Popular Culture (Music) 20111021: The Mamas & The Papas

I do not always write about bands that I particularly like, and this one of those times.  While they were quite popular at the time, none of the songs released by the band were very important in the grand scheme of music in my opinion.

The band formed in 1965 and by 1968 was no more, as they wanted solo careers.  We see how well that worked out for them with one exception.  The reunited for a couple of months in 1971, but not much came of it.  Their entire existence sort of reads like a soap opera, and we shall hit the high (this is quite a pun) parts of it during this piece.

Even though they are still remembered, they only had six songs to chart in the Top 10 in the US, and only two or three of those are remembered by more than real hardcore fans of them.  “Monday, Monday” and “California Dreaming” are about all there are known to most folks.

The band were formed around two members from several folk bands, John Edmund Andrew Phillips (19350830 to 20010318) and Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty (19400029 to 20070119).  Phillips insisted that his wife at the time Holly Michelle Gilliam Phillips, aka Michelle Phillips (19440604 and still with us) be in the band as well.  Ellen Naomi Cohen, aka Cass Elliot (19410919 to 19740729), joined last and over the objection of John Phillips because the believed that her large frame would make stage performances hard to sell.

Originally they went by the name The Magic Cyrcle and soon changed it to the name that they carried for the rest of their careers.  There are several stories about how they chose The Mamas and The Papas, none of which I can verify.  By the way, they used the possessive case for the very early work, The Mama’s and The Papa’s.

All songs here were written by John Phillips or John and Michelle Phillips unless otherwise noted.

They signed a deal with Dunhill Records in 1965 for five albums (probably a mistake, as will be shown later) and released their first single, “Go where You Want to Go” which never made the charts.  However, for historical purposes here the original studio version:

Here is the audio of a live version.  You can hear why I really do not consider this to be rock and roll, but rather some strange kind of pop:

“California Dreaming” was their first song to chart, reaching Number 4 both in the US and the UK.  It is OK, I guess.  Here is the studio version:

Here is a “live” version, complete with prop microphones:

“Monday, Monday” was released in 1966 and is sort of the iconic song associated with the band.  It is their only song to chart at #1, and it did both in the US and in the UK.  Here is the studio version:

Here is an obviously synched version (no microphones) from 1966:

Around this time it came out that Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty were having an affair.  Oddly, all three other band members voted to throw out Michelle while they were recording their second album.  There is an alternate version of with whom she was having an affair, and in this one it is Gene Clark of The Byrds.  In any event, she was replaced by Jill Gibson (19420618 and still with us) until the record was completed.  However, Michelle had already recorded quite a bit of material for the record and it is unclear how much of the vocals are Phillips and how much are Gibson.  By the way, she was the girlfriend of the bands’ producer, Lou Adler.

That lasted for a while, from June to August, when they dismissed Gibson and reinstated Phillips.  I told you that it was a soap opera, and it only gets worse later (the subject matter will not be discussed here, but it has to do with John Phillips and his daughter McKenzie).  The affair  led to the song “I Saw Her Again”, written by John Phillips and Doherty.  Here is the studio version:

This song charted at #5 in the US and at #6 in the UK.  I could not find a “live” version.

Interestingly, their second highest charting song was a cover of a song written by Lowman Pauling and Ralph Bass, “Dedicated to the One I Love”.  I never liked that song, regardless of who recorded it.  Here is the studio version from their third album, “Deliver”:

Here is synched version with better prop microphones.  Michelle Phillips was indeed very attractive.

“Creeque Alley”, also from “Deliver”, was their last song to chart in the Top 10 in the US.  It is supposed to tell the tale of how the band started.  Here is the studio version:

The embed code has been disabled, but herehere is the link.  This is probably my favorite songs of theirs because it is sort of bouncy.

Their forth album, Papas & The Mamas, failed to have a single that charted in the Top 10 in the US, but “Dream a Little Dream of Me” did chart at #12 in the US and #10 in the UK.  Here is the studio version:

They were really about done then, and broke up in 1968 because, amongst other reasons, Elliot wanted a solo career.  She actually did very well with her solo career, better than any other the others did with theirs.  However, Dunhill Records had other ideas.  Remember when I told you that it was probably a bad idea for them to sign a five album contract?

Dunhillthreatened to sue any band member for $250,000 (a LOT of money in 1970) who would not honor the commitment to perform for a fifth album, so they all reunited to release the dismal People Like Us.  Whilst their first four albums never charted below #15 in the US, this one came in at #84 in the US and at #45 in the UK.  The only single from it, “Step Out”, only made it to #81 in the US and did not chart in the UK.  They were done.  I could not even find a clip of “Step Out” on You Tube.

The only band member to have a successful musical performing career afterwards was Elliot who was very popular until her untimely death from heart failure in 1974.  The stories about her choking to death on a ham sandwich were just ugly rumors started to denigrate both her weight and her Jewish heritage.

John Phillips released an unsuccessful record shortly after the breakup and dabbled around the fringes of music the rest of the time.  The only real success that he had was cowriting the soundtrack for the David Bowie movie, The Man who Fell to Earth.  In 1992 he had a liver transplant, the result of the years of drugs and alcohol abuse.  He died in 2001, also of heart failure.

Doherty had moderate success in the music and acting field off an on until his death in 2007 of an abdominal aneurysm, the second one that he had.  The first one had been surgically corrected, but obviously he had some sort of defect that made him prone to them.

The only surviving member is Michelle Phillips, who has been quite successful with an acting career but less successful in music.  She has been married to Steven Zax, her fifth husband, since 2000.  One of her husbands was Dennis Hopper, the recently deceased actor, sort of famous for lasting only eight days before they divorced!  They married on Halloween in 1970 and it was over by 19701108.

Well, that does it for The Mamas & The Papas for tonight.  As I said, they were by far not my favorite band, but for a while were quite popular and who contributed at least two iconic songs from the 1960s.  Please feel free to add other clips and/or your thoughts in the comments.

Warmest regards,

Doc, aka Dr. David W. Smith

Crossposted at

Daily Kos

Docudharma, and

firefly-dreaming