Music Essay

The Mamas and The Papas was a 1960s folk-pop group made up of two male voices, John Phillips and Denny Doherty, and two female voices, Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot. It was a long road before all four members of this group would come together. John Phillips was originally a member of the New York based folk trio The Journeymen when he met his second wife, aspiring model Michelle Gilliam. Michelle, soon after marrying John, began singing with Phillips’ group. Meanwhile the other two future member of The Mamas and The Papas were also busy working on their music careers. Denny Doherty was a member of The Halifax Three, the name paying homage to the place of his birth, a group that only had one real hit in New York City. Cass Elliot, after having her hopes of being a Broadway actress dashed because of her weight, was the leading member of the group, Cass Elliot and The Big Three. One night Doherty saw Elliot’s group perform and was blown away. Doherty and Elliot went on to join forces in The Mugwumps, which released only one album and then broke up. Doherty went back to The Halifax Three and went on a tour that The Journeymen were also on. Through this tour Doherty became friends with Phillips and soon joined his group making it The New Journeymen. This new group then relocated and began living with Cass Elliot. Finally all four members were in the same place at the same time and came together to form The Mamas and The Papas.
The formation of the group, which was almost called The Magic Circle, took the world by storm. The Mamas and The Papas came in the wake of the large and popular Beatles movement. All four members were so different from the British invasion groups, although they did take some inspiration from these groups, infusing pop into their songs. They dressed in hippie clothes and promoted the typical hippie ideals of love, peace, and happiness, even though their songs would show the trouble the members, mainly John Phillips, would have with those very three ideas. The group image came from their diverse individuality and voices. They became a major influence on the Southern California pop scene in the mid to late ‘60s. They produced folk-pop songs mixed with amazing harmonies and great lyrics and arrangements done by John Phillips. One of the groups best-known hits is “California Dreamin’”, off their album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears. John Phillips wrote this song for his wife, Michelle, who was a California girl at heart living in New York. During a harsh and cold winter Michelle expressed her great sadness about not being in California to her husband. He attempted to maker her feel better with this song. “All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray. I've been for a walk on a winter's day. I'd be safe and warm if I was in L.A. California dreamin' on such a winter's day” clearly displayed the emotions of Michelle Phillips and her want of the warm sun. “California Dreamin’” was not the only song John wrote about Michelle. The two had a tumultuous relationship which was constantly changing due to Michelle’s young age and desire to be on her own. “Monday Monday” John also wrote about his relationship with his second wife. The lyrics “Monday, Monday, so good to me. Monday mornin', it was all I hoped it would be. Oh Monday mornin', Monday mornin' couldn't guarantee That Monday evenin' you would still be here with me” show the indecisiveness of the relationship between John and Michelle which would end in divorce.
Among the many hits written by John Phillips, The Mamas and The Papas also covered popular songs done by artists they were influenced by while making them their own with new interludes of piano or flute. Among these artists were John Lennon and Paul McCartney, members of the group they had once worked against. The group sang a song called “Go Where You Wanna Go” which was inspired by the Lennon-McCartney hit “I Call Your Name”. They also did a cover of “Spanish Harlem”, originally sung by The Drifters. “Dedicated to The One I Love”, borrowed from The Shirelles, was a hit for the group, as too was “Dream A Little Dream of Me”, dating back to the 1930s and originally recorded by several artists including Frankie Laine, Ella Fitzgerald, and Doris Day. All of these artists had influenced The Mamas and The Papas in a way and their covers were very successful.
One of the last things The Mamas and The Papas formally did as a group was perform at the Monterey Pop Festival, which John Phillips personally helped finance. After this performance the group began to fight over recording and the direction of the group itself. By 1968 the group separated and all went on to different projects. Michelle and John Phillips divorced in 1970. John went on to record his own solo LP and co-produce the movie "Brewster McCloud". Michelle went on to pursue acting, appearing in “The Last Movie” with Dennis Hopper, to whom she later was married to for a mere eight days. Cass Elliot launched a successful solo career with a string of hits. She also acted in the film version of "Pufnstuf". Soon The Mamas and The Papas were reunited under contractual obligations to do another album, People Like Us. The reunion only lasted as long as it took to record the album. Denny Doherty went on to record two unsuccessful solo records. Michelle continued her acting career in “Dillinger” while Cass also had success in acting. She had two prime time TV shows and many television appearances during the early 1970s. Cass was doing so well and had a two week engagement at the London Palladium in 1974 where she performed to sold-out crowds. But then on July 29, 1974 Cass Elliot died of heart attack at the age of 33, leaving behind two ex-husbands and one daughter. By the mid-70s, John Phillips had finished with his music career and was living off his music royalties. He was then arrested in 1980 on narcotics charges serving only 30 days. After his stint in jail Phillips decided to form a revamped Mamas and Papas with the line up of himself, Doherty, “Spanky” McFarlene, and Mackenzie Phillips, John’s daughter. This new group did not last long. John Phillips and Michelle Phillips both went on to write books about their experiences of being part of The Mamas and The Papas in 1986. John wrote an autobiography, Papa John: The Autobiography of John Phillips, while Michelle wrote California Dreamin’: The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas. Through both of these books, the drug use of the group came to light as did the true meanings of many of the groups popular songs.
In 1998, The Mamas and The Papas were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The group was also inducted in The Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation in 2000. John Phillips then completed and album of his original work and also finished a record he had started 25 years earlier with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards just before he died at the age of 65 on March 18, 2001 due to heart failure. He left behind three wives, five daughters, and two sons. Denny Doherty appeared in the late ‘90s as the main storyteller in The Needlefire ,a Canadian-Celtic musical performed at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. He also acted in the TV movie The Pit Pony and TV series This is Wonderland before dieing of an aneurysm in his abdomen on January 19th, 2007. Michelle Phillips is the only remaining original member of The Mamas and The Papas. She has spent her life after The Mamas and The Papas attempting to stay out of the spotlight, only emerging when her daughter Mackenzie was arrested for drug possession.
It was a long path to the formation of The Mamas and The Papas, it took many failed groups to bring the final four together. Although the group was fueled by explicit drug use and heartbreak, John Phillips wrote or co-wrote numerous songs with themes that will always be everlasting. His songs of unrequited love and loneliness resonate with new audiences after new audiences. The songs they sung, including their covers, were always original. The group added their own flare, either with new harmonies or introducing new instruments to the mix, to numerous songs. Their unique melodies and fusions of pop, folk, and rock genres caused Life magazine to proclaim them “the most inventive pop musical group and first really new vocal sound since The Beatles.”.

Hypnopaedia

Hypnopaedia

"Going Green is Just Plain Mean" is the message all consumers in America are met with everyday. We all know the effects driving huge SUVs have on the environment but we are still bombarded with images of these very same SUVs driven by "cool" celebrities who seem to have the best life that we all should envy in commercials on T.V. and advertisements in magazines, newpapers, and websites. Celebrities and the rich of the world are also flying private jets anywhere they go, usually to go on some fabulous vacation, sometimes within the state they are already currently in. Visions of this come to us in music videos and T.V. programs such as VH1's The Fabulous Life of..., a show that highlights the lavish life style of various people with mass amounts of wealth. Besides SUVs and giant personal planes, this show in particular always makes sure to show the beautiful yachts that the rich and famous sail around the world in. The consumers of America are being sent mix messages. We are told about global warming, the effects of gas emissions, and the major importance of these issues. But popular people in our culture are still pushing products that follow the "Bigger Will Always be Better" mentality.