A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs Episode 151: “San Francisco” by Scott McKenzie
Summer of Love: Selective Memory
- The "Summer of Love" is viewed nostalgically by those who peaked then.
- For others, it marked the end of their best years, highlighting the subjectivity of memory.
The Doors' Rejection
- Ray Manzarek's autobiography tells of a rude rejection by Lou Adler.
- Adler allegedly dismissed The Doors' demo after only hearing snippets of each song.
Sloan's Tall Tales
- P.F. Sloan's storytelling is questionable, like the time he sold newspapers to a dead James Dean.
- This anecdote highlights his tendency to embellish stories.
We start season four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs with an extra-long look at “San Francisco” by Scott McKenzie, and at the Monterey Pop Festival, and the careers of the Mamas and the Papas and P.F. Sloan. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.
Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Up, Up, and Away” by the 5th Dimension.
Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/
Errata: An incorrect version of the file was previously uploaded, with the wrong section edited in at approximately 57 minutes. This was fixed about three hours after uploading, but some streaming services may have cached the wrong file.
Also I say that John Phillips wrote “No, No, No, No”. I got this from an interview with McKenzie, but he must have been misremembering — the song is a cover version of “La Poupee Qui Fait Non” by Michel Polnareff, with English-language lyrics by Geoff Stephens