Saturday 10 January 2009

Be Sure to Wear...


Today's birthday boy is Scott McKenzie, protege and friend (for a while, like everyone else) of the great John Phillips, whose album Wolf King Of LA is, as I need hardly remind readers of this blog, a heartbreaking work of staggering genius (or is it a staggering work of heartbreaking genius?). Anyway, Scott is 70 today (I suspect the picture might be a tad out of date)and still remembered for the great Flower Power anthem, San Francisco (a Phillips creation, of course). Those of us of a certain age have only to hear the opening bars of that one to be instantly suffused with a potent mix of heady nostalgia and blush-making embarrassment.
A couple of years ago, I found The Voice of Scott McKenzie (12" vinyl, naturally) in a charity shop and snapped it up. Apart from the monumental San Franscisco, there are two good songs on it - Like an Old Time Movie and What's The Difference? A rather lovely voice though, and it's perhaps a pity that he didn't join the Mamas & the Papas - though it would surely have ended badly. Scott's still around - he's made the three score and ten and seems to have had a decent life - while John has gone, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. And some great music.
Happy birthday, Scott.

3 comments:

  1. He's still around ? donner und blitzen, as one of those certain agers that song is electron beam welded into my psyche, rumbling around the innermost reaches of the bonce, occasionally even surfacing as a whistle. It shares that privilege with Tony Bennett's San Francisco, Frank's Laura and I've got you under my skin plus the Stone's Paint it Black. Happy days.

    I forgot to mention Bridgette Bardot, no singer but the lass had other, just as important assets.

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  2. Have you heard her version of Je t'Aime (Moi Non Plus), Malty? If not, I suggest you leave it that way - might just finish you off...

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  3. She did that and didn't tell me ? how fickle are wommen.

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