McKenzie's Flowers of Toxicity
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Artist:
Okay. I'll admit that this isn't quite fair. They meant well. But, since I just got back to my usual haunts in San Francisco after an extended stay in Los Angeles, and since there have been recent unsavory revelations about the song's author and the record's producer, John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas, I thought "What the hell!" Thus, in all it's hippy-dippy glory, I dub "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" - a blissfully-naïve-to-the-point-of-embarrassing 1967 anthem to peace, love and my beloved City by the Bay and the only hit record by singer Scott McKenzie - de facto toxic. And it's made tougher to stomach by the suggestion that Phillips named his allegedly abused daughter Mackenzie after McKenzie. Creepy.
Anyway, apologists be damned!
Here's a clip of McKenzie lipsyncing the tune on Euro TV way back when. And don't forget: War is unhealthy for children and other living things. (Sorry for belaboring the obvious. I blame the song.)
Locating MOG account...
Comments (20)
hah!!
i'll tell you what would have been TRULY toxic, man--if John had named his daughter after him using his REAL name. Blondheim Phillips? now THAT'S toxic.
his name was originally Philip Blondheim, so if he had a boy, it actually could have been Philip Phillips.
is it like you never left??
Pity. I remember liking the original.
Toxic and possibly warranting prosecution. Well done.
So, you're declaring war on Hippies/Hippie music? Hah. This one made me reach for Karen & Richard to counteract the ear worm!
Apposite choice for your return to Baghdad By The Bay. Even though it's toxic there are some excelleny pop chord progressions in there. Which always made it difficult for me to truly hate it.
I'm neutral about Melanie Safka's work, but "Brand New Key" was played to death on AM radio...then played again until it became an ear worm. (Still a song about roller skates, bicycles, female empowerment and Sex was OK the first dozen times it was played.)
Then there's this instrumental by a group of studio musicians:
Robin: Yes, it's like I never left - for better and worse. Fer instance, the apartment is in need of a month's worth of work. Right now, it's unliveable Bleah.
capndad: This isn't the original?
Cody B: We do what we can, now that so many stinkers have already been villified...
Aiea: You used the Carpenters to counteract Melanie? Depending on the tracks, that could be like trading a headache for an upset stomach. And it's not that I'm warring on hippies - just their lamer, dimmer or more pretentious musical output.
Jonh: Agreed. That "People in motion" bridge is sweet, but there's an awful lot of acid-soaked wimpitude there.
How's this for music after the apocalypse, though I recall an acoustic version was performed in "The Postman." Presenting, the original Hippes of North America!
Toxic? I don't think so. It makes me wanna smoke a peace pipe. "Keem-o-sabe"? Um, let's just say that Jay Silverheels would probably not approve.
Even as a supposed Hippie in 1967, I found this song an embarassment.
hahah..I posted that Electric Indian tune before...I guess it is a hit now..oh wait I didn't post it because I thought folks would think it offensive. It was on an album of Philly Soul instrumentals called Muthafunkinsonofabitch
The toxicity is surrounded by Indians...what about Mason Profitt? Oh wait, they just had a cover with a Native American on it..
dermhark: You were certainly not alone.
C.B.: Heap crazy!
Hi Mike. How's the leg?
Better, dm. Thanx for asking. But still a couple of months away from full-on rambling. On the positive tip, I can walk with the aid of a cane or just my legs now - and, as I stated above, I've returned to San Fran. I'll be splitting time between S.F. and Hell A for the immediate future, although it's sweet to be back in America's most beautiful city. And BTW, as both a Philadelphian and San Franciscan, I'm very pleased to have witnessed the Dodgers' demise in Philly tonight. The Wankees are next on the menu. The 1950 Whiz Kids will be avenged!
Mike, the title lured me into this post -you sure can write a teaser!- thinking there'd be more unsavory revelations re John Phillips. and indeed there was: that i'm not a fan of lipsyncing. :D
quote of the day- "Apologists be damned!"
poeby: Oddly enough, this post has been my most viewed in a while. Also, it generated the quickest response. I have a feeling that the title was, in large part, responsible. That, and Google searches by celeb-obsessed boneheads looking for more lurid dirt on MacKenzie and John Phillips. (Hey, morons! It ain't here.)
kind of liked the song in forrest gump........I am just sayin
A while back I read what must have been in an interview with Mick Jagger (or less possibly with McKenzie Phillips) that Jagger was visiting John Phillips (and his daughter), and at one point Jagger brought daughter Mckenzie into a bedroom and locked John out. John yelled and pounded furiously on the door while the other two made love.
Like many Bay Area inhabitants of the 1960's, I cringed when I first heard "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" on the radio.
Rawk: Deluded by Gumpism? Whoa!
Spike: At least Jagger waited until she was 18 - I think. (Brrrrr. Creeptastic.)