribute to the late, great singer-songwriter and hippie apologist
Happy heavenly birthday to Scott McKenzie, the singer-songwriter best known for his association with John Phillips and the 1967 Summer of Love anthem “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair),” the sonic tract that called 1000s of young people to California.
Phillips (who played on the track with The Wrecking Crew) wrote the song to appease authorities concerned that hippies would overrun the Bay Area for the Monterey Pop Festival.
Peace and love prevailed. The song has been used in several films and was a theme for the Prague Spring Czech uprising in 1968. That same year, McKenzie’s released his next Top 40 hit “Like an Old Time Movie” (also written and played by Phillips):
That segued with McKenzie writing “What About Me” for Anne Murray (her first hit single).
Like many artists circa 1960, McKenzie morphed out of doo-wop and before becoming a folkie, joining the New York folk scene that launched many careers.
He’d already worked with Phillips in a trio called The Journeymen, who had a short run on Capitol Records.
Then Phillips formed The Mamas & The Papas, inviting McKenzie to join but he declined, saying he didn’t want “the pressure” being in a group that was set to be huge.
Years after the fact, McKenzie joined a retooled version of The Mamas & The Papas that took to the road in 1986. Concurrently, the Phillips-McKenzie team joined Mike Love and Terry Melcher to create the huge Beach Boys hit “Kokomo.”
The evergreen “San Francisco” remains McKenzie’s best-known work (he passed from Guillain-Barre syndrome in 2010). Periodically I dabbled with the song. One 1990 night in an industrial San Francisco loft, I dirty demo’d it in a grunge-y Iggy Pop-like update as that was how I was feeling about the city in those days
Meanwhile, HB SM and thank you for your sweet spirit and voice.
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