Song:San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)
Album:Summer Of Love Vol. 1: Tune In
I guess if any song qualifies as a flower power anthem, it's this 1967 top five hit by Scott McKenzie. It's also a one hit wonder. He was born Philip Blondheim Jan. 10, 1939 in Jacksonville, FL. He started playing guitar as a teen and became friends with future Mamas & The Papas leader John Phillips. They formed a vocal group called The Abstracts in 1959 and as folk music became more popular in the 60s, they formed The Journeymen and recorded three albums for Capitol. Nobody could pronounce Blondheim so someone said Philip looked like a Scottie dog and that's how he became Scott McKenzie. When Phillips formed The Mamas & The Papas, McKenzie decided he wanted to be a solo artist instead. But he didn't have much success until he signed with Lou Adler's Ode Records and Phillips wrote and produced San Francisco. It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967 and is still considered a flower power anthem today. You can get that and several other hits of the era on this Rhino various artists comp. San Francisco was featured in the 1994 film Forrest Gump. Scott McKenzie retired from music in the 70s but returned in 1986 as part of the Mamas & The Papas revival. He also co-wrote the Beach Boys hit Kokomo. He occasionally performs but is mostly retired. Here's Scott McKenzie performing San Francisco at Monterey Pop Aug. 16, 1967.
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