Scott McKenzie (born Philip Wallach Blondheim III; January 10, 1939 – August 18, 2012) Singer and Songwriter

Scott McKenzie

Scott McKenzie, nome d'arte di Philip Wallach Blondheim (Jacksonville, 10 gennaio 1939 – Los Angeles, 18 agosto 2012), è stato un cantante statunitense.
McKenzie crebbe in Nord Carolina e Virginia. Nel 1967 incise San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair), una canzone scritta da John Phillips che divenne una delle bandiere generazionali del movimento hippy negli Stati Uniti ed ebbe uno straordinario successo in tutto il mondo.
Nei decenni successivi McKenzie alternò lunghi momenti di interruzione con periodi come cantante "on the road", soprattutto come componente del gruppo dei Mamas and Papas. Le sue ultime attività risalgono ai primi anni 2000, dopodiché si ritirò definitivamente.
Visse fino alla fine nei pressi di Los Angeles, ove scomparve nel 2012 a 73 anni, era malato della sindrome di Guillain-Barré, che l'aveva portato alla paralisi totale: morì per un infarto provocato dalla patologia.

(EN) «If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.»	(IT) «Se state andando a San Francisco, assicuratevi di avere dei fiori fra i vostri capelli.»
(Scott McKenzie - San Francisco)

Discografia

Album studio

• 1967 - The Voice of Scott McKenzie (1967)
• 1970 - Stained Glass Morning (1970)

Singoli

• 1967 - Look in Your Eyes/All I Want is You
• 1967 - No, No, No, No, No/I Want to be Alone
• 1967 - San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)/What's the Difference
• 1967 - Like an Old Time Movie/What's the Difference (Chapter II)
• 1967 - Holy Man/What's the Difference (Chapter Three)
• 1970 - Going Home Again/Take a Moment
• 1989 - San Francisco Remix '89

Raccolte

• 1974 - San Francisco
• 1991 - San Francisco (The Very Best Of)
• 2001 - Stained Glass Reflections 1960-1970
• 2005 - Superhits

 

San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair) Sheet Music (1967) Published by Dick James Music Limited, James House, 71/75 New Oxford Street, London W.C.1.
 

Scott McKenzie (born Philip Wallach Blondheim III; January 10, 1939 – August 18, 2012) was an American singer and songwriter. He was best known for his 1967 hit single and generational anthem, "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)".

Life and career

Philip Wallach Blondheim III was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 10, 1939, as the son of Philip Wallach Blondheim, Jr. by the former Dorothy Winifred Hudson. His family moved to Asheville, North Carolina, when he was six months old. He grew up in North Carolina and Virginia, where he became friends with the son of one of his mother's friends, John Phillips. In the mid-1950s, he sang briefly with Tim Rose in a high school group called The Singing Strings, and later with Phillips, Mike Boran, and Bill Cleary formed a doo wop band, The Abstracts.
In New York, The Abstracts became The Smoothies and recorded two singles with Decca Records, produced by Milt Gabler. During his time with The Smoothies, Blondheim decided to change his name for business reasons:

"[We] were working at one of the last great night clubs, The Elmwood Casino in Windsor, Ontario. We were part of a variety show ... three acts, dancing girls, and the entire cast took part in elaborate, choreographed stage productions ... As you might imagine, after-show parties were common.

"At one of these parties I complained that nobody could understand my real name ... [and] pointed out that this was a definite liability in a profession that benefited from instant name recognition. Everyone started trying to come up with a new name for me. It was [comedian] Jackie Curtis who said he thought I looked like a Scottie dog. Phillips came up with Laura's middle name after Jackie's suggestion. I didn't like being called 'Scottie' so everybody agreed my new name could be 'Scott McKenzie.'"

In 1961 Phillips and McKenzie met Dick Weissman and formed the folk group, The Journeymen, at the height of the folk music craze. They recorded three albums and seven singles for Capitol Records. After The Beatles became popular in 1964, The Journeymen disbanded. McKenzie and Weissman became solo performers, while Phillips formed the group The Mamas & the Papas with Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot, and Michelle Phillips and moved to California.
McKenzie originally declined an opportunity to join the group, saying in a 1977 interview, "I was trying to see if I could do something by myself. And I didn't think I could take that much pressure." Two years later, he left New York and signed with Lou Adler's Ode Records, one of whose most famous artists Carole King later became.

"San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)"

Phillips wrote and co-produced "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" for McKenzie. John Phillips played guitar on the recording and session musician Gary L Coleman played orchestra bells and chimes. The bass line of the song was supplied by session musician Joe Osborn. Hal Blaine played drums.
It was released on 13 May 1967 in the United States and was an instant hit, reaching number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 in the Canadian RPM Magazine charts. It was also a number 1 in the UK and several other countries, selling over seven million copies globally.
McKenzie followed the song with "Like An Old Time Movie", which Phillips also wrote, composed, and produced, but which was a minor hit (number 27 in Canada). His first album, The Voice of Scott McKenzie, was followed with an album called Stained Glass Morning. He stopped recording in the early 1970s and lived in Joshua Tree, California, and Virginia Beach, Virginia.
In his own right, McKenzie likewise wrote and composed the song "Hey! What About Me" that launched the career of Canadian singer Anne Murray in 1968. (Murray's United States breakthrough, with Gene McLellan's "Snowbird", would not follow for several years.)
In 1986, he started singing with a new version of The Mamas and the Papas. With Terry Melcher, Mike Love, and John Phillips, he co-wrote "Kokomo" (1988), a number 1 single for The Beach Boys.
By 1998, he had retired from the road version of The Mamas and the Papas, and resided in Los Angeles, California, until his death. He appeared at the Los Angeles tribute concert for John Phillips in 2001, amongst other 1960s contemporary acts.

Death

McKenzie died on August 18, 2012, at the age of 73, in Los Angeles. He had suffered from Guillain–Barré syndrome from 2010 until his death.

Quotation

“

I played a 50-year-old general in 'John Loves Mary', which was a hit on Broadway back in 1949 ... In the original production, Ronald Reagan played the role I had!

”

NME - August 1967

 

 

San Francisco - Scott McKenzie - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I0vkKy504U

Lyrics

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

All across the nation
Such a strange vibration
People in motion
There's a whole generation
With a new explanation
People in motion
People in motion

For those who come to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

Songwriters: John Edmund Andrew Phillips

San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Artist: Scott McKenzie

Album: The Voice of Scott McKenzie

Released: 1967

 

 

 

Scott McKenzie - Like An Old Time Movie [1967] - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8etnFwce7c

 

Lyrics

Every time I see you
It's just because you're blue
You don't really need me
The way that I need you
Don't come on so groovy
You do better mean
You're like an old time movie
One that I already seen
Baby, yes I need your love
But I'm not gonna get this low
Don't you think that I can tell
When you've no place else to go
Could it be you misunderstood
When you tried to read my mind
Cause this time you will find
I'm gonna let you go
Every time I see you
You're like an old time movie
Baby, yes I need your love
But I'm not gonna get this low
Don't you think that I can tell
When you've got no place else to go
Could it be you understood
When you tried to read my mind
Cause this time you will find
I'm gonna let you go
Every time I see you

Songwriters: John Edmund Andrew Phillips

Like an Old Time Movie lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Artist: Scott McKenzie

Album: The Voice of Scott McKenzie

Released: 1967

 

 

Scott Mckenzie - Reason To Believe - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jPUcAiD7QQ

 

Lyrics

Hardin

If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe.

Someone like you makes it hard to live without somebody else
Someone like you makes it easy to give, never think about myself.

If I gave you time to change my mind
I'd find a way just to leave the past behind
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe.

If I listened long enough to you
I'd find a way to believe that it's all true
Knowing that you lied straight-faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe.

Songwriters: Tim Hardin

Reason to Believe lyrics © Trio Music Company, Embassy Music Corporation, Bruce Springsteen Music, Allen Stanton Productions, EMI APRIL MUSIC INC, TRIO MUSIC COMPANY, INC., TRIO MUSIC COMPANY INC OBO GRASS ROOT PRODUCTIONS, ALLEY MUSIC CORP

Artist: Scott McKenzie

Album: The Voice of Scott McKenzie

Released: 1967

 

 

 

Scott McKenzie - Celeste (1967) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5GOsLrUVTA

 

Testo

Here I stand acting like a silly clown would
I don't know why, would anybody like to try
The changes I'm going through ?
A hidden lie would fortify
Something that don't exist
But it ain't so bad, I'm just a lad
So many more things to do
I intend to come right through them all with you.

My songs are merely dreams visiting my mind
We talk a while by a crooked stile
You're lucky to catch a few
There's no magic wand in a perfumed hand
It's a pleasure to be true
In my crystal halls a feather falls
Being beautiful just for you
But that might not be quite true, that's up to you.

Dawn crept in unseen to find me still awake
A strange young girl sang her songs for me
And left 'fore the day was born
That dark princess with saddening jest
She lowered her eyes of woe
And I felt her sigh, I wouldn't like to try
The changes she's going through
But I hope love comes right through them all with you.

Songwriters: Donovan Leitch

Celeste lyrics © Donovan (Music) Limited

Artista: Scott McKenzie

Album: The Voice of Scott McKenzie

Data di uscita: 1967

 

 

SCOTT MCKENZIE NO, NO, NO, NO, NO 1967 - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlHvNUlj1M0

 

Lyrics

She is like the doll
she says no no no no no
and all she like the fall
she says no no no no no
She says You are just a friend to me (he he he he)
Your no more than a Friend to me (he he he he)
She is the doll
who says no no no no no
and all she tryes the fall
she says no no no no no
I know she tryes the kind for me (he he he he)
And hopes the our of see (he he he he)
Will down even hearing
she says no no no no no
without even looking
she says no no no no no
I know
Iknow she is a pray with me (he he he he)
a pray she might say Yes to me (he he he he)
yes she is the doll
who says no no no no no
and all she might to fall
she says no no no no no
no no no no no
no no no no no
she says no no no no no

Songwriters: Polnareff Michel / Stephens Geoffrey / BIESEL GERALD ANDRE

No, No, No, No, No lyrics © Peermusic (Uk) Ltd., Emi Music Publishing France Sa, SOUTHERN MUSIC PUBL CO INC, SONGS OF PEER LTD, Oxygen Music Inc

Artist: Scott McKenzie

Album: The Voice of Scott McKenzie

Released: 1967