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My Gen X Playlist: San Francisco – Scott McKenzie

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When I backpacked through Europe after college, we started and ended our month long trip in Paris. One of the sights on our list was Père Lachaise Cemetery. There are a number of famous historical people buried there, such as Frédéric Chopin and Oscar Wilde. The sad part is, many people visit the cemetery only to see Jim Morrison. We were guilty as charged.

We didn’t have a map of the gravesites, but we didn’t need one. Unfortunately, the name Jim with an arrow was spray painted on some of the gravestones. We followed the arrows to Morrison’s resting place.

I remember approaching his headstone. There were candles and incense burning. A flower child in a flowing tie dye dress played music and spun around dancing, eyes closed, her arms reaching up to the sky. The breeze mixed the sounds and scents together as one. I have to admit, I really wasn’t a big Doors’ fan, but I was appreciative to experience this moment.

I didn’t take any pictures or videos. This was the pre-smart phone era. When I recount this memory in my head, it’s always in black and white and I remember the woman in a trance dancing. It was surreal, a perfect scene out of a movie or foggy dream. Jim Morrison is not my favorite historical person. In fact, I don’t think I have one at all. But I will say, this is my favorite moment tied to someone famous. It’s become my own personal music video in my head that plays whenever I hear a Doors’ song.

Rock Cellar Magazine came up with a list of Top 11 Flower Power Songs. Beats me why they chose 11 instead of 10. Nevertheless, coming in at number one was San Francisco by Scott McKenzie.

My father is from Southern California and my mother is from San Francisco. All us kids were born in San Francisco before we moved to Southern California at a very young age. I was too young to ever really call SF home, but I’ve always been drawn to this song through my faint ties to the city. I’ve only heard it a handful of times over the past twenty years, but whenever it came on the radio, I turned up the volume. I could only sing a scattering of the lyrics because I really didn’t know them when it comes right down to it. I may sing every tenth word at best with indecipherable mumbling in between. But I would be sure to hit the chorus with confidence. No, I’m not a flower child nor do I have any idea about the Summer of Love. I just like a good song that makes me feel nostalgic.

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

If you're going to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you're going to San Francisco
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

For those who come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there
In the streets of San Francisco
Gentle people with flowers in their hair

All across the nation
Such a strange vibration
People in motion
There's a whole generation
With a new explanation
People in motion
People in motion

For those who come to San Francisco
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

If you come to San Francisco
Summertime will be a love-in there

19 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: San Francisco – Scott McKenzie”

  1. Jim Morrison was a very handsome troublemaker guy. “People are Strange” is one of my favorite songs.
    Years later, they asked John Densmore (the band’s drummer) if he hated Jim, he said no, but he described Jim as a kamikaze who went out at 27.

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  4. Great memory and a special time! When I was 17 I read a book that left me sure Jim Morrison was still living in the mountains somewhere. 🙂

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  5. That really is a pretty good song. That must have been a wild time… as late as ‘65 kids were straight laced, brush cuts and skirts… and within two years, they’re all flashing the peace sign, rolling joints and getting to SF any way they can…with McKenzie’s song as the unofficial anthem ✌️

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  6. The nonprofit health clinic where I just started working began in 1969 with one van that would go around picking up hippies who were having a bad trip on LSD or the homeless who needed food or a place to stay for the night. That’s what I thought of when I read your post.

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  7. I love the Animals’ “San Franciscan Nights”, I’m sure the idea was based on this song. The image you describe reminds me of the cemetery scene in Easy Rider, although that wasn’t really a pleasant scene by the end because of the drugs they were on. I served a beer to Ray Manzarek at the Hard Rock Cafe in Tahoe in the early 2000’s. I didn’t ask him about the Doors. I hate bothering famous people.

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