♫ California Dreamin’ ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, music, Social commentary

I did play this one about a year and a half ago, but you guys liked it then, so I’m hoping you can like you some Mamas and Papas again this morning!

What you may not know (I didn’t) is that while this song was written by John & Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas, it was first recorded by none other than Barry McGuire of “Eve of Destruction” fame!  Another thing I didn’t know … else had long since forgotten … is that The Mamas and the Papas were only together from 1965 thru 1968 when they agreed to dissolve the group.  I thought surely they were around longer than that!  They were, after all, an icon of the 1960s!

Says John Phillips about the origins of the song …

“It’s my recollection that we were at the [Hotel] Earle in New York and Michelle was asleep. I was playing the guitar. We’d been out for a walk that day and she’d just come from California and all she had was California clothing. And it snowed overnight and in the morning she didn’t know what the white stuff coming out of the sky was, because it never snowed in Southern [California]. So, we went for a walk and the song is mostly a narrative of what happened that day, stopped into a church to get her warm, and so on and so on.”

One part of the lyrics that is often mistaken is “I pretend to pray”, which is often mistaken for “I began to pray”.  And now … the song:

California Dreamin’
The Mamas & the Papas

All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (and the sky is gray)
I’ve been for a walk (I’ve been for a walk)
On a winter’s day (on a winter’s day)
I’d be safe and warm (I’d be safe and warm)
If I was in L.A. (if I was in L.A.)

California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day

Stopped into a church
I passed along the way
Well, I got down on my knees (got down on my knees)
And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray)
You know the preacher like the cold (preacher like the cold)
He knows I’m gonna stay (knows I’m gonna stay)

California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day

All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)
And the sky is gray (and the sky is gray)
I’ve been for a walk (I’ve been for a walk)
On a winter’s day (on a winter’s day)
If I didn’t tell her (if I didn’t tell her)
I could leave today (I could leave today)

California dreamin’ (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day (California dreamin’)
On such a winter’s day

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John Edmund Andrew Phillips / Michelle Gilliam Phillips
California Dreamin’ lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

26 thoughts on “♫ California Dreamin’ ♫”

  5. Hello Jill. I think that this is one of the few songs that would do well for a remix / redo by a new group. love what I could make out of the tune and the vocals, but it was all to jangly and undistinguishable to really appreciate the full beauty of it. Thanks for sharing it, I enjoyed reading the history of the song. Hugs

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    • Maybe, but I think I would still love the original. Yeah, I can never make out lyrics, so that’s part of the reason I post the lyrics below the song. I’m glad you enjoyed the music and the history. Hugs

      Liked by 1 person

  6. I first learned about this classic when it was a dance remix played at a club. 😆 Then I discovered the original. Such an uplifting song. Nice to know more about its creation.

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  8. Just re-read your post on Creeque Alley and found Clives’s question about John Phillips’hat. (Surprised to see the comments closed sign!)
    I had a magazine photo way back when of John and Michelle dressed up like Davey Crockett and Pocohontas (I presume). Phillips was in a buckskin jacket. The hat wasn’t exactly coonskin, which was what Davey was famous for wearing) but I guess it was some fashion designer’s version of such a hat. Not trying to answer Clive’s questiom, just noting one stop along the journey. I did not have that picture because of John Phillips, I had it because Michelle as Pocohontas was utterly smashing to a boy of my age. I found the magazine in a doctor’s wsiting room. No idea which magazine it was, and didn’t care.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Wow … I just posted that one over a year ago, but until your mention of it, I had forgotten I did it! Sorry about the ‘comments closed’ but all of my posts are set to close comments after 3 months. I love your addition about your picture … the one you lifted from the doc’s office 😉 Thanks!

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  9. Loved their work, but espescially loved “Creeque Alley” which told the story of all the groups arranging and rearranging themselves until they all hit stardom. But it seems behind the scenes there was more going on than we could ever have imagined. People were free to express love as they chose in those days, but some choices went beyond our unwritten creed: Be whoever you want to be, do whatever you want to do, as long as you don’t hurt anyone. In this group, everyone got hurt, as did a lot of the people around them. Mixed messages.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I’m guessing that is true of any band/group … that there is more happening behind the scenes than we will ever know … probably more than we would want to know!

      As to the “Be whoever you want to be, do whatever you want to do, as long as you don’t hurt anyone” … sadly, someone will usually end up getting hurt even if it’s not intentional. Isn’t that life?

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      • Not to drag this out, but many people allow themselves to “get hurt” when no hurt was intended. I really don’t want to be mean, I have been there many a time, but sitting and whining is easier than dealing with reality. I learned, eventually, that if my feelings were hurt, it was because of me, not the other person.

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        • Granted, some people are overly-sensitive and not strong enough to laugh it off and walk away, but still … people don’t need to be unnecessarily cruel, and most are, it seems.

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          • But we need to go back to the hippie motto, “as long as you do hurt any5one.” Being cruel is anathema to that motto. It would be a deliberate act to be cruel. I have lived my life by that motto, though I was not always totally successful, but I think I can say quite truthfully I have no enemies in life. If I have hurt anyone, it is with the truth. And sometimes thebtruth hurts.

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  10. Pingback: ♫ California Dreamin’ ♫ | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

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