I feel this song is so beautiful because of the many layers of meaning it contains. I think it's about a psychological restlessness that permeated the minds of so many at the time it was written but that same restlessness is present in some of us still. The people in motion is these restless people, desiring an idealistic place of beauty and love and better-ness. Theygo in search of it and the place they choose is San Francisco. This is bittersweet though because San Francisco, as depicted in the song, doesn't actually exist. San Francisco is nothing but a beautiful illusion. Just like summertime, flowers and love (all mentioned in the song and associated with San Francisco) the vision is fleeting. It can't be realized and the people (or the psychology) fade out for the most part...
around the time I really started paying attention to music's context within history, this is one of the songs that really hits home for me. I can only comment as an outsider, but what I read gives me the impression that Woodstock wqsnt the best festival - at least not musically - it was Monterey, and at the time this song was released The Mamas and The Papas ruled the airwaves, so this song became the (unofficial) anthem of Monterey. Woodstock was great, DGMW, but too close to the end (Altamont). Monterey was the beginning of the Summer Of Love,...
around the time I really started paying attention to music's context within history, this is one of the songs that really hits home for me. I can only comment as an outsider, but what I read gives me the impression that Woodstock wqsnt the best festival - at least not musically - it was Monterey, and at the time this song was released The Mamas and The Papas ruled the airwaves, so this song became the (unofficial) anthem of Monterey. Woodstock was great, DGMW, but too close to the end (Altamont). Monterey was the beginning of the Summer Of Love, and what an eclectic roster of talent! Shankar, Nyro, The Who, The Mamas...not to mention the American coming-out parties of Janis, Otis, and Jimi!
This is all a sider from the point that it's such a poignant, beautiful song. John Philips was a troubled man, no doubt, but a genius, nonetheless.
I feel this song is so beautiful because of the many layers of meaning it contains. I think it's about a psychological restlessness that permeated the minds of so many at the time it was written but that same restlessness is present in some of us still. The people in motion is these restless people, desiring an idealistic place of beauty and love and better-ness. Theygo in search of it and the place they choose is San Francisco. This is bittersweet though because San Francisco, as depicted in the song, doesn't actually exist. San Francisco is nothing but a beautiful illusion. Just like summertime, flowers and love (all mentioned in the song and associated with San Francisco) the vision is fleeting. It can't be realized and the people (or the psychology) fade out for the most part...
around the time I really started paying attention to music's context within history, this is one of the songs that really hits home for me. I can only comment as an outsider, but what I read gives me the impression that Woodstock wqsnt the best festival - at least not musically - it was Monterey, and at the time this song was released The Mamas and The Papas ruled the airwaves, so this song became the (unofficial) anthem of Monterey. Woodstock was great, DGMW, but too close to the end (Altamont). Monterey was the beginning of the Summer Of Love,...
around the time I really started paying attention to music's context within history, this is one of the songs that really hits home for me. I can only comment as an outsider, but what I read gives me the impression that Woodstock wqsnt the best festival - at least not musically - it was Monterey, and at the time this song was released The Mamas and The Papas ruled the airwaves, so this song became the (unofficial) anthem of Monterey. Woodstock was great, DGMW, but too close to the end (Altamont). Monterey was the beginning of the Summer Of Love, and what an eclectic roster of talent! Shankar, Nyro, The Who, The Mamas...not to mention the American coming-out parties of Janis, Otis, and Jimi!
This is all a sider from the point that it's such a poignant, beautiful song. John Philips was a troubled man, no doubt, but a genius, nonetheless.