“Creeque Alley” — Mamas and Papas

The sun is out in the UK today. After a grey winter, the first day of warm sunshine always makes me think about summery songs by the Mamas and Papas. If ever there was a group that signified “summer” to me, it’s them.

Although my favourite Mamas and Papas track is “California Dreaming”…and I’m a big fan of Mama Cass’s solo work…today I’m writing about a very unusual, and fiendishly clever, Mamas and Papas song from 1967, which reached number 5 in the Billboard Hot 100 and number 9 in the UK singles charts.

Music and lyrics for today’s song were written by John and Michelle Phillips…between them, 50% of the Mamas and Papas.

“Creeque Alley” takes us on a wonderful autobiographical trail through the history of the Mamas and Papas, weaving in some of the key characters and events of the folk-rock scene of the early to mid-1960s.

A bit like that Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, where you can connect from Kevin Bacon to just about any figure in the movie industry via one of the films he’s been involved with, for the folk-rock end of California’s music industry in the 1960s, you were only ever a couple of connections away from the Mamas and Papas.

Of course, it’s not unusual for composers and lyric writers to draw on experiences from their own lives when writing a song. But having quite such a comprehensive autobiographical sweep is very unusual…at least among hit records of the last 40 years or so.