*To receive PRIORITY Requests for future videos, head on over to our Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee. Never expected, but always appreciated.❤Links in Description!* This group is incredible! What else should we check out from them?

No autotune, just talent.

The heavy set girl--Cass Elliot--has one of the finest voices of our times. Check out her solo DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME....

You youngsters missed soooo much...your parents anf grandparents were WAY cooler than you imagine!

The Mammas and Pappas were huge in the sixties. I only wish they had stayed together longer. The lead vocalist is Denny Doherty, he was the only Canadian in the group. The other male was John Phillips and he was married to the smaller of the two girls, Michelle Phillips, The last lady was Cass Elliot, who went on to have a great solo career.

The Mamas & the Papas were a great folk rock group in the 60's. I had their records. They were known for their smooth harmonies. They had lots of great hits such as "Monday, Monday", "Dedicated To The One I Love", "Words Of Love", "Dancing In The Street", "Look Through My Window", "Creeque Alley", "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)", "Safe In My Garden", "I Saw Her Again" etc. Mama Cass Elliot went solo & had a big hit with "Dream A Little Dream Of Me".

one of the all time great songs! ♥

The epic voice in the group was Mama Cass Elliot, especially in later songs. John Phillips was one of the great pop song writers of the 60s. This group had so many great hits and epitomizes the hippy era back then. Unfortunately after about 3 years together they broke up due to personal conflicts and drug use. Michelle Philips is the only one alive today.

The flute solo you are hearing is an “alto flute” solo by Bud Shank. The musicians of that era were amazing. The singers were phenomenal too, as there was no auto tune, so they had to have real singing talent. Now that you’ve played another song from the ‘60’s. I am keeping my promise and becoming a subscriber this early A.M. in Brooklyn, NY.

Karen carpenter and the mamas and the papas were tops those days 😊❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

The lead male singer is Denny Doherty, the lone Canadian in the band. His vocal on California Dreaming is epic. It's an alto flute you hear, played by Bud Shank.

I was in Vietnam in '67-68 and this song was a staple of available music. I heard it daily and everyone knew the song intimately. I still love this song today for the memories it invokes. Monday, Monday was the other staple by this group. Excellent music. Thanks

Been listening to this fab song, an anthem of my generation, for over 60 years and it hasn’t lost its shine. Thanks for mentioning the awesome flute solo - surprisingly, you’re the first reactor of many I’ve listened to who has mentioned it.

"Creeque Alley" next

The song was written in 1963 while John Phillips and Michelle Phillips were living in New York City during a particularly cold winter, and the latter was missing sunny California.John would work on compositions late at night and brought Michelle the first verse one morning. John was the tall guy, Michelle is the blonde. HE WENT into the church to get warm ( winter's day.) He pretended to pray to get warm.

This song is a simple story of missing the California sunshine and dealing with the dreaded New York City bitter cold and snowy winters

Loved the Mama's and Pappas! Real memories of my youth!❤❤ Thankyou😃

The guy in the vest singing lead is Denny Doherty, a Canadian from Halifax, Nova Scotia. For many who were little kids at the start of the '90s, they probably know him better as the Harbour Master on Theodore Tugboat, a children's TV show airing from 1993 to 2001.

Cass and Denny were the major voices on this song. John and Michelle wrote the song while in Greenwich Village during the winter. They missed the warm weather and free wheeling of Cali.

Another hit featuring The Wrecking Crew!!

This was a The Wrecking Crew song, worthy of a deep dive on them. Beach Boys, The Raiders, The Monkees, The Partridge Family and so many more. Carpenters are referred this way but they were not. Joe Osborn a member discovered them and made demos with them and he enlisted Hal Blaine to help but he was too busy as the founding member of TWC, he later went on to be a main studio drummer for them. Other band members were Carpenters band members for studio and road. Now the M&P, this song was from 1965 and was a monster hit. John Philips did play guitar on the song with TWC. Monday Monday another huge hit. Lots of strife in the band they didn’t last that long. Mama Cass Elliot had a solo career until 1974 when she died of a heart attack. She was the heavy one. Now I mentioned Carpenters earlier. Well, before they were “Carpenters” and with Joe Osborn, they recorded California Dreamin’ in 1968. Richard modified the lyrics to make it a bit more religious. That church part went from “pretend to pray” to “began to pray.” Richard would play with lyrics again for Superstar when they were Carpenters. Not sure if you want to do this comparison but, Karen singing lead is special. This again is pre-Carpenters and a demo. Richard cleaned it up and released it after Karen had died, on a compilation disk. Link for you if you want to check it out. No video a slide show. Joe kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pt6ggM5-0q3PhHk.htmlsi=bZL3feB_wQpA7aHy .

It's a flute -- Bud Shank happened to be going by. The original version of this was by Barry McGuire, before the Ms&Ps had any hits or releases, although they did the background vocals on the McGuire record... actually if you listen closely at the beginning you can hear Barry's voice start to sing the word "All" that wasn't wiped out. So rather than redo the whole thing they took the same backing track, put together by what has come to be called the "Wrecking Crew", sang their own lead vocals and brought the background vocals forward. The original used a harmonica in the middle, which John Phillips didn't think was working, and then in walked Bud (see what I did there?), who was prevailed upon to lay down sixteen bars of solo (in one take I believe) and that, as they say, was that.

The Mamas & Papas were instrumental in starting the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 where a lot of rock groups performed live you should react to Janis Joplin ball and chain live 1967 Monterey Pop Festival also the who at the same concert smashed up their guitars and amps and drums on stage so react to the who at the Monterey Pop Festival

I love this song so much and the cover done by Sia has really grown on me over the years

Yep, this is on my play list....how did you know??? 😂😂

If nobody else tells you a couple of them were also in a band called Lovin' Spoonful. They had hits under that iteration too. This is the updated version of of the protest/folk song music of just a few years earlier. Some of the great songwriters and singers came from this direction, such as Simon and Garfunkel. I think Nashville Cats by Spoonful will crack you up, and Mama Cass's solo Dream a Little Dream will make you melt.

Talk about memories! Thanks for this one! 🥰

I saw them in Phoenix AZ. I’ll tell you I was so very lucky👼🏻💕

There is so much lore behind 'California Dreamin' a mere KZfaq comment couldn't begin to do it justice :D Suffice to say, I was born way too late to do anything about it, but I'd marry Cass' voice today if I could. Lore tidbit (as I have understood the truth to be): During the recording of song, John Phillips decided a flute solo would be just the thing. There was a classical piece being recorded down the hall and John grabbed the flute player, hummed a few bars and gave him the beat, and recorded it on the spot- out of tune and all- and history was made. (This is how I remember the tale, but if anyone knows the truth keep it to yourself- I like my version :D )

It's great to see someone born in the 1980s really digging the songs of my teenage years - the 1960s.

Yes, flute--for another fantastic flute solo, check our Clannad's TURNING TIDE...

1966 MAMA'S AND PAPA'S

FYI, the shorter of the two women was named Cass Elliot. She had quite the good career on her own as a singer. The blonde, Michelle Williams, went into acting in the 70s and became very famous for her role on the late 80s to early 90s primetime soap Knots Landing.

The thin female singer and the guitar player Michelle and John Phillips have a daughter Chynna Phillips who became part of Wilson Phillips singing group

This was the first LP I got from my parents for Christmas 😎. P.S. I still have it. 😊

It may have been a live performance at the time, but they’ve overdubbed the audio from the studio single. Still a great song and a classic! as for the extent of the band, this, like hundreds of other singles in the 60s and 70s, was recorded with the help of the phenomenal studio musicians in LA that became known as The Wrecking Crew. Rent the movie called The Wrecking Crew to learn more about them. Available to rent super cheap on KZfaq. Must-see stuff.

Listen to their TWELVE THIRTY--it will put this song in perspective...

You first flute solo

If you like grough singing style, you need to hear Janis Joplin doing Ball & Chain at the Monterey pop festival.

Formed in New York City, circa 1965, the group consisted of Americans John Phillips, (on guitar in the video) Cass Elliot, and Michelle Phillips (long haired blond ), and Canadian Denny Doherty who was doing the lead singing in this video. The influence of John Phillips (and Michelle) in music was seen in the late 80s , early 90s when his daughter Chyna Phillips (who also did some acting as did her mother) was part of the band Wilson Phillips (along with two Wilson sisters, daughters of Beach Boys frontman Brian Wilson)

Not live. A lip-synched TV performance. The whole audio part is identical to the studio version, and is, in fact, the studio version. This was how music was promoted on TV in the early to mid 60's. In the 70's, live TV performances on shows like The Midnight Special and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, etc., became popular when bands started playing their own music. For most of the American bands in the mid-'60's, (Mamas & Papas, Beach Boys, Byrds, etc.) studio musicians performed the music while the band wrote the songs and sang. See comments below on The Wrecking Crew, as the studio musicians in LA were known at the time.

Of all of them ther best voice belongs to Cass Elliot, ther heavy girl...listen to her do DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME...

✌✌😊😊

Mr. "Seton Hill Studios" is about the same age as my youngest chi-dult (my made up word for an adult child). I grew up with this song and it's a fixture in my playlist. I chose to watch this video because I love this song. After all, why would I watch someone I don't know, and as far as I know has no qualifications for providing a meaningful reaction to such a classic song who is the same age as my youngest child, and presents himself to the "KZfaq public" wearing a t-shirt, sporting earrings, tattoos, and a shaved head. Don't take any of that as a judgement as I celebrate Mr. "Seton Hall Studios" freedom to express himself in any way he wishes, I just don't understand why I would care what he has to say about this amazing song, and for that matter--I don't.

i think were in Scooby Doo

try Al Green... How Do You Mend a Broken Heart ...live from Soul

All dead now except the blonde lots of talent lots of not so good history and of course drugs RIP

grit? you need some Bob Seger and Kenny Rogers

Unfortunately this group is more popular with their drug use than their music……great group with so many personal problems…..

Not live, but lip synced.