First, though, my first exposure to the song was on a promo for my late, great friend Mike Rancourt's Saturday Night Oldies Show that aired on WUPE-FM on Saturday nights. Once a month, he'd go all night, going past the usual 2am ending, rolling on to 5am and "Ask The Professor", which was the coolest public affairs show in radio history. But that's another story for another day.
After success with their first LP release, and having "California Dreamin'" become their first hit, the group returned to the studio for their next project.
Today's song was created thanks to John Phillips' wife, Michelle, having an affair with the other male member of the group, Denny Doherty. The affair ended, John and Denny reconciled, and, incredibly, they wrote this song inspired by all the events.
And yes, the fake start to the chorus by Denny near the end wasn't supposed to be there in the final mix. They tried to expunge it, had trouble doing it, and finally the producer, Lou Adler, said to leave it in, as he reportedly actually liked its effect.
There's a million ways to get the inspiration to write a hit song. Here is one of the stranger ones.
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