It was the era of make love not war.

The song that defines the 60's!

@kathybwell

29 күн бұрын

Sure does!

@thomastimlin1724

28 күн бұрын

Not the entire decade, as so many falsely believe. The Hippy movement did not exist until about 1966 and died about 1973.

@artbagley1406

27 күн бұрын

An anthem for an entire generation. Wish the feeling could have been "bottled."

San Francisco was a true gem back then. Flower children of the 60's!

@TheBobherriot

28 күн бұрын

now its a shit hole full of homeless druggies

@richdiddens4059

28 күн бұрын

The true golden age of the "hippie" movement was the summer of '66. By the time this song was released in May. 1967 people who were looking for what they could get were starting to filter in. By the summer of '68 it was on a downhill slide as users of drug, users of people, and users of the situation were overwhelming the true movement. Too many of the true gentle souls were crushed or moved on.

@threekidzmom04

28 күн бұрын

@@richdiddens4059 very sad 😢

@A-whiter-shade-of-pale

24 күн бұрын

I spent a significant amount of time in the San Franciso area twice. First in 63-64 I was in the Navy and assigned to an A school on Treasure Island for a year (during that stay I decided that was where I wanted to live after my discharge). Was assigned to a ship in San Diego then was transferred to Vietnam in late 65. By the second half of 66 I was at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital (Oakland CA) recuperating. I saw all I needed of the gentle people during that stay. Baby killer was their favorite phrase (I am 81 now and still never killed a baby but most of the old hippies have killed a few), they would push you from behind trying to knock you down or get you off the sidewalk and spit on you. They are the same people who have made San Francisco the Garden of Eden it is now (did not move there after my discharge).

Vietnam did a lot to our society. A beautiful song sung by many who felt they were living and loving at an eye opening moment in history.

This was a popular song in the '60s about the youth movement. Viva, Baby Boomers!💝💖

@A-whiter-shade-of-pale

24 күн бұрын

Rightttt They are the ones who make San Francisco the pile of scat it is today.

I was on vacation with my parents and as we crossed into Golden Gate park this song came on the radio. Nope, not kidding. I was looking everywhere for people with flowers in their hair but no luck. Afterwards I was determined to become a hippie and yes THAT happened. Blessings and PEACE!

@A-whiter-shade-of-pale

24 күн бұрын

All those hippies took San Francisco from arguably the most beautiful city in the world in 63 to the scat pile it is today. Congratulations

Scott McKenzie has such a soft and mellow voice. No way whoever or where ever you were back when this came out that you didn't like it for the sheer beauty of it.

I’m a boomer , yes we had a great times. Lots of love going around. If you needed a helping hand , it was a hand shake or a hug away , that was enough. I’m a better person for it. I’m still trying to spread the love ❤️. Peace and Love to you ✌🏼🫶🏼.

Anthem of peace and love before drugs began killing the Pied Pipers and the movement began to face bullets and jail in the latter part of the 60s and early 70s. Jackson Browne wrote songs about the disillusionment that followed the optimism represented by this song.

This is a great song during good times…The Boomers! Times were good for the people who were more United back then…Flower Power! 🌸🌼🌺🌻🌷👏👏👏♥️

@A-whiter-shade-of-pale

24 күн бұрын

Don't forget they are the architects of the present San Francisco.

The 60's was just an amazing time to grow up. I was born 1960 so I had the pleasure of listening to the great music then. Scott was just an amazing talent with a great voice life was just so simple then without all the BS we have today. Peace out and Love to everyone.

@A-whiter-shade-of-pale

24 күн бұрын

That is the reason he was a one hit wander.

It was a magical time in SF, with regular free concerts by The Grateful Dead at Peoples' Park, free love among the "flower children," free use of psychedelics, and free thinking the norm. RIP, SF of the 60's--your vanguard of the nation's Flower Children has ben been relegated to the dismissive category of "baby boomers." Hard to describe to people who didn't live it; feel fortunate to have done so in my late teens/early 20's...

@HamiltonRb

29 күн бұрын

How did the saying go, if you can remember the 60’s, you probably weren’t there. 😂

Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco was hippie central in the sixties

@kathybwell

29 күн бұрын

The Haight was great, loved the Red Vic Inn!

This was the time of my generation and you are right, Shawn....it was a totally different time. Things weren't perfect and the political scene had assassinations happening, but the younger generation was full of peace and love. If you were a Flowerchild growing up, you will always be a Flowerchild at heart. I watch reactors, like yourself, that can only look at videos and listen to the music to see what it was like back then. That saddens me because it was such a beautiful and good time. I wish everyone could go back and have the experience. Thanks for your reaction, I enjoyed the journey. Take care and be well. Peace.

@janistan

29 күн бұрын

Agree, but no one can go back in time, it's better to choose the best paths forward, in the right directions... Hippie-eras comes in waves through history!

One of my absolute favorites -we all wanted to go to SanFrancisco

John Phillips of the Mamas & Papas gave this song to Scott as a gift after the two met and became friends in their early lean years. Phillips could do no wrong at this time. Where did it all go astray??

The sixties were a strange mix of Vietnam, protests, racism, drugs galore, and Charles Manson, mixed in with love ins, unbelievable music, hippies, free love and people looking after each other. I was a teenager in the sixties, and I look back at it with far more good memories than bad

the animals song san francisco nights.will also give you the feeling of the 60s

Always loved this song 💜👍☮

This is one of my favourite songs from the 60s. Scott McKenzie had the perfect voice for this song - gentle and loving.

Timothy Leary was the guy they showed speaking at the mic. He was a college professor who was a big proponent of LSD use. Jamis Joplin made a cameo, too

A couple of years later Joe Osborne played that killer bass on "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" by the 5th Dimension.

It was a groove man!!!!

The hippie anthem🌻❤❤❤

Love Scott's voice... He was under rated. Celeste...Like a Old time Movie....What's the Difference is some awesome songs.

Great 60's tune...loved them late 60's. ✌️Peace and Love ❤...

"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 was born that summer, so I can't speak to those events from first hand experience. My parents weren't hippies, but the impact of the counter-cultural explosion that began that year resonated throughout the seventies and into the eighties. Even beyond then if you expand that impact to include the creation of the personal computer.

I think John Phillips wrote this song so Zeppelin could put it in a medley in the middle of one of their songs live. What insight on his part

Beautiful song✌🏼🌺🌼🌻🏵️🌸

The Cowsills had to rename one of their hit songs, from “The Flower Girl” to “The Rain, The Park and Other Things,” which was released around the same time as “San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair).” Since both songs had the word flowers, the producers of The Cowsills song felt they did not want their song to be confused with Scott McKenzie’s. Hey Shawn, you should react to The Cowsills song noted above.

@MisterWondrous

29 күн бұрын

I think Shawn has reacted to a couple of versions, both the studio and a live version as grown ups, both at my behest. I sent him, just today, a link to the Cowsills talking about what you had written, over on RobSquad, who was interviewing some of the Cowsills, including sweet Susan.

@StevenW1958

29 күн бұрын

@@MisterWondrous you have great taste in reactors, as I too follow Rob Squad Reactions. Both RSR and SS are great!! Thank you for straightening me out about this.

I was a hippie back then but lived in the Midwest. Always loved California and San Francisco. Finally went there in 1982. So beautiful. We should all go back to being hippies and flower children again. ✌🏻☮️❤️

The west coast hippie anthem. Another good one is The Animals "Warm San Franciscan Night".

Brings me back every time! Love this song. Change was in the air. I could only comprehend little snippets of the many things that were changing. This song synthesized those things and brought them into beautiful focus.

❤LOVE this song❣️❣️

I wish I could bring back my San Francisco of the 60's and 70's. Born 1956 in San Francisco

@rs-ye7kw

29 күн бұрын

Yeah, not a great place anymore.

@A-whiter-shade-of-pale

24 күн бұрын

For the past 30 or 40 years it has been ran by 60s hippies. It is an excellent demonstration of how right or wrong their ideas were. .

I was there and it was magical. Great music. The thing was we were all trying to save the boys from the Vietnam War. We wanted equal rights for women. We wanted to change the world for better, we were young. As we see now there were many people in the country who were afraid of us then and are protesting now against California. We wanted the world to be safe for everyone. Silly us. Please vote for women's rights and a kinder existence.

I still have my Scott McKenzie album that THIS song was on, I just about wore it out in 1967 when it was released. I had just turned 20 years old and was just finishing my sophomore year at Kent State University. It was a wonderful time.

John Philips was one of the founders of The Mama's and the Papa's

One of the best songs ever and needs to be heard by everyone again

Imagine how you explore a world or a character in a video game for a few hours in one session. Now imagine exploring a friend or even a stranger that way for a few hours : with the same focus and wonder and intensity. That’s what it was like. People connecting and sharing themselves and their world.

This and Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" both came out when I was stationed on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay when I was in the Navy.

these are your grandparents! Woodstock was 55 years ago I am 67 and was a twelve year old then

The first dude with the flowers in his hair was Dr Timothy Leary, known for kicking off the LSD craze. At the time they took it seriously as a solution to inner angst.

Oh this one brings back a lot of memories of trips to SF in the late '60s. Everybody sang this one everywhere and it was exactly as this song says.

Hey Shawn, thanks for this reaction. We were so optimistic then.

Sam Francisco was an awesome place to be in the 60’s, 70’s. I grew up in the El Cerrito Hills (right across the bay from SF), San Francisco was magical back then. I have so many fond memories of going across the bay for a day of fun in the city. The food…don’t get me started on the food. Oh my.

The song was written by John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas for the Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967. I'm 75 now and from Toronto. I graduated high school in 1968, thumb tripped across Canada and down highway 1(101) .By the time I got to San Francisco in June of 1968 the Haight/Ashbury scene was over. Too many hustlers, conmen, theives and druggies. This peace, love, flowers etc barely lasted a year. Sad.

1967 and the Summer of Love. "Love is all you need." - John Lennon

San Franciscan Nights by The Animals is also a classic!! Eric Burdon was awesome

You can tell the video was done in 1967 which added so much to it. Yes those were the flower children in days now almost 60 years gone by, wondering now what happened to the best days of their lives.

That good feeling you feel, imagine being there, was the song that drew my brother as well, back in the day, to be a part of it. My brother went there during these times from northwest coast of Canada, a tiny town. He went with 3 friends, fringe soft leather jacket, long hair, he could easily look part of the people in the film. My brother said he only lasted a week in San Francisco, he said it was just a big, dirty (as in messy) big city. He and his friends then hitched-hiked north, ending up in a logging camp on Vancouver Island.

You're so right, it was a real thing, blessed to have been there. Still trying to keep the good vibes alive.

John Phillips' daughter formed the beloved band "Wilson Phillips" you need to check out their 1990 hit "Hold On", it's a very inspiring classic.

Summer of Love! Summer of "67! Missed the whole thing, was taking a vacation in Nam!

Scott McKenzie has the vocal ability to drive this home to solid gold! And such a beautiful melody too! Another oldie but goodie is "MacArthur Park" beautifully sung by famed British actor Richard Harris! Look it up but this may have been the longest song ever to be played on AM Radio! Plus I better Subscribe to your Channel! *SUBSCRIBED TO YOUR CHANNEL* THANK YOU! From Minnesota.

The first person one see's with flowers in his hair -grey hair, yellow flowers - was Dr. Timothy Leary, advocate of LSD. I had two friends who studied at Berkley, and I went to visit in 2001. There were folks in Golden Gate Park in a drum circle. At Height & Ashbury was a Ben&Jerry's shop. I would advise, if you go to San Francisco, do exercises for your legs and back,....those hills are difficult to walk, and you will feel muscle strain the next morning! Go to the Top of the Mark bar, for a Martini, to two, the M.Hopkins hotel bar, you can view the whole Bay -and their Martini' variations are famous,....becareful going down Knob Hill after, get a taxi. And, watch Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" before, and the great film "Bullit" with Steve McQueen. 🙃

@jonathanmurphy3141

25 күн бұрын

Star Trek 4: Voyage Home, The Conversation, THX-1138,....a number of fine movies film in the Bay Area 😉

Don't think you caught it, but written by John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas.

Another great one from that era is San Francisco Knights by the animals really great Spanish guitar in it

Eric Burdon and the Animals, Warm San Franciscan Nights is my favorite about this city of which I grew up nearby.

This song, Get Together by the Youngbloods, and Time of the Season by the Zombies are some of my very favorite hippie style anthems. Get Together in particular has message that really touches your soul. If you haven’t already listened to it yet, you really should check it out. I’m sure you will enjoy it.

The anthem of my childhood. 🙂 Thanks for taking me back for a few minutes!

You are correct Shawn-it was the greatest time.🙏🏼

One of my all-time favorite songs. ❤

Hal Blaine on Drums….Joe Osborn on bass….

that's how it felt

Kicking off the “Summer of Love ❤️“ 1967, Monetary Pop.

Another great song. Happy to see you doing this one! 😀

I think I was only 12 in the Summer of Love so it was a little before my time but I do think the song is representative of that time.

Oh the 60s..peace and love✌

This is such a great song! This came out in 1967 & was Scott's biggest hit but he also recorded "Like An Old Time Movie". He also wrote the song "What About Me" for Anne Murray in 1968 & he co-wrote "Kokomo" which became a big hit for The Beach Boys in 1988.

His other great song was "What's the Difference," a song about leaving home when your family didn't really understand you.

1968 deja loin tout ca !! mais quelle musique inoubliable!!!

✌️ ❤️

Every time I hear this beautiful song, I wish I'd been born 3 or 4 years earlier. My older friends were NYC hippies, and this is how it was. ✌️🎶

@procopiusaugustus6231

28 күн бұрын

Just missed it too. I was 14 but remember the vibe.

For just a few years there we had the feeling that all we had to do was show the world how to live and love in peace. Unfortunately there were some who felt threatened by love and peace, and a lot of that was led by the rise of the religious right. Preachers would say we were going to hell because we rejected their fire and brimstone, and of course the establishment fought back. The peace and love movement was denigrated so publicly and so often that many people to this day still call it a mistake, naive, and counterproductive. So they denigrate us for thinking we could live peacefully, then they denigrate us for selling out and becoming part of the establishment. What all the subsequent generations don't seem to realize is that it was the so-called greatest generation that was in power all that time. Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, and then Ronald Reagan were all born in the 20s and 30s, and after fighting in WWII proceeded to get us mixed up in Korea and Vietnam. So please don't blame the Baby Boomers for screwing up the world. We inherited it just like you all did. Yeah, we may have been naive, but at least we tried.

un moment magnifique! une époque !.....

What was awesome about San Francisco was there used to be a place for anyone who wanted to live there. Rich, poor, middle class families, professionals, construction workers, artists, straight, gay and everything in between. The 2000s hasn't been kind to The City. It's pretty much a city for the upper middle class and wealthy, the lower middle class and poor have been pushed out and the addicts and mentally ill are on the streets in some parts of town. It's not the Bohemian mecca it used to be and that's a shame. Yeah, everything changes, I know.

New modern day revised lyrics would go something like: If you're leaving San Francisco Be sure to leave your politics behind. Don't bring those problems from San Francisco Cause they don't want that in the other states you find....

Timothy Leary right there in the beginning. Cool.

@oldairyheir

29 күн бұрын

"High Priest of LSD."

This became an instant anthem.

Groovy flower power trippy time 😎☮️💙👵🏼

❤😊

Very much the time. In fact, I recognized Timothy Leary and Alen Ginsberg, both of whom I had met and conversed, although in the '80s and '90s. They were gurus, philosophers, poets, mystics, and kinda kooky as well. Brian Wilson showed up near the end, as did Janis Joplin. Never met them. Those images could have been taken at any number of parties at the time, and into the '70s. You have a resonant vibe, which is one reason I dig your channel. We could use some of that peace and love energy today, and channels like yours brings it, like a good medicine man.

@SpuzzyLargo

29 күн бұрын

I met Ginsberg at his Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, the summer of 1978. 😊

@MisterWondrous

28 күн бұрын

@@SpuzzyLargo I had thought about doing some studies at Naropa around that time, and got to see Chogyam Trungpa, the spiritual leader, in the '80s. His book, "Shambhala: Path of the Spiritual Warrior" was very influential in smoothing some rough edges. Was Allen with Peter at the time? I saw them both at Harvard Square, Passim's, where they played music and read poetry. As my date knew Allen, we got to have some huddle time afterwards.

It was a wave that came over us and ushered in The Age of Aquarius🌅☮️

Another hippy sounding song of the time was Woodstock, written by Joni Mitchell, but I prefer the version sung by Matthews Southern Comfort in 1970 (the only version I heard at the time). Just beautiful.

John Phillips of Mamas and The Papas wrote this with Lou Adler. It would be very easy to be cynical about this song but then it presents the optimistic, positive side. The then upcoming rave scene of the late 80's early 90's has often been compared to that era, referred to as "The Second Summer Of Love". The Deee-Lite song "Groove Is In The Heart" with its psychedelia inspired video sums some of the feel, all though the music on the raves themselves was often harder. Please, react to song from the same era, Spanky & Our Gang - I'd Like To Get To Know You.

♥♥♥

The video was really good although some of the scenes were not from SF. I was there in those days as well as San Diego. San Francisco felt a little different than Southern California but California in general was really relaxed in many ways at the time (aside from the riots of course). Notice the writer, John Phillips of Mama's and Papa's.

I was a teenager during this time ❤

I was about 1p or 15 years too young too be involved in the hippie scene!

Ahhh, all the hippies high on LSD, fun times!

Beautiful song! Unfortunately there was the war in Vietnam during this time! 😢

❤🌻❤🌻❤Sweet classic❤

I loved this song when it came out. Now in San Francisco be sure to wear Kevlar in your hair, you’ll meet some homeless people there. Sadly.

Best hippie song ever.

what a different time is right - singing about the summer of love in '67. i was there in '70 and it was still a cool place. then once more 15 years ago and it still wasn't that bad. FF to 2024 - the place is an absolute dump . don't go there now.

The Summer of Love ❤. We were free. they put an end to that right quick

Wish we could go back, minus the war, drugs and riots. Utopias are fleeting.

Love your shirt. Be a Pepper!

Ah, yes! The era before AIDS A time when almost all our politicians were pro-American. You could hitch-hike anywhere. Miss those days!