Posted on 04/28/2025 3:43:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The quartet were missing the warmth of Los Angeles, but turned that into a gold-certified classic.
By the spring of 1966, the Mamas and the Papas were big news in the United States. They’d gone Top 5 with “California Dreamin’’’, released the previous December 8, and were climbing fast with the follow-up, ‘Monday, Monday.’ That was on its way to a three-week stint at No.1 in the US when, on the chart for April 28, the vocal quartet appeared on a British chart for the first time.
“California Dreamin’’’ made a tentative first showing in the Top 50 that week at No.49, as Dusty Springfield climbed to the top of the bestsellers with “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me.” But it was appropriate for the John and Michelle Phillips composition to be making an impression in the chillier transatlantic climes. The pair wrote it when they were literally feeling the cold of a New York winter and missing the warmth of Los Angeles.
The song never made quite the same impression in the UK as it did in the States, at least not first time around. It climbed the chart over the next month, 34-29-26, before spending two weeks at its peak position of No.23. “Monday, Monday” would be the real British breakthrough, resting for two weeks at No.3 in June. That month, back home, “Dreamin’’’ was certified gold, and then the Mamas and The Papas album spent nine consecutive weeks in the UK top ten, peaking at No.3.
One of the song’s many charms was its alto flute solo, played by jazz man Bud Shank, also a saxophonist. Earlier in 1966, he’d claimed a piece of Beatles-related notoriety with a minor US hit version of “Michelle.” It reached No.65 for the Dayton, Ohio-born musician.
A ‘magical’ session
Fellow Californian scenester P.F. Sloan played guitar on “California Dreamin’”, and later remembered the session in an interview with Songfacts. It was “magical,” he said. “John [Phillips] was very nervous. Nobody particularly liked the song, and to be honest with you, ‘California Dreamin’’ was maybe three or four chords. I added the “Walk Don’t Run” Ventures guitar riffs for that ‘da da da da da da.’ That was all creative work inside the studio when I heard them singing on mic. I had recorded them with Barry McGuire on his second album, so I knew how good they were.”
Listen to the 60s playlist, featuring the Mamas and the Papas alongside Glen Campbell, Cream, Dusty Springfield and many more.
It was another generation before “Dreamin’” finally landed a Top 10 UK placing. In 1997, the song was used in a TV commercial campaign in Britain for Carling Lager. That started a whole new wave of interest in the classic Californian pop sound and propelled the song to No.9.
Watch it.
Next month May 30th I will turn 79. Some could say that’s old. 😇
At that particular indoor concert I was with one girl, and found out later a future long time girl friend was there that night and finally my future wife remembered being at that concert, too.
All that from people in the same room who didn’t know what the future would hold.
Absolutely agree!
A writer placed her in the top echelon of attractive women.
(I honestly didn’t get much impressed by her type.)
He said she was the prototype for blonde waif type just beginning. Then at each age she had the “age appropriate beauty” of that era. Was in the movie about Rudolph Valentino after growing out of the hippie era. Later in Dillinger.
True, she aged extremely gracefully, going into the classy older women roles in TV shows.
That song personified the hopes and dream of the mid ‘60s. Southern California was the center of the universe and American culture. Yes there were bad aspects of it but generally that was an America with a positive outlook and an unstoppable mindset. Not like the dark outlook of today. Having lived through it I mourn the loss of those ideals.
Cass Elliot was a massive talent, she nailed every note in that song flawlessly.
The momma’s the papa’s were weirdos
The worst aspect of life in Southern California at the time was the smog. During much of the year, you couldn't see the mountains from downtown La, and weather reports would include information on eye irritation. But after the Kaiser Steel mill in Fontana was sold to China in the early 1980s, the phrase "moderate to heavy eye irritation" in weather reports would become a thing of the past.
The political climate of Southern California was a far cry from 2025. Sam Yorty, the Democrat mayor of LA was more conservative than most Republicans, and from 1965 until 1969 we had two Republicans in the Senate, George Murphy, a conservative, and Tom Kuchel, a RINO. The Democrats ruled the statehouse until 1967, but in 1962 Californians elected a no-nonsense conservative, Max Rafferty, to be Superintendent of Public Instruction, and under his leadership our public schools were the world’s best. We also had some great representatives such as Glen Lipscomb and James Utt who never cast a liberal vote.
California dreaming was a weird sad song to me.
Still listen to it.
John Phillips was a real sicko.
I might easily have been born and raised in Southern California. One of my father’s friends from medical school lived in Huntington Beach and loved it there. When Dad got out of the Air Force in Montana in 1953, he planned to move to California with Mom and their two infant sons. They took a detour on the way because he had some extra time and had never been to the Pacific Northwest. He got to Portland and decided to stay there, which is where the last four of us were born. Portland is another place that was very different politically and socially back then.
Bruce Gary, drummer for the Knack, once said he was disappointed to find that his 10 favorite drummers turned out to all be Hal Blaine.
Hal Blaine did the drums for The Happening, not a Motown session guy like Benny Benjamin. But this song sounds more like Blaine should do it.
Home at Last - Aja | Isolated Drums [Bernard Purdie]
Both of them are still alive.
Dancing Bear +1
Also, “Even If I Could” from their 2nd album...perhaps even better than Dancing Bear and it was the B side of “I Saw her Again”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiJXCck09NE
I had this album as a youngster and I played it constantly. California Dreamin’ is still in my top 5 favorite songs of all time. And such a crush on Michelle!
Ooooooh!!! Creepy!!!
Democrats successfully played the long game in California, as well as in Oregon, Washington, Virginia, and Colorado.
I spent the summer of 1965 in Portland. It was a clean and vibrant city, boasting the largest shopping mall (Lloyd Center) in the world, among other "superlatives." I haven't been back since, but from what I read about it sounds like a far cry from 1965.
Incidentally, I have read that Lloyd Center is practically a ghost town and may be replaced by "stack and pack" apartments.
I was ten that summer, picking berries for a little cash and just doing kid things. The Lloyd Center was quite a place, sorry to hear it’s going under but not really surprised. I suppose as malls go, it’s been completely obsolete for a long time.
Portland really was a good place to live in the 60s and 70s, even in the 80s. I moved to Arizona in 1985, but visited fairly often after that, until pretty much all my family had died or moved elsewhere. It’s now over 20 years since I’ve been to Portland, and I doubt I’ll ever see the place again. I’d rather remember it the way it used to be.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.