The Mamas and Papas

[LouieB]

I really enjoyed this column from the Trib yesterday. Just a touch of nostalgia for y'all.

 

LouieB

 

California grievin' on such a winter's day

 

By Cory Franklin

January 24, 2007

 

The seductive melody opens with a seven-second guitar riff that introduces a distinctive voice singing haunting lyrics, about a man pondering whether to leave his bleak winter surroundings for the idyll of California:

 

All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray.

 

I've been for a walk on a winter's day,

 

I'd be safe and warm, if I was in L.A.

 

The song was "California Dreamin'" and who knows how many imagined leaving their homes for California, or whether some actually packed up and moved after hearing it. Certainly anyone who remembers 1966 knows someone who did, since it coincided with America's mid-'60s migration to the West Coast.

 

That siren's voice belonged to Denny Doherty, who died last week. His mellifluous tenor led the harmony of the Mamas and the Papas, the first rock group to incorporate the voices of men and women. Life magazine called them "the most inventive pop musical group and first really new vocal sound since the Beatles." For a brief period, they were No. 1, top of the pops, and they saturated the airwaves with harmonies of their well-crafted songs.

 

But like California itself, the seduction of fame didn't always live up to its billing. If any group was a testimony to the excesses of the rock lifestyle and '60s burnout it was the Mamas and Papas. Their talent, good looks and hip attitude made John and Michelle Phillips, Mama Cass Elliott and Doherty the royalty of Southern California. At a time when Hollywood's old studio system was dying and movie stars were losing their luster, the Mamas and the Papas (group name courtesy of the Hells Angels) were the first rockers to fill the void as kings and queens. They bought mansions built by the silent film stars and hosted lavish parties where everyone, including the Beatles and Rolling Stones, came to pay homage.

 

Between hit songs, they planned and organized the Monterey Pop Festival, the first large-scale rock festival, which forever changed rock 'n' roll and the culture it spawned. It was a multicultural event, performed for charity, and featured breakout performances by, among others, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding.

 

Unfortunately, where there is rock 'n' roll, there are sex and drugs, the ultimate downfall of the Mamas and the Papas. Denny had an affair with Michelle, which didn't sit well with Mama Cass, who had an unrequited crush on him, or with Michelle's husband, John, the leader of the group. The group broke up amid squabbles and drug use--the money spent, the mansions sold.

 

Their breakup, like that of the Beatles, meant four young people whose talents meshed perfectly together were left to go their separate ways. (Give credit to the Rolling Stones for putting egos and personal problems aside to remain together so long).

 

Mama Cass had aspirations to be the next Barbra Streisand and had the voice to pull it off. On her way to realizing her dream after a command performance at the London Palladium, she died alone in a hotel room, less than a decade after "California Dreamin'" hit the charts.

 

Michelle, the only California native, wed actor Dennis Hopper in a marriage that lasted eight days. She described them as the happiest days of her life. Once hailed as one of the most beautiful women in Southern California, she has made a career playing the mother of Southern California ingenues on popular television melodramas.

 

John, who could have been one of the great songwriters of his generation, tried his hand unsuccessfully on Broadway after an unremarkable solo career. A drug habit led to a brief prison term and ultimately to a liver transplant. He died of medical complications, an old man before his time. Upon his death, the rock community hailed him as a creative genius, though he never quite lived up to his promise.

 

Now the Papas are gone.

 

After the breakup of the Mamas and Papas, Denny Doherty returned to his native Canada, where he'd left folk music behind. He became a minor star on children's television but never again found the right vehicle for his beautiful tenor. As he grew older, he wistfully regretted the fact he never married Mama Cass.

 

His death came on a winter's day when the sky was gray and a mid-January cold wave swept over the Ontario plains. The promise of "California Dreamin'" was long ago and far away.

 

----------

 

Cory Franklin lives in Wilmette.

[viatroy]

thanks Louie. Fame's a bitch.

 

I've had this Mamas and Papas number on my internal shuffle alot these days.

 

 

I saw her again last night

And you know that I shouldn't

To string her along's just not right

If I couldn't I wouldn't

I'm in way over my head

Now she thinks that I love her

Because that's what I said

Though I never think of her

[uncle wilco]

because of mama cass, i always make sure i chew my ham sandwiches thoroughly. thank you mama cass. anyone who got a guest spot on scooby-doo was alright by me.

[caliber66]

because of that urban legend about mama cass, i always make sure i chew my ham sandwiches thoroughly. thank you mama cass. anyone who got a guest spot on scooby-doo was alright by me.

yep.

[uncle wilco]

that's the story i'm sticking with.

 

[LouieB]

Roger McGuinn's song King of the Hill (sung with Tom Petty) is a great, but sad tribute to Papa John....

 

LouieB

 

L.A's asleep

You roll up your window

The night air is cold

The freeway is clear

 

In a green Gucci bag

Are your prized possessions

The jewels of your mind

To hold back the fear

 

And when Monday comes around

There's a high lonesome sound

And she follows you down for the kill

And a white blinding light

Makes it all seem so right

And you feel like the king of the hill

 

The driveway is long

Your princess is lovely

Your servants all wait

For your knock on the door

 

How many years

Will you crawl through the castle

So satisfied

And still wanting more

 

And when Monday comes around

There's a high lonesome sound

And she follows you down for the kill

And a white blinding light

Makes it all seem so right

And you feel like the king of the hill

 

The guests have arrived

With all the right faces

But you miss the ball

In that room down the hall

 

It's sunrise again

The driveway is empty

The crystal is cracked

There's blood on the wall

 

And when Monday comes around

There's a high lonesome sound

And she follows you down for the kill

And a white blinding light

Makes it all seem so right

And you feel like the king of the hill

[uncle wilco]

i didn't realize that was a tribute to papa john. i like that song.

[Analogman]

thanks Louie. Fame's a bitch.

 

I've had this Mamas and Papas number on my internal shuffle alot these days.

I saw her again last night

And you know that I shouldn't

To string her along's just not right

If I couldn't I wouldn't

I'm in way over my head

Now she thinks that I love her

Because that's what I said

Though I never think of her

 

That song is about Denny's affair with Michelle.

[LouieB]

The Green Gucci bag reference is about the only way one would know, but only you knew he kept his drugs in a green gucci bag.

 

Yea, this is like the last great song Roger ever wrote.

 

LouieB

[NightOfJoy]

Michelle was quite the hottie in her day.....

[nettles]

I highly recommend John Phillips first solo lp

[LouieB]

Too bad I didn't pick up a copy of this back in the day....

 

LouieB

[jff]

"Words of Love" made me a loyal fan.

[viatroy]

That song is about Denny's affair with Michelle.

 

 

and catchy to boot. I like where one of the guys miscues singing on a verse.

[mountain bed]

My favorite part of that article: Michelle was married to Dennis Hopper for 8 DAYS & described them as 'the happiest days of her life'.

LSD supposedly can cause some wild fluctuations in determining lengths of time but man that's pretty extreme right there!

[LouieB]

Somehow I would envision being married to Dennis Hopper as kind of a nightmare. I wonder if that is what she meant.

 

LouieB

[Analogman]

and catchy to boot. I like where one of the guys miscues singing on a verse.

 

John wrote it after finding out about their affair.

[viatroy]

that must have been a tense recording session.

[LouieB]

that must have been a tense recording session.

I suppose it depended on how many drugs they all took.....was the green Gucci bag in attendence??

 

 

LouieB

[caliber66]

that must have been a tense recording session.

Actually, if Wikipedia is to be believed, he moved back in with Denny, rather than live with Michelle.

[MattZ]

I generally find rock journalism to be lame or cheesey or lame and cheesey. This, however, was an excellent article. Thanks Lou.

[Analogman]

Actually, if Wikipedia is to be believed, he moved back in with Denny, rather than live with Michelle.

 

They kicked her out for a while and got Lou Adler's girlfriend to stand in for her.

[LouieB]

Matt- you bet. I just really enjoyed the sort of wistful tone of it all. I am fairly certain it was NOT written by a rock journalist.

 

In retrospect, maybe the days when groups were together a few years, had a bunch of hits on the radio and faded away were better than the constant reunions or reconstitutions we see now. I know the M&P did a bit of this too, but no one ever took them seriously after they broke up, nor did they chart any hits. When they said goodbye to the first golden era, that was THE ONLY golden era they had and it was enough.

 

LouieB