This song was written by John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, and sung by Scott McKenzie. Released in 1967, it became one of the best-selling singles of the 1960s. McKenzie’s version of the song has been called “the unofficial anthem of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, including the Hippie, Anti-Vietnam War and Flower power movements.”
John Phillips played guitar on this track and produced it with Lou Adler. The session musicians who played on it were top notch: Joe Osborn on bass, Hal Blaine on drums and Larry Knechtel on keyboards. They were some of the first-call Los Angeles musicians who played on many of Phil Spector’s productions.
Scott McKenzie wore flowers in his hair when he recorded this song. McKenzie was in a group called The Journeymen with John Phillips. His only other hit was the follow up to this Like An Old Time Movie, and by the end of the ’60s he’d gone to live in the desert. In the late ’80s he co-wrote the Beach Boys #1 single Kokomo.
The song became one of the best-selling singles of the 1960s in the world, reaching the fourth position on the US charts and the number one spot on the UK charts. In Ireland, the song was number one for one week, in New Zealand the song spent five weeks at number one, and in Germany it was six weeks at number one.
San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)
Scott McKenzie
Source: ♫ San Francisco ♫ (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair) | Filosofa’s Word
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