Song Lyric Sunday: West Coast Story

Posted on by

Jim Adams is the host for Song Lyric Sunday. This week’s theme is a SONG based on true events suggested by Nancy, aka The Sicilian Storyteller.

Let’s have some 60s fun with a slice of life from the Mamas and the Papas, a folk-rock vocal group with harmonies that went up to eleven. Active from 1965 to 1969, they released five albums and 17 singles, selling 40 million records worldwide. And Creeque Alley, their 1967 hit, is about how they formed.

The name-dropping is off the scale, as the band sing of which musical direction to take, along with the trials and tribulations of making it. The song ends with a cheeky reference to the group’s break-out single California Dreaming.

And now is the time to mention the f-word: Fat. Getting fat was slang for being successful, but in light of Cass Elliot’s struggles with her weight, it comes across as a rather nasty bit of innuendo. Especially when viewed through a modern lens. But enough of my preaching, here’s the video.

John and Mitchy were gettin’ kind of itchy
Just to leave the folk music behind
Zal and Denny workin’ for a penny
Tryin’ to get a fish on the line
In a coffee house, Sebastian sat
And after every number, they’d pass the hat
McGuinn and McGuire just a-gettin’ higher
In LA, you know where that’s at
And no one’s gettin’ fat except Mama Cass

Zally said Denny, you know there aren’t many
Who can sing a song the way that you do, let’s go south
Denny said Zally, golly, don’t you think that I wish
I could play guitar like you
Zal, Denny and Sebastian sat (at the Night Owl)
And after every number, they’d pass the hat
McGuinn and McGuire still a gettin’ higher
In LA, you know where that’s at
And no one’s gettin’ fat except Mama Cass

When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swarthmore
But she changed her mind one day
Standin’ on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike
Take me to New York right away
When Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps
Called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps
McGuinn and McGuire couldn’t get no higher
But that’s what they were aimin’ at
And no one’s gettin’ fat except Mama Cass

Mugwumps, high jumps, low slumps, big bumps
Don’t you work as hard as you play
Make up, break up, everything is shake up
Guess it had to be that way
Sebastian and Zal formed the Spoonful
Michelle, John, and Denny gettin’ very tuneful
McGuinn and McGuire just a catchin’ fire
In LA, you know where that’s at
And everybody’s gettin’ fat except Mama Cass
Di di di dit dit dit di di di dit, whoa

Broke, busted, disgusted, agents can’t be trusted
And Mitchy wants to go to the sea
Cass can’t make it, she says we’ll have to fake it
We knew she’d come eventually
Greasin’ on American Express cards
It’s low rent, but keeping out the heat’s hard
Duffy’s good vibrations and our imaginations
Can’t go on indefinitely
And California dreamin’ is becomin’ a reality

Songwriter(s): John Phillips & Michelle Gilliam
© Universal Music Publishing Group

Bonus track: Cass belting out Dream a Little Dream of Me – Boy, could that woman sing!

27 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: West Coast Story”

  1. Zooks! I miss the 60s. Probably because I was really really preoccupied with “stuff” the first time around and couldn’t pay attention properly. Good to recall the artists (really wish Mama Cass’d have stuck around a lot longer) but wonder how much of the real flavor of the times I miss now – hearing being somewhat fogged by personal memory and marginally effective hearing aids. Good post, good post.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

  3. A lot of the first verses deal with the folk scen in Greewhich Village. I didn’t even know of them in my time in the village, and wouldn’t have been on their radar anyway. But I get most of the references, and recognize the territory. the Basket houses were the low end coffeehouses where you pased a basket among the audience to get paid – the house might comp you free drinks, but didn’t pay you. A lot of the soon to be heavies like Sebastian ( Loving Spoonful) and the members of the Mamas and the Papas where gone to the West Coast by the time I showed up. good times, but hungry.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓

Leave a comment