45 anni fa moriva Mama Cass Elliot, cantante straordinaria che fece parte del quartetto The Mamas And Papas. In suo ricordo il brano “Creeque Alley”, con testo e video.
Ricordando Mama Cass.
Ellen Naomi Cohen, questo il suo vero nome, era nata a Baltimora (USA) il 19 settembre 1941 e la sua carriera cominciò nei primi anni ’60 come attrice per la commedia “The Boy friend” poi nel 1963 entrò a far parte del gruppo “The Big Three”.
Nel 1965 Mama Cass entrò far parte della band The Mamas And Papas, che balzarono alla notorietà mondiale con la hit “California Dreamin’“.
Dopo lo scioglimento della band, Mama Cass continuò la propria carriera come solista, ricevendo ottimi risultati, ma il 29 luglio del 1974, fu ritrovata morta in una stanza d’ albergo a Londra, a seguito di un attacco cardiaco.
“Creeque Alley” è un singolo autobiografico scritto da John Phillips e Michelle Phillips dei The Mamas & the Papas del 1967, che narra la storia di come si è formato il gruppo e dei suoi primi anni.
La canzone è contenuta nel loro album Deliver.
Tre sono i brani compresi nell’album e pubblicati in formato singolo che raggiunsero la classifica USA Billboard Hot 100: Dedicated to the One I Love (seconda posizione il 25 marzo 1967); Creeque Alley (quinta posizione raggiunta il 3 giugno 1967) e Look Through My Window (ventiquattresima posizione il 26 novembre 1967). (Fonte Wikipedia)
Testo: The Mamas and The Papas – Creeque Alley
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
Video Youtube : Creeque Alley The Mamas & The Papas
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