"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" is an American

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

song, written by John Phillips, and sung by

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

. It was produced and released in May 1967 by Phillips and

Lou Adler Lester Louis Adler (born December 13, 1933) is an American record and film producer and the co-owner of the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California. Adler has produced and developed a number of iconic musical artists, including The Grass R ...

, who used it to promote their

Monterey International Pop Music Festival The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendri ...

held in June of that year. John Phillips played guitar on the recording and session musician Gary L. Coleman played orchestra bells and chimes. Bass guitar was supplied by session musician

Joe Osborn Joseph Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

played

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. The song reached the fourth position on the US charts and the number one spot on the UK charts. In Ireland, it was number one for one week, in New Zealand the song spent five weeks at number one, and in Germany it was six weeks at number one. McKenzie's version has been called "the unofficial anthem of the counterculture movement of the 1960s, including the

Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

Anti-Vietnam War Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social move ...

and

Flower power Flower power was a slogan used during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a symbol of passive resistance and nonviolence. It is rooted in the opposition movement to the Vietnam War. The expression was coined by the American Beat poet Allen Ginsber ...

movements." The song has also been widely regarded as a defining song of the Summer of Love along with the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

, "

All You Need Is Love "All You Need Is Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in July 1967. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was Britain's contribution t ...

Composition

According to Paul Ingles of NPR, "...local authorities in

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...

were starting to get cold feet over the prospect of their town being overrun by hippies. To smooth things over, Phillips wrote a song, "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)." Phillips reported writing the song in about 20 minutes. It is one of the first major hits in popular music industry to use vi–IV–I–V chord progression, a variant of

I–V–vi–IV progression The I–V–vi–IV progression is a common chord progression popular across several music genre, genres of music. It involves the Tonic (music), I, Dominant (music), V, submediant, vi, and subdominant, IV chords of any particular musical scale. ...

, which has seen enormous popularity in recent years, in pop music, as well as in orchestral music. The song, which tells the listeners, "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair", is credited with bringing thousands of young people to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, during the late 1960s. Different issues of the recording use slightly different titles, including: "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)"; "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)"; and "San Francisco 'Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair'".

Reception

Released on May 13, 1967, the song was an instant hit. By the week ending July 1, 1967, it reached the number four spot on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US, where it remained for four consecutive weeks. Meanwhile, the song rose to number one in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and most of Europe. In July 1967, McKenzie's previous record label, Capitol, claimed that the "follow-up" to this was their re-release of his earlier single, "Look in Your Eyes." The single is said to have sold over seven million copies worldwide. In Central Europe, young people adopted "San Francisco" as an anthem, leading the song to be widely played during

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

's 1968

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...

uprising. The song has been featured in several films, including '' Frantic'', '' The Rock'', and ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and ...

''. It was also played occasionally by

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

as part of the improvised section in the middle of "Dazed and Confused". U2's

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

also led the audience in a sing-along during their

PopMart The PopMart Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of the group's 1997 album '' Pop'', the tour's concerts were performed in stadiums and parks in 1997 and 1998. Much like the band's previous Zoo TV Tour, PopMart ...

performances in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

on June 18 and 19, 1997. New Order covered it on July 11, 2014, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. A cover by Michael Marshall appears in the 2019 film ''

The Last Black Man in San Francisco ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' is a 2019 American drama film directed and produced by Joe Talbot in his directorial debut. He wrote the screenplay with Rob Richert and the story with Jimmie Fails, on whose life it is partly based. It s ...

''.

Personnel

–

double-tracked Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...

vocals, acoustic guitar * John Phillips – acoustic guitar, lead guitar,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

, production *

Joe Osborn Joseph Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

s and

chimes Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

– drums, percussion

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Johnny Hallyday version

French singer

Johnny Hallyday Jean-Philippe Léo Smet (; 15 June 1943 – 5 December 2017), better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited for having brought rock and roll to France. During a career spanning 57 ...

recorded the song in French, with the title "San Francisco". His version reached number five in Wallonia (French Belgium) in 1967.

Track listings

7" single Philips B 370.454 F (1967) # "San Francisco" (3:10) # "Mon fils" (4:00) 7" EP Philips 437.380 BE (1967) : A1. "San Francisco" (3:10) : A2. "Fleurs d'amour et d'amitié" (2:39) : B1. "Mon fils" (3:58) : B2. "Psychédélic" (3:20)

Charts

; "San Francisco" / "Mon fils"

Other Covers

British band Psykick Holiday did a cover of San Francisco in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of peace & Love & the song . It was a double 'A' single with Lets go to San Francisco' being the other track. The band also did a summer of love EP featuring French & Spanish version of the two songs. In 2020 & 2022 the English tracks came out under main vocalist with the above band Vanessa White Smith on the Compilations 'Femme Fatales of music Vol.1 & 2. All releases were on Future Legend Records and out on Itunes etc.

References

Notes Bibliography * ''

Guinness Book of British Hit Singles ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of t ...

'' – 19th Edition – * ''The Book of Golden Discs'' – 2nd Edition – *

External links

* {{Authority control Scott McKenzie songs Songs written by John Phillips (musician) Songs about San Francisco Songs about California Songs about flowers Songs about hippies Hippie movement Counterculture of the 1960s Psychedelic pop songs Johnny Hallyday songs Petula Clark songs Tanya Tucker songs Global Deejays songs Song recordings produced by Lou Adler Irish Singles Chart number-one singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Columbia Records singles Philips Records singles 1967 singles 1967 songs Ode Records singles