Cass was THE key element in this group and she made everyone in it a shining star.

Cass is the magic ingrediant in that group. The arrangements and harmonies are beautiful, but her voice makes that band ring out like a bell. It would never have worked without her voice.

You can hear Cass over all 3. She had an amazing voice!

50 Years old this year and still so relevant today.

What's really special about this clip is that if you're very familiar with the group's albums, you will notice that this is one of the very few instances where live singing is actually done (Words of Love being another), alongside the pre-recorded track. You can hear Denny,Cass and Michelle live.

When Mama Cass says “cue the tape”, LOL!

Mama Cass was really Ellen Cohen from Forest Park High in west Baltimore and a member of the glee club......loved forever, she was fabulous!

It's about a particular moment in American pop music. All of the people in the song - the M&P, John Sebastian, Zalman Yanovsky, Roger McGuin, Barry McGuire, started out in the folk revival of the late 50s, and by the early 60s wanted to break out into something new, and they did.

I love the autobiographical lyrics and how they bounce back and fourth with the harmonizing duties. My favorite line is "And California Dreamin' is becoming a reality."

This has just about gotta be my favorite Mamas & Papas tunes...The history combined with their incredible harmony, (and in this video), the incites and dynamics in the group. Just so much fun to watch.

Perfect harmony in all their songs.

On this day in 1967 {April 23rd} "Creeque Alley" by the Mamas and the Papas entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #83; and on May 28th it peaked at #5 {for 1 week} and spent 9 weeks on the Top 100... It reached #9 on the United Kingdom's Singles chart... Was track 3 of side 1 on the quartet's third studio album, 'Deliver', and the album peaked at #2 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart... Two other tracks from the album also made the Top 100 chart; "Dedicated to the One I Love" {at #2} and "Look Through My Window" {at #24} ... Sadly, three of the group's four members have passed away, Cass Elliot {1941 - 1974}, John Phillips {1935 - 2001}, Denny Doherty {1940 - 2007}, and Michelle Phillips will celebrate her 70th birthday in less than two months on June 4th, 1944... May Cass, John, & Denny R.I.P.

I grew up with their voices, my dad used to play their music every night to enjoy it... Now i'm 25 and following his steps!! ^_^

And now, there is but one................but the music is still here, inside us, always here! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Cass Elliot had a great voice and the four of them made a great vocal team.

This song explains so much about the music scene back then.

That's actually pretty cool how they knew each other. A happy little hippie group of friends.

Cass was magic, but they all were magic during this time period.. i think your looking at many bands here.. love them all.. hats off to you all .. :D

I was 18 when i first heard that song ..I wish i could go back and live that life again

Born in the mid 60’s intuitively I understood the greatness of the era

It's hard to believe that his group only recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968. I'm 50 years old and I've been listening to them the whole time, still do.

Thanks for posting this! Singing in four part harmony is no easy task...they were the best at this! Thanks again. I enjoyed this greatly.

If you missed the sixty's...study this song, it tells it! Takes me back....and forth!

So happy to find this! I remember watching this on tv back in the day. Thanks for posting

The Mamas and the Papas ... we shall not see their like again.

This song makes my heart happy :) Their harmonies are just awesome!

Yes! That is true... The incomparable Mama Cass Elliot was my favorite of the four. What a woman!

Such a funny & beautiful song, especially with the commentary.

It is so great to go back and visit the history of 60's music. This song sums up several groups in a clever way.

On this day in 1967 {June 11th} the Mamas and the Papas performed "Creeque Alley" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'... At the time it was at #21 and in its eighth week on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart...

Wonderful!

The great music of the 60's. And the Mamas and Papas made some of the greatest of it.

a great song and a great story about mamas and papas....but there were no happy end!

I miss real music like this.

Thanks for posting, for a moment I'm on the West Coast in the Sixties, oh well back to reality after a Surreal moment, but still California Dreaming, in a Golden State of Mind....

Thanks for the additional information and great job on the video. This was the greatest time in American popular music.

this song makes me cry-in a good way. just listening to its lyrics and looking at all the pictures of everyone talked about in the song. and thinking about how the sixties were a time of lots of changes...

On this date in 1967 {Apr. 29th} "Creeque Alley" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100; eventually it peaked #5 and spent 9 weeks in the Top 100... It was the Mamas & Papas 6th and last Top 10 record... It was the 2nd single released from their "Deliver" album; the album ranked #2 on Billboard's "Top Pop" albums chart for 1967...

Every time I hear this song, I keep picturing a biopic made of the band, and the end credits have them performing this song, with the actors' names displayed under the characters. Perhaps reenacting the Ed Sullivan performance.

Mama cass had a good sense of humor. So smart. Extremely high IQ.

Best photos of the band I have seen on KZfaq. My favorite track from the band, of all the dozens of great songs they had.

Soothing and funny song. So much of 'human nature' in this singing band!

This song makes me SO happy. I love the Mama and Papas. 🥰

Excellent song and the commentary is outstanding too,thank you much for posting!!

I love this song. The way it sounds keeps me in that great mood only music can put me in. Out of all the songs i know by them this is my favorite. It's too bad the others didn't play.

Great song....love this group :) ✿⊱╮

Finally this song makes sense!

They were singing about their own past and what they went on to do. They were all friends before and after, with some hiccups along the way.

Sounds as good as when it first came out, they were one of my favorites way back then, where has time gone? Getting old is a bummer.

0:02 Cass broke one of the cardinal entertainment media rules right there...that little upstart broke the illusion.

Every artist mentioned have bevome successgul in their own way..they are IMMORTALIZED!

I’ve always wondered how Cass felt about the “fat” lyric 😂. Seems like she had an amazing sense of humor

“Zal” went onto form the Lovin Spoonful with Sebastian. He was a really gifted guitarist. Would’ve been a great Classic Rocker.

Thanks a million, Ben! LOVE this song.

About a year ago, there was a great little documentary on KZfaq that explained this song's meaning and the band's history in depth. It was very cool. I can't find it now.

Love it. Epic does not do this justice.

Genius song writing 👌

There weren't -- and aren't -- many who could -- or can -- sing a song the way that they did.

Great film footage.

BRING IT ALL BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry im too young, but I just love this song ... :D

One of the ten greatest rock recordings ever. Great flute in the middle of the original and super folk lyrics. One of the few true rock-plus-other genre performers. Most of the other groups or individuals who claimed to attain that, were a sham.

awesome. Thanks!!

I met Michelle Phillips Jerry Rubin 70th birthday party running for Santa Monica city council

GREAT song. One of the best ever. George Vreeland Hill

John was a genius

Momers and peppers where and stll great thanks ladies and gentlemen 😊👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Excellent job on this video!

Songs are at there best when they have a good sound & great lyrics, better still is to find out wear the lyrics come from

brilliant!

I love you for posting this!

I like that color film clip of Michelle in the sun !

Such a great tune, thanks benhoughton for posting this, it really helped . I do have a lesson on this tune if anyone like to learn how to play it!

so glad i was around for these times .... use guys times SUCK for music

Cass was way too greatttttt

Some time to people amazement songs from a long time ago do last the distance n this is one of those who would have bet on it me to don't think that I have a good hunch the classic be sure of airplay to this day

So love it

What a song. How often do you hear one band sing about other bands, essentially praising them?

The only correction is that Cass actually attended American University, but unfortunately that doesn’t rhyme with “sophomore”!

Great song....

Excellent! :D

He meant "fat" as in making a lot of money. It was an inside joke.

1:39 Maguire didn't think about how his story was going to be right up against the lyrics that clearly are: ,,,M & M still getting HIGHER in LA...

I

Mama cass is the very best

Love Mama Cass!

Cool with the comments. Thanks

John and Mitchy were gettin' kind of itchy just to leave the folk music behind Zal and Denny workin' for a penny tryin' to get a fish on the line In a coffee house Sebastian sat and after every number they'd pass the hat McGuinn and McGuire just a-gettin' higher in L.A., you know where that's at and no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass Zally said "Denny, you know there aren't many who can sing a song the way that you do, let's go south" Denny said "Zally, golly, don't you think that I wish I could play guitar like you" Zal, Denny and Sebastian sat (At the Night Owl) and after every number they'd pass the hat McGuinn and McGuire still a-gettin higher in L.A., you know where that's at and no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swarthmore but she changed her mind one day standin' on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike "Take me to New York right away" when Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps McGuinn and McGuire couldn't get no higher but that's what they were aimin' at and no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass Mugwumps, high jumps, low slumps, big bumps don't you work as hard as you play make up, break up, everything is shake up guess it had to be that way Sebastian and Zal formed the Spoonful, Michelle, John, and Denny gettin' very tuneful McGuinn and McGuire just a-catchin' fire in L.A., you know where that's at and everybody's gettin' fat except Mama Cass di-di-di-dit dit dit di-di-di-dit, whoa Broke, busted, disgusted, agents can't be trusted and Mitchy wants to go to the sea Cass can't make it, she says we'll have to fake it we knew she'd come eventually greasin' on American Express cards, it's low rent, but keeping out the heat's hard Duffy's good vibrations and our imaginations can't go on indefinitely and California dreamin' is becomin' a reality Songwriters: John Edmund Andrew Phillips / Michelle Gilliam

Will someone PLEASE post the studio version of this song...

great grove!

still groovy

when you have such a beautiful stunning woman like Michelle is this band and a beast of a woman like cass..and them sleeping drugs alcohol around in the LA -NY SCENE IN THE 60S--you have major tensions ..how it lasted 4 years is amazing itself--cass couldnt possibly handle the looks of michelle ..spiraled into more depression ,comforted by food and we lost her early..its always a king kong story where the beast couldnt handle the beauty..thanks for an educational explanation of this song benhoughton..well done

Simply Genial

I don't believe that Michelle said, "Your such a card". LOL

A lot of great potential music was lost when Cass died, too bad we sometimes we get lost on image

Was this a Documentary? I would love to see.

The Night Owl, The Cafe Wha, The Cafe Why Not, all hangouts for the teenage me before Greenwich Village was drowned in commercialism and everyone that mattered had moved to the East Village.

Awesome 😎 group

She wasn't supposed to say,"Queue the tape". Look at their reactions. ?

Epic.