I will never forget this song....August, 1967...I was in a car, crossing the Golden Gate bridge, on my way to the airport in San Francisco, and this song came on. Ten days earlier, I was in Vietnam. Now I was going HOME. Damn, what a feeling....
This is one of those songs... Give me a time machine so I can go back to 1967... I was a kid, but the music was on the radio all the time...We had our whole lives ahead...
Yeah but too many bums, drugs. Hustlers, and lots more..it was a nice fantasy but not based in reality..again, a nice song. But a very unrealistic view of life..Most of the hippies were fairly rich upper class kids who. Once the vibe changes, they left the Haight a really bad place
@@jamesleyda365 it is the grandkids of the original hippies who are largely responsible. They like playing urban fantasy till itgets sketchy, then they split..
@@danadesimone9322 I don't buy that. The hippies in SF area were from all kinds of backgrounds in my experience. The real trouble was, especially in the Haight, that weed and LSD and mushrooms gave way to hard drugs like heroin. The hard drug vibe in SF continues to this day, but the hippie love vibe is long dead, alas. Just between 1967 and 1968, a lot changed, with multiple political assassinations in '68.
Now when you look at us older set you will think of us at 16 with daisies in our hair and thank you for understanding where we came from....peace and love❤
All you Vietnam vets out there .. thank you and welcome home. I was born in 1967, served 20 years in the Army myself (including deployments in Afghanistan, among other places). But, I always had the love and support of my country. You folks were often treated with such hate and disrespect, and that breaks my heart. I salute you all.
I lived in the Haight in 67 And i remember the Summer Of Love so well. The word went out and a hundred thousend kids showed up that summer. This song was like an invitation to join us. Lremember the flyers handed out to every housein the neighborhood telling us that soon we were going to be flooded and if you had space could you take someone in.It was thelast great time of brotherhood. I will miss but never forget my brothers and sisters. Music coming from every bldg. The Diggers the Good Earth commune. Growing up then was magic.
Dude, I think I remember you (jk) but we might have run into each other at the Digger's free store or the Fillmore, Avalon, or Carousel. Bill Graham personally tossed me out of the Fillmore on Memorial Day weekend in 68 (I was a teenager and security thought I was smoking pot; I was probably the only one there that wasn't!) I still have the recipe for Digger bread (made in coffee cans) that they printed out back then. The Peace and Love era of hippiedom was short-lived, replaced by violent radical politics, hard drugs, etc. ☮
@@twentyfiveyears5010 That was the sad part by end of 68 grass and acid had been replaced by junk and good people were leaving. I lived 2 doors down from digger victorian and a block away from store. It was a magic time.
I love Amber's free spirit and hippie vibes. She reminds me of my middle daughter. She is 32 now, but she has been a hippie since she was about 14. She is all about Mother Earth, moon ,stars, sun, peace & love.
The reason this 1967 song is about San Francisco is because the Summer of Love took place in 1967 in that city and people from around the country and around the world flocked to it for that. It was a rock music center at the time, home of the Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin), the Grateful Dead, the Charlatans, and a bunch of others, with venues like the Filmore Auditorium pioneering acid light shows for rock groups and artists producing some of the psychedelic posters that are still admired today. Before that, it had developed an avant-garde reputation in the late 1950s as a center for Beat poets and jazz.
I wore flowers in my hair everyday of my life until I was 50 & started working as a lunch lady. I'm 67 now & this brings back memories of my hippie days. I still won't give up my blue mascara. I also still have my suede fringe vest, love beads, head bands & granny glasses. Haight Ashbury in San Francisco was a major area of the hippie population.
Some other really good songs from this time period is The Turtles - Happy Together, Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love, The Tremeloes - Silence Is Golden, Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense & Peppermints & The Mamas & Papas - Creeque Alley. Thank you for sharing with us Jay & Amber, you both are truly amazing!!
He also wrote Twelve-Thirty for Scott but Scott felt it was too much like San Francisco so soon and HIS group wanted it so TM&TP released it and had a hit. Scott did later did a version, it’s here on youtube.
This song always sends me back to that time period. I traveled all over the US hitchhiking. Even then, there was a risk to it, hence I mostly went with my boyfriend. However, everywhere we went people took us in for a night (or more) saying "Here's the couch, kitchen, bathroom, weed. Help yourself and we'll give you a ride to the freeway in the morning." When we were dropped off in front of a burger joint in Portland OR a guy walked up saying: "You just got to town! You have no place to stay! You're staying with me!" The world has changed and I'm not sure that it's for the better
There are most likely many songs that bring this nostalgic feeling of the era. But to me, this one is the best. I remember hearing it for the first time and it just picks you up and places you right in that time in history. So much had changed, so much was changing. It is comforting, inviting and positive. Will there ever be another time like this ? Well they tried it again in the 90s kind of, but it was all imitation really. Back then it really was love and peace not the empty gestures we see from many these days. People had hope ! ❤
I wanted to go to San Francisco but way too young….plus I wasn’t a hippie! It was all right if you weren’t it just had a vibe that was pulling me there!
I remember when this song hit the airwaves. It became one of the theme songs of the whole hippie movement. I was a teenage hippie in the 60s and hitchhiked all over the US. We ended up in Haight Ashbury and then the Sunset Strip. I went as far as Hawaii and Alaska going from one crash pad to the next. Life was like one big party. This song brought back some amazing memories. Thanks.
Good ol Haight Ashbury grond zero for the summer of love which is the year I landed on this rock lol!! Great song and yes I can see Amber falling hard for this song! ❤️
1967 was "The Summer of Love," and The Hippie movement and "Flower Power" were all born in San Fransico. "Height/Ashbury," became a tourist destination with actual tour buses, packed with people paying money to "See the Hippies," like it was a zoo or something. It kind of was a zoo. The lyrics say "If you're going...to San-Fransisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. Yes, the whole crazy Hippie and drug era, began here in 1967. Soon. the whole world knew about this new phenomenon. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, they all sprang out of this time. Can't forget "The Grateful Dead," from right out of San Fransisco. What a time. It lasted about 3 or 4 years in its true form, and then ...it was gone forever. Sure was fun, and the music was the best.
The bus drivers used to apologize ahead of time by 1969 because Haight had become mostly druggies and methadone clinics and people often lay down in front of the busses and the police did nothing (kind of the start of the decline of the city).
This was really a magical song in 1967. I was 8-9 years old in 1967 and I never went to San Francisco until 2003 when I was 44 years old. As soon as I got my rental car I headed for the Golden Gate Bridge and cued up this song on the car stereo and drove across with this song blasting out the windows.
New Artist Alert! The Cowsills! “Hair” is great and so is “I Love The Flower Girl”, it’s also called “The Rain, the Park and other things”. It’s a family band! From the 60’s!
The anthem for the "Summer of Love" - 1967 in San Francisco... And, Amber - it's up to your generation to carry all that love and peace forward in this day and time.
Of course, Scott McKenzie would later join a touring edition of The Mamas & The Papas essentially taking Denny Doherty's spot in the band as the two had a similar vocal range.
John and Scott were friends going back to the 1950s. They were in a do-wop group together in the late 50s and when folk music became popular in the early 60s they added a bass player and became the folk trio "The Journeymen." They had a pretty fair measure of success with their biggest hit being "500 Miles" released in 1961 where Scott has the lead vocal.
Everyone of the other Mamas and Papas regretted they didn't get to record it. Michelle Phillips said she thinks it would have been their greatest song.
I went to an oldies show somewhere around the mid-80s and one of the bands was the New Mamas and Papas. It contained John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Spanky McFarland and Mackenzie Phillips. They had a great sound. ✌️
Thank you for your service. And to all the other service men in this comment section, Thank you for your service as well. America loves and appreciates you all.
This song saw a resurgence in the early nineties from it's use in the movie Forrest Gump where it was featured after the protest at the Lincoln Memorial
I grew up in the Oakland Hills across the bay from San Francisco from age 4 thru college finishing at age 22. This song came out in 1967 when I was 10 yrs old so too young to be part of the "hippie movement", though I did go to UC Berkeley after high school. The S.F. Bay Area was truly an awesome place to live in and the music growing up was just great. This was such a beautiful song and it made you feel so happy and mellow. So many songs and groups started in the Bay Area in the 60s and 70s. I still listen to this every year. Makes me feel like a kid again.....Peace baby !!!!
This song was one of the great songs in the late 1960s during the “hippie” era and it made it to the top 40 songs, very relaxing 😌, and was used for the Woodstock festival awesome
I love this song. Scott's voice is so light and clear and with the music it is so joyful to listen to. They used to call him a one hit wonder but he wrote songs and sung with so many groups like the Mamas and Papas and quite a few of those songs went to number one. This is so nostalgic for me and it has passed the test of time. It came out during my first year in the Army and one of our Platoon Sergeants had just come back from Vietnam. He had fought in a major battle and was awarded a medal for bravery. He is a beautiful soul and we all respected and loved him and most of us survivors are still in touch with him. This was his favourite song and he played it all the time and we never got tired of it. I think it soothed his soul. All of the guys from then still love this song and I think it is an integral part of our bond.
This was one of my favorite songs when it came out when I was 12 years old. It always made me feel good inside. I was excited when I got to visit SF (I grew up in Santa Barbara, about 5 hours south) with my class the following year in junior high. I bought a peace sign necklace from a "hippie" girl wearing flowers in her hair! She put a daisy behind my ear! I wore my peace sign everyday to school. Visited that amazing city many times over the years.
I had a VW bug during my college years in the early 70's and let me tell you, I loved that car. It was as basic as a car can get but despite being inexpensive, it was well made, easy to maintain, and perfect for a college kid. I've had many much nicer cars since then, but there will always be a deep fondness for that car in my heart.
Same for me. Bought a green bug in 1969 for less then $2000 and drove it for the next 9 years through military, college, and law school. Need to bring those babies back. Perfect starter car, inexpensive to run, reliable as hell. Mine ended up with dents in all four fenders before I stopped drinking in '77. Just kept running until it dropped. I still dream about driving that car over 40 years later.
Still puts a tingle down my spine after first hearing it more than 50 years ago when still at high school...oh to have those days again... Different times, completely different world...
This song tells one side of the 60's hippie era. Now you're both ready for the darker side of the hippie era. EVE OF DESTRUCTION by Barry McGuire. It's all about Vietnam, protests, marches, riots, politics. Another of the great one hit wonders that gives a snapshot of what was happening at the time. 🔥🔥🔥
Eve of Destruction is entirely relevant today. Sadly, the same cannot be said of "San Francisco". As much as I was into the hippy movement, which was somewhat less focused on a single place here in Europe, it doesn't take a genius to see it was doomed to be quickly side-lined by the power-crazed, money-making machine once they'd taken their pound of flesh from it.
Really wanna mess with Amber? Point out to her that CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' was recorded first by McGuire, with the then little-known The Mommas And The Poppas providing back-up vocal tracks. He agreed to let them cover it...
Wow. Been forever and a day since I've heard this. So long, in fact, that I complete forgot who sang it. I had to use Wiki to refamiliarize myself with Mr. McKenzie... turns out this was his only BIG hit (hitting #4 in the US and #1 in the UK in 1967). He did have a second minor hit, "Like an Old Time Movie", and that's pretty much it. I love how you guys like to explore the depths of music history, even shining light on some talented singers whose star never rose as high as the bands and artists that became household names. Also: the full title of this song is "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair". Finally - while we have San Francisco on the brain, there is a crooner that you have yet to react to, one of the best, and one of the very few that's still with us... Tony Bennett, whose (arguably) best known song is "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". Check it out.
My Aunt and Uncle from OKLAHOMA came to visit one of my other uncles, and it was a trip for us. As we drove around San Francisco, I got to see all the “Flower Children” all over the city. Even when we got to Hayward which is part of the Bay Area every street corner had flower children on it. They were just groovin’ all over the place. I grew up during that time, and got face time with quite a few flower children at the Airport as I was headed out to my Basic Training.
Since you're into the Bee Gees, I must recommend their 1967 song "Massachusetts", which was inspired by all the young people venturing out on their own to places like San Francisco. It was about someone being homesick for Massachusetts, so it was sort of the opposite of this song. It's an early Bee Gees hit, with lead vocals by Robin Gibb.
In Nov. Of 1970 disillusioned by the war protests and the shootings at Kent State I dropped out of college and went out West and hitch hiked around California! I made it up to Frisco and Haight Asbury!! Even stopped by "The Phoenix" head shop where I bought a silver bullet roach clip. Ahh the dreams we had!!!
When I was driving to Long Beach California back in 1990 that song played on the radio even though it came out long before 1990. Love that song! Definitely remind me of the flower power days. If you get a chance, check out the song "In the year 2525" by Zager and Evans
I left San Francisco in 2000, after the death of my life partner, really broken and angry. I did heal and move on, but this song always moves me to tears. I'm grateful for the many years I had there, but could never go back, not even to visit. I've made SF a flower trapped in amber, in my mind. It was a wonderful place, with fascinating, creative people. It is the one thing in my life that I will not accept changed, even though I know that's a delusion.
At the time this was at or near the top of the charts, another powerful song from that era ("Society's Child) by Janis Ian--who you've reacted to before--was on there as well. Like "At Seventeen," it's a powerful song about a subject that was taboo at the time--interracial relationships.
I heard Scott sing this live, mid 80's in Vegas as he was in the new Mamas and Papas. John Phillips wrote this song. A WONDERFUL SONG and Scott's voice is top shelf. Thanks for the memories.
The spirit of this song also migrated to Germany. While on maneuvers, my team and I stopped at a hotel/restaurant n the mountains of Southern Bavaria. When we came out, our military vehicle was covered with flowers. A group of young people waited for us and serenaded us with this song. While they were doing it, they also decorated our uniforms and M-16's with flowers. An unforgetable experience. Peace and Love all around
I was born at the start of that summer 56 years ago. A friend of mines mother hitch hiked all the way from Toronto Canada, to Frisco in the summer of 67 this how we were introduced to the great bands of the sixties she was only 17 years old when she did that with a few of her friends. I miss her and just talking about the times back then and all the classic bands she saw like Hendrix , The Doors, Cream, Janis, Jefferson Airplane the list that she saw just goes on and on and is the whos who of sixties rock Miss you Ruby.
This was an anthem for it's time.. .. 1967 was the year of Flower Power.. Monterey Pop.. and everything groovy.. go for some more Hippie stuff.. The Mama's & Papa's - Creeque Alley .. The Association - Along Comes Mary or Windy.. or even The Fifth Dimension - Up, Up And Away! .. The spirit lives on.... Love your reactions ..
Thanks from Germany for all the good music! this song from "Scott McKenzie - San Fransisco" was an one hit wonder in the Flower-Power-Time for Hippies in the 60ies. And love and peace all time!
This song was written by John Phillips of the Mama's and the Pappas. Scott McKenzie was struggling to find his mark and John gave it to him to record and it became his biggest hit .
San Francisco was written by John Phillips of the Mama and Papas, and was originally written to promote the Monterey Pop Festival that year (1967) which was to go on to become a legendary festival.
yall make me happy when I'm all alone missing my lived ones. yall are my family. love your channel love both of you. love grandma from s. texas. Kathy k
I was 17 & wearing colours, beads & flowers along the streets in Southern England after this tune, a young convert to the Hippy movement. This tune says it all, showing the beliefs we had & hoped for all.
This was the 60's...San Francisco was the home of the original hippies and love children...and now those that are still here are grandparents...time stops for no one...
Another great song from that time and in that mode is "Get Together" by The Youngbloods. An iconic song from that era with a lot of meaning to those of us who lived through that time in our nation's history. Great reaction! You two rock!!
I live in England and this was a massive hit in 1967. I was 18 and it was the year I got engaged. I promised myself that one day I would go to San Francisco. I made it when I was 43, had a month long holiday all over the west coast. Like the young man below me I was driving over the Golden Gate bridge and this came on, turned it up and sang my heart out, got a few funny looks but some people actually joined in. By the way I married the lad I was engaged to and we've been married for almost 54 years. Good times.
I grew up in San Francisco. I was 19 in 1967, the “summer of love “. I wasn’t a hippie, but it was a fun time, for a while. But the drugs got heavy, and things got ugly. And it ended soon after. David Crosby said our generation was right about a lot of things, but we were wrong about drugs.
This song always bring back memories of going to CA. and San Francisco in 1973. I was only 12 years old so was a little young still to wear flowers in my hair. I have a memory of going to Embarcadero Square and it was full of people hanging out, playing a variety of instruments, and music from the 60's and 70's playing. It was a warm summer day. I wish I could find some You-tube videos from Embarcadero square in 1973, but haven't found any. Great song though.
When this song came out I actually lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco. I was only 7 and 8, but I still remember walking past hippies and absolutely loving their clothes and their vibe. Others looked like models right out of fashion magazines. Really, an incredible time to be that young because our parents shielded us from the turmoil of the 60's so mostly I just recall the colors, fashions and music.
So happy that you liked this song that was written about the youth movement of the 60s which San Francisco was a mecca for liked minded people to congregate peacefully. The first human Be-in was also held in Jan 67 in San Francisco which was an event with speakers talking about the counterculture values and acceptance of illicit psychedelics. This was followed in the same year by the summer of love in SF and the birth of the hippy movement. This song perfectly captures the beauty of that time and its hope for a better world.
The Anthem of Peace and Love. Oh to be a Hippie back in the day. This song was the essential party song where incense was burned and we thought we were so groovy. Loved this song like you AMBER and couldn't wait to grow up to be a HIPPIE. ✌️✌️🌺🌺🌺✌️✌️ Thanks for the memory. Buckets of Maple Syrup love from Canada ❤️❤️ 🇨🇦 🇨🇦
Another nostalgic song of the late 60's, "America" by Simon & Garfunkel. Very bittersweet. Freedom to search for meaning of your life and the American dream. I think you'd both love the meaning, and the lyrics are pure poetry!
I remember being a little kid in '68-69, like around 4 or 5, in San Francisco and my older cousin, a major hippie in her late teens, would always weave flowers into our hair, put flowers in our shirt pockets, and just generally be a really groovy person. When I see pictures of her back then, she was such a hippie. OMG so cool. I wish I had been old enough to be one. We'd have flowers in our shirts until like 3rd grade. She's still a hippie and still my favorite cousin.
Phrases back then..."flower power" and "love in" My dad bought a flower print couch back then thinking he would impress the hippie in me! Lol It was so gaudy but I appreciated his thought behind it.
This was an anthem for us in Vietnam. Going to San Francisco was getting the hell out of Vietnam! Still love this song and it brings back a lot of memories and emotions!!! Peace, ya' all!!!
I was married to a two tour Vietnam vet. This was one of his favorite songs. When people ask what he died from, I tell them he died in Vietnam, and his body just did not know to lay down. He died of agent orange related cancer.
Sandra - A story too often told! Sorry for your loss but thank you and your husband for your service! I am 100% disabled but V.A. would never say any of my troubles (no cancer) were the result of Agent Orange. Things are changing but too many are gone now not ever having gotten the support of the V.A. Sad!!! Our other favorite song was "We Gotta Get Outta This Place" (if it's the last thing we ever do!!!) by the Animals@@sandrasabine1911
There was so much to those times I remember - the political references in Mad Magazine, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the space race, cool plastic models of hot rods and choppers, The American Indian Movement, The Whole Earth Catalogue and hippie communes, fringe jackets, The Weather Underground, Carlos Castaneda, young people backpacking around the world or going on long road trips, The Monkees, Easy Rider and Billy Jack! I wouldn't believe all that, and much more, really happened if I hadn't lived through it!
Scotts melodic voice and Johns genius song writing created monster hit,with a beautiful message.Both passed away at 70 and 67 r espectively-drugs man are not harmless.
"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" was produced and released in May 1967 to promote the legendary Monterey International Pop Music Festival, a three-day music festival held in June of that year which featured legendary performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, and The Who. Monterey is about 120 miles south of San Francisco. From there it's around a two hour drive at speed, close enough to tout the connection apparently. The festival kicked off what came to be called the Summer of Love, a social phenomenon in which tens of thousands of young people from across the United States -- called hippies or flower children -- came together in San Francisco in search of a more authentic lifestyle as well as music, drugs, and free-love. That cuts the story short, very short, but it marks the moment when the counterculture movement began to spread across the United States and around the world.
Amber, if you want an equally hippy and dreamy song, I highly recommend Matthews Southern Comfort's version of the song "Woodstock". You will LOVE it. Also recommended is Country Joe and the Fish - "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag".
Another song about San Francisco from a few years earlier (1962) is begging for a reaction. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is from crooner Tony Bennett and is his iconic signature song. Given his failing health due to dementia, it will be prominently heard in the tributes following his death.
I was a part of that time, and Amber you would have fit into that whole scene perfectly! It was a beautiful time to be young, and full of inspiration for the future!
This song was written by John Phillips of the Mama's and Papas to help promote the Monterrey Pop Festival. Jordan and Amber, check out the movie about it. Another great SF song is San Francisco Nights by Eric Burdon and The Animals
I will never forget this song....August, 1967...I was in a car, crossing the Golden Gate bridge, on my way to the airport in San Francisco, and this song came on. Ten days earlier, I was in Vietnam. Now I was going HOME. Damn, what a feeling....
Glad one more of us made it back. FUBAR!
Thank you for your service and for making it home!
Thank u for ur service.
Thank you for your service 💕
That must have been like going from the hinges of hell to the front yard of heaven
This song is always a pleasure, Scott's bell clear tenor and diction carrying a feelgood happy song.Its a lifter.
This is one of those songs... Give me a time machine so I can go back to 1967... I was a kid, but the music was on the radio all the time...We had our whole lives ahead...
1967 The Summer Of Love but, The Year Of Protest.
67 Mustang covert with a small block and a 4 speed is as close as we got. 🙂
This is one of the few songs from that era that actually brings tears to my eyes. There was so much promise for all of us growing up then. ✌🏻💀
Yeah but too many bums, drugs. Hustlers, and lots more..it was a nice fantasy but not based in reality..again, a nice song. But a very unrealistic view of life..Most of the hippies were fairly rich upper class kids who. Once the vibe changes, they left the Haight a really bad place
Yes.... A beautiful fantasy, kinda heartbreaking especially seeing and knowing what San Fran is today
@@jamesleyda365 it is the grandkids of the original hippies who are largely responsible. They like playing urban fantasy till itgets sketchy, then they split..
I was in S.F. several times in the late 70s and 80s. It was a great City. So sad it is crap now. A democratic cess pool.
@@danadesimone9322 I don't buy that. The hippies in SF area were from all kinds of backgrounds in my experience. The real trouble was, especially in the Haight, that weed and LSD and mushrooms gave way to hard drugs like heroin. The hard drug vibe in SF continues to this day, but the hippie love vibe is long dead, alas. Just between 1967 and 1968, a lot changed, with multiple political assassinations in '68.
Now when you look at us older set you will think of us at 16 with daisies in our hair and thank you for understanding where we came from....peace and love❤
All you Vietnam vets out there .. thank you and welcome home.
I was born in 1967, served 20 years in the Army myself (including deployments in Afghanistan, among other places).
But, I always had the love and support of my country.
You folks were often treated with such hate and disrespect, and that breaks my heart.
I salute you all.
My father never made it home from Vietnam. He should of never been there and this movement definitely hits me hard
Flower power at it’s best! San Francisco was the heart of the hippie movement.
it lasted as long as California's "popular" laws do. Couple of years then it turns to shit and dies.
This is THE flower power song of the 60 s. It s all about the peace and love generation.
I lived in the Haight in 67 And i remember the Summer Of Love so well. The word went out and a hundred thousend kids showed up that summer. This song was like an invitation to join us. Lremember the flyers handed out to every housein the neighborhood telling us that soon we were going to be flooded and if you had space could you take someone in.It was thelast great time of brotherhood. I will miss but never forget my brothers and sisters. Music coming from every bldg. The Diggers the Good Earth commune. Growing up then was magic.
How cool is that!!!!???
How much dirty sex did you have?
The Diggers, yes! God bless the Diggers!
Dude, I think I remember you (jk) but we might have run into each other at the Digger's free store or the Fillmore, Avalon, or Carousel. Bill Graham personally tossed me out of the Fillmore on Memorial Day weekend in 68 (I was a teenager and security thought I was smoking pot; I was probably the only one there that wasn't!) I still have the recipe for Digger bread (made in coffee cans) that they printed out back then. The Peace and Love era of hippiedom was short-lived, replaced by violent radical politics, hard drugs, etc. ☮
@@twentyfiveyears5010 That was the sad part by end of 68 grass and acid had been replaced by junk and good people were leaving. I lived 2 doors down from digger victorian and a block away from store. It was a magic time.
I love Amber's free spirit and hippie vibes. She reminds me of my middle daughter. She is 32 now, but she has been a hippie since she was about 14. She is all about Mother Earth, moon ,stars, sun, peace & love.
That's a true sixties classic. The Animals had another great one like this called "San Franciscan Nights"
"Strobe lights beam
Creates dreams..."
@@twentyfiveyears5010 "Heavens above, they're on a street called Love" great song
Yes, that one is definitely a must listen!
Peace & Love
The reason this 1967 song is about San Francisco is because the Summer of Love took place in 1967 in that city and people from around the country and around the world flocked to it for that. It was a rock music center at the time, home of the Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin), the Grateful Dead, the Charlatans, and a bunch of others, with venues like the Filmore Auditorium pioneering acid light shows for rock groups and artists producing some of the psychedelic posters that are still admired today. Before that, it had developed an avant-garde reputation in the late 1950s as a center for Beat poets and jazz.
One of the most beautiful songs ever recorded. That voice!!
Iconic song of the times. Height/Ashbury hippies, peace and love.
I wasn't there, but I've seen pictures of Haight-Ashbury. It was center of 1960s counterculture.
I wore flowers in my hair everyday of my life until I was 50 & started working as a lunch lady. I'm 67 now & this brings back memories of my hippie days. I still won't give up my blue mascara. I also still have my suede fringe vest, love beads, head bands & granny glasses. Haight Ashbury in San Francisco was a major area of the hippie population.
This was an anthem song for the "Peace" movement (Vietnam) era. Great song and so many memories. ☮
Some other really good songs from this time period is The Turtles - Happy Together, Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love, The Tremeloes - Silence Is Golden, Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense & Peppermints & The Mamas & Papas - Creeque Alley. Thank you for sharing with us Jay & Amber, you both are truly amazing!!
Groovy, man , lol!
Country Joe and the Fish were there and led the way. LSD for U & ME.
This was written by John Phillips from the mamas and papas and given to Scott McKenzie
He also wrote Twelve-Thirty for Scott but Scott felt it was too much like San Francisco so soon and HIS group wanted it so TM&TP released it and had a hit. Scott did later did a version, it’s here on youtube.
This song always sends me back to that time period. I traveled all over the US hitchhiking. Even then, there was a risk to it, hence I mostly went with my boyfriend. However, everywhere we went people took us in for a night (or more) saying "Here's the couch, kitchen, bathroom, weed. Help yourself and we'll give you a ride to the freeway in the morning." When we were dropped off in front of a burger joint in Portland OR a guy walked up saying: "You just got to town! You have no place to stay! You're staying with me!" The world has changed and I'm not sure that it's for the better
thanks for sharing that was really nice,lucky to have such memories u are
I remember when I didn’t have much to do, I would ride around in my vw bug and give hitchhikers a free ride😊
There are most likely many songs that bring this nostalgic feeling of the era. But to me, this one is the best. I remember hearing it for the first time and it just picks you up and places you right in that time in history. So much had changed, so much was changing. It is comforting, inviting and positive. Will there ever be another time like this ? Well they tried it again in the 90s kind of, but it was all imitation really. Back then it really was love and peace not the empty gestures we see from many these days. People had hope ! ❤
I wanted to go to San Francisco but way too young….plus I wasn’t a hippie! It was all right if you weren’t it just had a vibe that was pulling me there!
Absolutely.
SanFrancisco especially the Haight/Ashbury area was a Hippie Haven in the late sixties
I remember when this song hit the airwaves. It became one of the theme songs of the whole hippie movement. I was a teenage hippie in the 60s and hitchhiked all over the US. We ended up in Haight Ashbury and then the Sunset Strip. I went as far as Hawaii and Alaska going from one crash pad to the next. Life was like one big party. This song brought back some amazing memories. Thanks.
Bless you sir, you must have some amazing stories from that era.I envy you.
I'm a little jealous of you. I was a little too young to fully experience the 60's... Born Late, 58. Obscure "Mott The Hoople" reference, there!
So much hope, so many dreams and we end up with THIS world. Sigh...
My favorite song from this era and one that always cheers me up is The Grass Roots “Live for Today”. It has been my anthem for 50 + years😀
La La La LA Lets live for today.
@@jacklewis5452 Yes, that's the real hippie anthem.
Classic song - it moved young people at the time -WE ALL WANTED TO GO !!!
IMO, San Francisco was the heart of the hippie movement. Great song and a beautiful city. It’s different today but still beautiful.
Good ol Haight Ashbury grond zero for the summer of love which is the year I landed on this rock lol!! Great song and yes I can see Amber falling hard for this song! ❤️
1967 was "The Summer of Love," and The Hippie movement and "Flower Power" were all born in San Fransico. "Height/Ashbury," became a tourist destination with actual tour buses, packed with people paying money to "See the Hippies," like it was a zoo or something. It kind of was a zoo. The lyrics say "If you're going...to San-Fransisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. Yes, the whole crazy Hippie and drug era, began here in 1967. Soon. the whole world knew about this new phenomenon.
Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, they all sprang out of this time. Can't forget "The Grateful Dead," from right out of San Fransisco. What a time. It lasted about 3 or 4 years in its true form, and then ...it was gone forever. Sure was fun, and the music was the best.
In the 80's I came to San Francisco and went to visit the corner of Height and Ashbury. There was a laundry mat there.😆
FYI... it's *HAIGHT* Ashbury. as in the intersection of the two streets.. but old school just say " The Haight"
CCR from SF too
The bus drivers used to apologize ahead of time by 1969 because Haight had become mostly druggies and methadone clinics and people often lay down in front of the busses and the police did nothing (kind of the start of the decline of the city).
@@jackieknows9129 The Hippies didn't need any stinking laundromat.
This was really a magical song in 1967.
I was 8-9 years old in 1967 and I never went to San Francisco until 2003 when I was 44 years old. As soon as I got my rental car I headed for the Golden Gate Bridge and cued up this song on the car stereo and drove across with this song blasting out the windows.
New Artist Alert! The Cowsills! “Hair” is great and so is “I Love The Flower Girl”, it’s also called “The Rain, the Park and other things”. It’s a family band! From the 60’s!
Absolutely!...I have been looking at the Cowsills Videos and they are Awesome....takes me back when i was a kid.
Yes I agree
Yes! The Cowsills! The Flower Girl song is "The Rain, The Part and Other Things"
The Rain, the Park, and Other Things by the Cowsills. Great suggestion!
@@juliemnm8273 Me too!
The anthem for the "Summer of Love" - 1967 in San Francisco... And, Amber - it's up to your generation to carry all that love and peace forward in this day and time.
I absolutely love this song. I sing it all the time. It's actually written by John Phillips of The Mamas & Papas.
Of course, Scott McKenzie would later join a touring edition of The Mamas & The Papas essentially taking Denny Doherty's spot in the band as the two had a similar vocal range.
John and Scott were friends going back to the 1950s. They were in a do-wop group together in the late 50s and when folk music became popular in the early 60s they added a bass player and became the folk trio "The Journeymen." They had a pretty fair measure of success with their biggest hit being "500 Miles" released in 1961 where Scott has the lead vocal.
Everyone of the other Mamas and Papas regretted they didn't get to record it. Michelle Phillips said she thinks it would have been their greatest song.
He and Scot had been in a folk group called The Journeymen.
I went to an oldies show somewhere around the mid-80s and one of the bands was the New Mamas and Papas. It contained John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Spanky McFarland and Mackenzie Phillips. They had a great sound. ✌️
Thank you for your service. And to all the other service men in this comment section, Thank you for your service as well. America loves and appreciates you all.
This song saw a resurgence in the early nineties from it's use in the movie Forrest Gump where it was featured after the protest at the Lincoln Memorial
I grew up in the Oakland Hills across the bay from San Francisco from age 4 thru college finishing at age 22. This song came out in 1967 when I was 10 yrs old so too young to be part of the "hippie movement", though I did go to UC Berkeley after high school. The S.F. Bay Area was truly an awesome place to live in and the music growing up was just great. This was such a beautiful song and it made you feel so happy and mellow. So many songs and groups started in the Bay Area in the 60s and 70s. I still listen to this every year. Makes me feel like a kid again.....Peace baby !!!!
This song was one of the great songs in the late 1960s during the “hippie” era and it made it to the top 40 songs, very relaxing 😌, and was used for the Woodstock festival awesome
I really dig this song, it’s so groovy !
Well, actually, it was written to promote The Montery Pop Festival of 1967.
@@resurrectionwaiting9294 Yes written by Papa John Phillips from the Mama's & Papa's.
Ahh. the sounds of my youth. So much positive energy. Man, I miss those days.
@@soldonHim😅😅😅😅
I love this song. Scott's voice is so light and clear and with the music it is so joyful to listen to. They used to call him a one hit wonder but he wrote songs and sung with so many groups like the Mamas and Papas and quite a few of those songs went to number one. This is so nostalgic for me and it has passed the test of time. It came out during my first year in the Army and one of our Platoon Sergeants had just come back from Vietnam. He had fought in a major battle and was awarded a medal for bravery. He is a beautiful soul and we all respected and loved him and most of us survivors are still in touch with him. This was his favourite song and he played it all the time and we never got tired of it. I think it soothed his soul. All of the guys from then still love this song and I think it is an integral part of our bond.
This was one of my favorite songs when it came out when I was 12 years old. It always made me feel good inside. I was excited when I got to visit SF (I grew up in Santa Barbara, about 5 hours south) with my class the following year in junior high. I bought a peace sign necklace from a "hippie" girl wearing flowers in her hair! She put a daisy behind my ear! I wore my peace sign everyday to school. Visited that amazing city many times over the years.
1967! Summer of Love! Missed it, I was vacationing in Nam!
Thank you.
This is the hippie era encapsulated into one song! Great reaction, as always, guys! ❤
I grew up in SF in the 60s. Remember this song well
I had a VW bug during my college years in the early 70's and let me tell you, I loved that car. It was as basic as a car can get but despite being inexpensive, it was well made, easy to maintain, and perfect for a college kid. I've had many much nicer cars since then, but there will always be a deep fondness for that car in my heart.
Same for me. Bought a green bug in 1969 for less then $2000 and drove it for the next 9 years through military, college, and law school. Need to bring those babies back. Perfect starter car, inexpensive to run, reliable as hell. Mine ended up with dents in all four fenders before I stopped drinking in '77. Just kept running until it dropped. I still dream about driving that car over 40 years later.
Still puts a tingle down my spine after first hearing it more than 50 years ago when still at high school...oh to have those days again... Different times, completely different world...
This song tells one side of the 60's hippie era. Now you're both ready for the darker side of the hippie era. EVE OF DESTRUCTION by Barry McGuire. It's all about Vietnam, protests, marches, riots, politics. Another of the great one hit wonders that gives a snapshot of what was happening at the time. 🔥🔥🔥
Also, Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Eve of Destruction is entirely relevant today. Sadly, the same cannot be said of "San Francisco". As much as I was into the hippy movement, which was somewhat less focused on a single place here in Europe, it doesn't take a genius to see it was doomed to be quickly side-lined by the power-crazed, money-making machine once they'd taken their pound of flesh from it.
Yes! Please sample Eve of Destruction .
Yup, wasn't all about the flowers, folks.
Really wanna mess with Amber? Point out to her that CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' was recorded first by McGuire, with the then little-known The Mommas And The Poppas providing back-up vocal tracks. He agreed to let them cover it...
As an old British guy who has loved the Beatles for ever, I want to thank you two lovely people for getting it!
Wow. Been forever and a day since I've heard this. So long, in fact, that I complete forgot who sang it. I had to use Wiki to refamiliarize myself with Mr. McKenzie... turns out this was his only BIG hit (hitting #4 in the US and #1 in the UK in 1967). He did have a second minor hit, "Like an Old Time Movie", and that's pretty much it. I love how you guys like to explore the depths of music history, even shining light on some talented singers whose star never rose as high as the bands and artists that became household names. Also: the full title of this song is "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair". Finally - while we have San Francisco on the brain, there is a crooner that you have yet to react to, one of the best, and one of the very few that's still with us... Tony Bennett, whose (arguably) best known song is "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". Check it out.
I saw the Mamas & Pappas in the mid-90's and Scott McKenzie was with them in Denny Doherty's place and they played this song.
Scott wrote a few hits for other people, one that comes to mind is Anne Murray's "What About Me"
Scott also co-wrote Kokomo with John Phillips of the Mama's and Papa's for the Beach Boys
My Aunt and Uncle from OKLAHOMA came to visit one of my other uncles, and it was a trip for us. As we drove around San Francisco, I got to see all the “Flower Children” all over the city. Even when we got to Hayward which is part of the Bay Area every street corner had flower children on it. They were just groovin’ all over the place. I grew up during that time, and got face time with quite a few flower children at the Airport as I was headed out to my Basic Training.
Since you're into the Bee Gees, I must recommend their 1967 song "Massachusetts", which was inspired by all the young people venturing out on their own to places like San Francisco. It was about someone being homesick for Massachusetts, so it was sort of the opposite of this song. It's an early Bee Gees hit, with lead vocals by Robin Gibb.
Beautiful song.
GREAT RECOMMENDATION ❤️
For me that is still one of their best songs even above all of their great disco hits.
In Nov. Of 1970 disillusioned by the war protests and the shootings at Kent State I dropped out of college and went out West and hitch hiked around California! I made it up to Frisco and Haight Asbury!! Even stopped by "The Phoenix" head shop where I bought a silver bullet roach clip. Ahh the dreams we had!!!
When I was driving to Long Beach California back in 1990 that song played on the radio even though it came out long before 1990. Love that song! Definitely remind me of the flower power days. If you get a chance, check out the song "In the year 2525" by Zager and Evans
I left San Francisco in 2000, after the death of my life partner, really broken and angry. I did heal and move on, but this song always moves me to tears. I'm grateful for the many years I had there, but could never go back, not even to visit. I've made SF a flower trapped in amber, in my mind. It was a wonderful place, with fascinating, creative people. It is the one thing in my life that I will not accept changed, even though I know that's a delusion.
At the time this was at or near the top of the charts, another powerful song from that era ("Society's Child) by Janis Ian--who you've reacted to before--was on there as well. Like "At Seventeen," it's a powerful song about a subject that was taboo at the time--interracial relationships.
Now we're talking for all the children of the sixties , and another wonderful song that touches the heart strings x
San Francisco was the center of the Flower Power/Peace and Love musical movement. So many great artists and bands came out of a small block radius.
I heard Scott sing this live, mid 80's in Vegas as he was in the new Mamas and Papas. John Phillips wrote this song. A WONDERFUL SONG and Scott's voice is top shelf. Thanks for the memories.
The spirit of this song also migrated to Germany. While on maneuvers, my team and I stopped at a hotel/restaurant n the mountains of Southern Bavaria. When we came out, our military vehicle was covered with flowers. A group of young people waited for us and serenaded us with this song. While they were doing it, they also decorated our uniforms and M-16's with flowers. An unforgetable experience. Peace and Love all around
😁👌
I was born at the start of that summer 56 years ago. A friend of mines mother hitch hiked all the way from Toronto Canada, to Frisco in the summer of 67 this how we were introduced to the great bands of the sixties she was only 17 years old when she did that with a few of her friends. I miss her and just talking about the times back then and all the classic bands she saw like Hendrix , The Doors, Cream, Janis, Jefferson Airplane the list that she saw just goes on and on and is the whos who of sixties rock Miss you Ruby.
This was an anthem for it's time.. .. 1967 was the year of Flower Power.. Monterey Pop.. and everything groovy.. go for some more Hippie stuff.. The Mama's & Papa's - Creeque Alley .. The Association - Along Comes Mary or Windy.. or even The Fifth Dimension - Up, Up And Away! .. The spirit lives on.... Love your reactions ..
The hippies failed .
Thanks from Germany for all the good music! this song from "Scott McKenzie - San Fransisco" was an one hit wonder in the Flower-Power-Time for Hippies in the 60ies. And love and peace all time!
Love this 💖💫💖 I still get goosebumps when I here the first cords 💖💫💖
This one and Get Together by the Youngbloods have a similar effect on me.
This song was written by John Phillips of the Mama's and the Pappas. Scott McKenzie was struggling to find his mark and John gave it to him to record and it became his biggest hit .
San Francisco was written by John Phillips of the Mama and Papas, and was originally written to promote the Monterey Pop Festival that year (1967) which was to go on to become a legendary festival.
Wasn't that where Janis Joplin jaw-dropped Momma Cass in the audience singing "Ball and Chain"?
@@michaelpape3793 Yep!
yall make me happy when I'm all alone missing my lived ones. yall are my family. love your channel love both of you. love grandma from s. texas. Kathy k
Kathy, you're not alone we love you.
I was 17 & wearing colours, beads & flowers along the streets in Southern England after this tune, a young convert to the Hippy movement. This tune says it all, showing the beliefs we had & hoped for all.
Such a great song. Jay the circle glasses were called “granny glasses” back in the day. Thanks for all you do. Love your channel!
This song was the anthem of the mid-1960s. Love to see see/hear your reaction to Scott's, "Like an Old-Time Movie."
This song is one of the greatest songs of all time and is in my top 100 never get tired of this one thanks for reacting
Written by John Philips of the Mamas and Papas.
And Scott McKenzie has such a beautiful voice
This is such a classic
Another great song that got a lot of airplay, even in the 70s/80s here in the UK 🇬🇧 ("San Francisco" was a hit in 1967)
This was the 60's...San Francisco was the home of the original hippies and love children...and now those that are still here are grandparents...time stops for no one...
This was the best of times
Another great song from that time and in that mode is "Get Together" by The Youngbloods. An iconic song from that era with a lot of meaning to those of us who lived through that time in our nation's history. Great reaction! You two rock!!
I live in England and this was a massive hit in 1967. I was 18 and it was the year I got engaged. I promised myself that one day I would go to San Francisco. I made it when I was 43, had a month long holiday all over the west coast. Like the young man below me I was driving over the Golden Gate bridge and this came on, turned it up and sang my heart out, got a few funny looks but some people actually joined in. By the way I married the lad I was engaged to and we've been married for almost 54 years. Good times.
I grew up in San Francisco. I was 19 in 1967, the “summer of love “. I wasn’t a hippie, but it was a fun time, for a while. But the drugs got heavy, and things got ugly. And it ended soon after. David Crosby said our generation was right about a lot of things, but we were wrong about drugs.
This song always bring back memories of going to CA. and San Francisco in 1973. I was only 12 years old so was a little young still to wear flowers in my hair. I have a memory of going to Embarcadero Square and it was full of people hanging out, playing a variety of instruments, and music from the 60's and 70's playing. It was a warm summer day. I wish I could find some You-tube videos from Embarcadero square in 1973, but haven't found any. Great song though.
When this song came out I actually lived in the Bay Area of San Francisco. I was only 7 and 8, but I still remember walking past hippies and absolutely loving their clothes and their vibe. Others looked like models right out of fashion magazines. Really, an incredible time to be that young because our parents shielded us from the turmoil of the 60's so mostly I just recall the colors, fashions and music.
So happy that you liked this song that was written about the youth movement of the 60s which San Francisco was a mecca for liked minded people to congregate peacefully. The first human Be-in was also held in Jan 67 in San Francisco which was an event with speakers talking about the counterculture values and acceptance of illicit psychedelics. This was followed in the same year by the summer of love in SF and the birth of the hippy movement. This song perfectly captures the beauty of that time and its hope for a better world.
The Anthem of Peace and Love. Oh to be a Hippie back in the day. This song was the essential party song where incense was burned and we thought we were so groovy. Loved this song like you AMBER and couldn't wait to grow up to be a HIPPIE. ✌️✌️🌺🌺🌺✌️✌️ Thanks for the memory. Buckets of Maple Syrup love from Canada ❤️❤️ 🇨🇦 🇨🇦
Love this Song...was one those that really rept..the mood of a generation..
Continuing what was the , " Summer of Love " ..movement..Peace & Love
Another nostalgic song of the late 60's, "America" by Simon & Garfunkel. Very bittersweet. Freedom to search for meaning of your life and the American dream. I think you'd both love the meaning, and the lyrics are pure poetry!
I remember being a little kid in '68-69, like around 4 or 5, in San Francisco and my older cousin, a major hippie in her late teens, would always weave flowers into our hair, put flowers in our shirt pockets, and just generally be a really groovy person. When I see pictures of her back then, she was such a hippie. OMG so cool. I wish I had been old enough to be one. We'd have flowers in our shirts until like 3rd grade. She's still a hippie and still my favorite cousin.
When Jay writes "She Loved It" in the title, it usually means he ain't feelin' it.. BUT....he felt it too!
Phrases back then..."flower power" and "love in"
My dad bought a flower print couch back then thinking he would impress the hippie in me! Lol
It was so gaudy but I appreciated his thought behind it.
Brings back my Hippie years! Peace & Love ☮
It literally makes me cry to hear this. We've lost so much since then, never to be experienced again.
Hearing this song in Vietnam made us very homesick.
This song was written by John Phillips of the Mama's & Papa's for his friend Scott.
This was an anthem for us in Vietnam. Going to San Francisco was getting the hell out of Vietnam! Still love this song and it brings back a lot of memories and emotions!!! Peace, ya' all!!!
I was married to a two tour Vietnam vet. This was one of his favorite songs. When people ask what he died from, I tell them he died in Vietnam, and his body just did not know to lay down. He died of agent orange related cancer.
Sandra - A story too often told! Sorry for your loss but thank you and your husband for your service! I am 100% disabled but V.A. would never say any of my troubles (no cancer) were the result of Agent Orange. Things are changing but too many are gone now not ever having gotten the support of the V.A. Sad!!!
Our other favorite song was "We Gotta Get Outta This Place" (if it's the last thing we ever do!!!) by the Animals@@sandrasabine1911
There was so much to those times I remember - the political references in Mad Magazine, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the space race, cool plastic models of hot rods and choppers, The American Indian Movement, The Whole Earth Catalogue and hippie communes, fringe jackets, The Weather Underground, Carlos Castaneda, young people backpacking around the world or going on long road trips, The Monkees, Easy Rider and Billy Jack! I wouldn't believe all that, and much more, really happened if I hadn't lived through it!
Definitely one of the best songs of the hippie era. Totally evokes the spirit of the times. Love the reaction! Peace!
Scotts melodic voice and Johns genius song writing created monster hit,with a beautiful message.Both passed away at 70 and 67 r
espectively-drugs man are not harmless.
"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" was produced and released in May 1967 to promote the legendary Monterey International Pop Music Festival, a three-day music festival held in June of that year which featured legendary performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, and The Who. Monterey is about 120 miles south of San Francisco. From there it's around a two hour drive at speed, close enough to tout the connection apparently. The festival kicked off what came to be called the Summer of Love, a social phenomenon in which tens of thousands of young people from across the United States -- called hippies or flower children -- came together in San Francisco in search of a more authentic lifestyle as well as music, drugs, and free-love. That cuts the story short, very short, but it marks the moment when the counterculture movement began to spread across the United States and around the world.
I like this song more now than I did back in the 60's. Beautiful voice.
Amber, if you want an equally hippy and dreamy song, I highly recommend Matthews Southern Comfort's version of the song "Woodstock". You will LOVE it.
Also recommended is Country Joe and the Fish - "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag".
You guys are so right about his voice. Its beautiful ❤. And the song is awesome 😊.
Another song about San Francisco from a few years earlier (1962) is begging for a reaction. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is from crooner Tony Bennett and is his iconic signature song. Given his failing health due to dementia, it will be prominently heard in the tributes following his death.
I was a part of that time, and Amber you would have fit into that whole scene perfectly! It was a beautiful time to be young, and full of inspiration for the future!
This song was written by John Phillips of the Mama's and Papas to help promote the Monterrey Pop Festival. Jordan and Amber, check out the movie about it. Another great SF song is San Francisco Nights by Eric Burdon and The Animals