A 'San Francisco' Inspired Playlist

PapaJacques

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This playlist follows a similiar intent to my recent 'Swinging London' playlist. Of course, San Francisco was a joint epicentre of youth culture along with London and was also the spiritual home of the hippie subculture. This playlist does not feature solely American acts; rather, I wanted to evoke the general feel of San Francisco in the summer of 1967. Hopefully some of you will find this interesting, and as always you're more than welcome to post your own variations. This may not be to everyone's tastes; it is decidedly more hippie inclined than the London playlist. However, it is good fun to listen to on a summer's day by the sea. There are some songs in common with the other playlist as I felt they fit the mood of both. It goes without saying that a lot of this is rather dated, but for fans of the genre such as myself there is much here to enjoy.

1: San Francisco- Scott McKenzie
2: Strange Brew- Cream
3: Get Together- The Youngbloods
4: Flower Children- Marcia Strassman
5: Love Is All Around- The Troggs
6: Groovin'- The Young Rascals
7: The Rain, The Park & Other Things- The Cowsills
8: Orange Skies- Love
9: Windy- The Association
10: Sunday Will Never Be The Same- Spanky & Our Gang
11: 59th Bridge Street (Feelin' Groovy)- Simon & Garfunkel
12: Let's Go To San Francisco- The Flowerpot Men
13: The Days Of Pearly Spencer- David McWilliams (a personal favourite)
14: Dark Star- The Grateful Dead (Single version)
15: Pentecost Hotel- Nirvana (UK psych act; maybe a little too whimsical and British for this playlist but I like it)
16: San Franciscan Night- Eric Burdon & The Animals


1: Somebody To Love- Jefferson Airplane
2: Incense & Peppermints- Strawberry Alarm Clock
3: Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)- The Chocolate Watchband
4: Season Of The Witch- Donovan
5: Eight Miles High- The Byrds
6: Flowerman- The Syn
7: The Beat Goes On- Sonny & Cher
8: Hole In My Shoe- Traffic
9: Creeque Alley- The Mamas & The Papas
10: Sleepy Hollow People- The Paper Fortress
11: Love Years Coming- Strawberry Children (A favourite on UK pirate radio in 1967)
12: Omaha- Moby Grape
13: Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine- Country Joe & The Fish
14: Down On Me- Big Brother & The Holding Company
15: Sittin' On A Fence- Twice As Much
16: A Whiter Shade Of Pale- Procol Harum (I couldn't not include this ubiquitous summer of love anthem.)

Not exactly a document of the San Francisco scene, but it does feature a number of the key bands of the era and each song is fairly evocative of the period. Once again, fun mixing well known material with obscurities.

A few songs that could also be added to the playlist:

Aquarius- The Lover of Life- Zodiac (Cosmic Sounds)
Mellow Yellow- Donovan
Living Memories- The Trespassers
Buzzsaw- The Turtles
White Rabbit- Jefferson Airplane
High Flyin' Bird- Jefferson Airplane (pre-Grace Slick)
Sit With The Guru- Strawberry Alarm Clock
Pretty Song From 'Psych Out'- Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawberries Mean Love- Strawberry Alarm Clock
Codine- The Charlatans
Daily Nightly- The Monkees
and of course the entirety of the Beatles' 'Sgt Pepper' album and 'All You Need Is Love' for a timeless touch.

Hope you enjoy!
 
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LOU/REALM

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Outdated ? No.....music lives on. An inspired list, I will have to check out some of the songs I don't recognise.
 

PapaJacques

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Outdated ? No.....music lives on. An inspired list, I will have to check out some of the songs I don't recognise.

Thank you Lou! You're right, 'dated' was probably not the correct term to use. What I intended to say was that the songs on this list are best enjoyed together, as they provide context to each other that helps evoke the atmosphere of the Summer of Love.

There were a number of distinct 'scenes' in 1967 (my personal favourite year for music) such as the London Underground, San Francisco and L.A's Sunset Strip. Each of them offered great music, but I prefer to listen to their output together- I'd never play, say, Barrett era Pink Floyd with San Francisco bay artists. But that's just me, I suppose.

Hope you enjoy, Lou!
 

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