On This Day in 1967, the Unofficial Anthem to the Summer of Love Was Released, Becoming the Artist’s Only Top 10 Hit

For young creatives and hippie types living on the West Coast, the Summer of Love’s epicenter was the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California, where you were liable to hear bands like Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Quicksilver Messenger Service playing their unique blends of psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll. But for the other 49 states, the Summer of Love was a faraway phenomenon, calling to folks stuck in flyover states thousands of miles away with one unofficial anthem aptly called “San Francisco”.

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“San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” written by John Phillips and performed by Scott McKenzie might not have been the same psych-rock that Jefferson Airplane was laying down. But in a way, that made this 1967 track more palatable to the rest of a country that wasn’t quite ready to handle the heavier aspects of the counterculture. The lyrics plainly allude to a softer side of the hippie movement, beginning, “If you’re going to San Francisco / be sure to wear flowers in your hair / If you’re going to San Francisco / you’re gonna meet some gentle people there.”

The songwriter, Phillips, played a large part in keeping the song pop-oriented. He had plenty of practice in his other project, the Mamas and the Papas, whose “California Dreamin’” from the year before was yet another anthemic, yearning ode to the West Coast.

“San Francisco” Became Scott McKenzie’s Biggest Hit

For a young adult listening to their radio from a tiny Midwestern town, Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” was like a bellowing horn, calling the rest of the country’s counterculture westward. The song peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. Across the pond in the United Kingdom and beyond, the song had even greater success, topping the charts in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

In addition to helping define the Summer of Love, “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” was Scott McKenzie’s biggest hit as a solo artist. He had another John Phillips composition, “Like An Old Time Movie”, hit the Top 40, but its highest peak was only No. 24. McKenzie quit recording in the 1970s but continued to work with Phillips, co-writing the chart-topping hit “Kokomo”, made famous by The Beach Boys.

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