Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon) Lyrics
Everything there was dark and dirty
Outside my window was a steeple
With a clock that always said twelve-thirty
And in the mornings I can see them walkin'
I can no longer keep my blinds drawn
And I can't keep myself from talkin'
To say "Good mornin'" and really mean it
To feel these changes happenin' in me
But not to notice till I feel it
And in the mornings I can see them walkin'
I can no longer keep my blinds drawn
And I can't keep myself from talkin'
Images of beauty lie there stagnant
Vibrations bounce in no direction
But lie there shattered into fragments
And in the mornings I can see them walkin'
I can no longer keep my blinds drawn
And I can't keep myself from talkin'
Beautiful song. Has a melancholy, bittersweet feel to it. Interesting vocal arrangement too. It sounds to me like the girls and guys switch up on lead and harmony at various points throughout the song, and not at neat, tidy points. It’s not like they switch verses or one does the verses while the other does the chorus. It’s scattered among phrases.
I wish I knew the meanings of all the lyrics. Knowing how many drugs John Phillips did, the song may not really be about anything more than his stream of consciousness. The part about cloudy waters and vibrations bouncing and shattering, I can’t figure out. Maybe I’m over thinking it.
I believe I read in one of the biographies of the group/members that it’s like two songs combined, with the verses being one song about one thing and the chorus being another song about something else. The title seems to follow that idea.
I do know that all four of them were living in New York City at some point and that John did live near a building that had a broken clock on a steeple. There are stereotypical comments on NYC and LA in the song, with NYC being “dark and dirty” and LA being a very happy place to be. Of course, the group struggled in NYC and found great success in LA. Had that been switched, the song may have been different, if it existed at all.
I also read that during one of John and Michelle’s many breaks from their marriage, John moved in with Denny in Denny’s house in Laurel Canyon (I think that’s the one.). Being big deals at the time and effectively single, they had a steady steam of groupies in and out of the house. That’s where the “young girls coming to the canyon” came from. John wrote very personal songs, pretty much airing his dirty laundry in many of them. Wouldn’t surprise me if he wrote this to part of the song to rub it in Michelle’s face that he wasn’t sitting around pining over her during the break but enjoying all that was offered him.
@smellykellyjay Trinity Church at the top of Wall Street had a clock that I used to see in the 1960s with its hands stuck at 12:30. The young girls coming into the Canyon then were the girls and women walking into work on wall street in the morning. Trinity was very blackened with soot like so much else at that time in Manhattan. This song pairs beautifully, historically with the group's move from NYC to L.A.
@smellykellyjay Trinity Church at the top of Wall Street had a clock that I used to see in the 1960s with its hands stuck at 12:30. The young girls coming into the Canyon then were the girls and women walking into work on wall street in the morning. Trinity was very blackened with soot like so much else at that time in Manhattan. This song pairs beautifully, historically with the group's move from NYC to L.A.
how can there be no comments on this song!?! this is my favorite song by them, the vocals are beautiful, as ususal.
The lyrics deal with the Mamas and the Papas' move from New York City (where they were part of the folk-singing crowd) to LA (when they were becoming rock stars). "Young girls are coming to the Canyon" is a reference to Laurel Canyon. I believe that it was Denny Doherty who commented that every morning he would look through his windows and see young girls walking out of Laurel Canyon from the houses of those (often rock singers like him) with whom they had spent the night (whereas in New York he would have kept his blinds drawn)....
The lyrics deal with the Mamas and the Papas' move from New York City (where they were part of the folk-singing crowd) to LA (when they were becoming rock stars). "Young girls are coming to the Canyon" is a reference to Laurel Canyon. I believe that it was Denny Doherty who commented that every morning he would look through his windows and see young girls walking out of Laurel Canyon from the houses of those (often rock singers like him) with whom they had spent the night (whereas in New York he would have kept his blinds drawn). I believe that it was also he who noted that, whereas in New York City, no one would speak to strangers, in LA, everyone would wish one another "good morning" and that everytually he succumbed to these changes and could no longer keep himself from talking. (Of course, cocaine may have had something to do with it ....)
John Phillips said he wrote this song about when he moved to New York city and the Clock outside his window was stuck on 12:30 so he wrote a song about it.
This is such a beautiful song and I can't believe I had not heard it until this year! It has a lot of the spirit that the 1960's had in it and it is really....groovy....to get that feeling again. John, Michelle and Cass all lived in Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles as did many others, such as Jim Morrison, Micky Dolenz, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Joni Mitchell and Frank Zappa. It was rustic, peaceful, quiet and to get to the buzz of the big city you just had to drive (or hitch) south on Laurel Canyon Blvd down to Sunset Blvd. You can read more about what I call the "Laurel Canyon Sound" in a book called "Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon" by Harvey Kubernik. I loved reading this book.
Great music-- I agree, possibly their best. I'm not sure what this is about... it seems so happy and sad at the same time. My guess is about someone who traveled from the East to CA to be part of the Hippie/free love movement, realized that it wasn't going anywhere, but still was grateful for the experience.
There is something so tragic in it, but I can't tell whether it's the words or music that bring it out more...
Wow, nice post smellykelly...... I didn;t know all that. It has a dramatic air to it.... maybe fitting if it was a big thing for John to resist then fall to temptation of the groupies. Psychedelic - I love it!
A comparison between NYC and Laurel Canyon "the canyon"
On the east side of the San Fransisco Bay there is a small community located between Oakland and Moraga called "Canyon", just a wide spot in the road. But during the late 60's and early 70's, it was a busy, buzzing hippee commune. "Young girls were coming to the Canyon"
@jimbo1955 i'm pretty sure the canyon referred to in the song is Laurel Canyon, LA, populated at the time by artists, musicians, some record company execs, and more well-to-do hippies. In 1966-67 it was, like the Haight in SF and the Village and East Village in NY, a magnet for people, including often young, impressionable girls, who were looking for an alternative lifestyle.
@jimbo1955 i'm pretty sure the canyon referred to in the song is Laurel Canyon, LA, populated at the time by artists, musicians, some record company execs, and more well-to-do hippies. In 1966-67 it was, like the Haight in SF and the Village and East Village in NY, a magnet for people, including often young, impressionable girls, who were looking for an alternative lifestyle.
Such a GLORIOUS vocal performance by Mama Cass, such an underrated and somewhat forgotten singer. What a voice! Beautiful...
John Philips would have been 32 in 1967 and hence it would have been past noon in his life. The image of young girls coming to the canyon (Laurel Canyon of LA) conjures up images of nubile girls having casual sex and then walking home in the morning (a common sight in Laurel Canyon at the time). If this is about the artist, perhaps the free enjoyment of sex was an eyeopener for him (he could no longer keep his shades closed) he felt joyful, able to express himself and free of the dirty place from whence he came. Trouble is, I can't parse the following:
"Cloudy waters cast no reflection Images of beauty lie there stagnant Vibrations bounce in no direction But lie there shattered into fragments"
@Zavod Yours is the closest to the truth, as far as I can tell. As a "Valley Girl" in the 60's and 70's, I met plenty of people who came from NY who didn't like or trust anyone, and the openness of Southern California was uncomfortable for them. Others reveled in it.
Which explains:
At first so strange to feel so friendly
To say good morning and really mean it
To feel these changes happening in me
But not to notice till I feel it
@Zavod Yours is the closest to the truth, as far as I can tell. As a "Valley Girl" in the 60's and 70's, I met plenty of people who came from NY who didn't like or trust anyone, and the openness of Southern California was uncomfortable for them. Others reveled in it.
Which explains:
At first so strange to feel so friendly
To say good morning and really mean it
To feel these changes happening in me
But not to notice till I feel it
Young girls are coming to the canyon And in the mornings I can see...
Young girls are coming to the canyon And in the mornings I can see them walking I can no longer keep my blinds drawn And I can't keep myself from talking
I grew up in the era of free love, but for someone his age, it must have come as an astonishing reality he never knew existed, and I'm sure he dove right in.
To me, "Cloudy waters cast no reflection Images of beauty lie there stagnant Vibrations bounce in no direction But lie there shattered into fragments"
means that as eyeopening and exciting and beautiful as it all was, there was, in the end, no real depth or meaning in it. Vibrations (excitement ) go nowhere, Beauty lies there stagnant - it's there, but after a while has no real meaning.
IN the end, after the party's over and what was once so exciting, freeing and new, became empty to him.
Happy, sad, and tragic.