The Flower Pot Men - Let's Go to San Francisco / A Walk in the Sky (NRK 1967)

[@SidneyStoat]

So nostalgic and beautiful. As a 60s veteran it almost makes me cry with longing for those times of youth and dreams of a better world. Sad.

[@jayfender4486]

Turns out turning on and dropping out was all narcissistic bullshit, that generation jettisoned all the hippy bs and cashed in hard...no generation like the boomers ever had it so easy, and did so little with so much, had everything handed to them, left future generations a destroyed planet, and still refuse younger (actual) progressives to wield any power or effect any meaningful changes...they are living forever on that sweet government Medicare while voting against the rest of us getting universal Healthcare or even being able to own a house. Fuck all this hippy dippy bullshit, it meant nothing then and even less today.

[@YouTubeChannel-qk9rk]

Nostalgic indeed !! Even though I was just a 5 yr old kid, I still remember those far way back days, when I used frequently, to hear this heavenly song -- as I call it -- from various Juke boxes in bars and clubs, in the vicinity of my home, and even as a very young boy, it did hit me well ! Days that will never return back, but at least, we have a golden relic left for us to hear it again !!

[@robertlangley1664]

Bloody hell we were lucky back in the day with all the great music,what a time to be young I feel sorry for the people who were not there and who came after us

[@gijsbertlc]

Fully agree!!😃

[@jayfender4486]

Trust me, one look at what your generation did to our planet, your endless wars, your narcissism and disdain for the rest of us...we are very unhappy to be following you dirtbag assholes too. Must be nice to have free Healthcare and be able to own a home.

[@ericbond5276]

I started listening to the radio when I was 10. First songs I enjoyed: Jefferson Take me in Your Arms and Whistlin' Jack Smith I was Kaiser Bill's Batman.

[@waynejones4594]

Such a brilliant song, from an era when music was worth listening too.

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

My father was 19 years old when he saw this performance on national TV here in Oslo, Norway in early 1968. He's more of a Blues guy but love the Harmony Pop bands of the 60s as well! As for me, I was born in 1980 and starting collecting CDs in 1996 and I've got approximately 15 000 CDs in my collection. I LOVE The Flowerpot Men!!!

[@HermanVelilla]

Do you aah....love for you

[@koolJay01]

i was only 14yrs old then, what fantastic music we had then.

[@hondac7028]

My dad born 1949 his favorite song from his teenage years I came along in 1971 good taste dad .😂

[@SouthYarraMan]

I wonder what Brian Wilson thought of this. Its got Beach Boys written all over it! No bad thing :-)

[@riitaalin]

Tony Burrows certainly had lots of hits & was in lots of Groups in the late 60's & early 70s. ☝

[@CameronMcCreary]

I am 67 years old and I haven't heard this song since I was a kid in the 1960s. Thanks for putting it on You Tube. Great music!! 😊

[@francisheperi4180]

This song captured my attention on NZ radio stations in my anxious adolescent years; nostalgic now and love it.

[@paulhogarty]

Ah, the golden days of flower power, not only was the music fab so were the times, if only we could go back, I am 78 now and lived all through those fabulous times, yes we had our problems but nothing like the way things are today.

[@richardlarge5825]

I’m 76 and this was an iconic song for us in ‘67. I finally got here! I’ve seen no-one with flowers in their hair or high flowers, but it’s great!

[@ericbond5276]

Yeah, like heigh healthcare costs.

[@WilliamWray-f5r]

Yep man. I'm on ur side. I dig the scene that was groovy. Thx for ur comment. Wish I knew u. My name is Owen outta Daytona Beach Florida

[@DavesGarden1714]

Fantastic song and performance from The Flower Pot Men all part of my youth

[@StaceyGroover]

This was a big hit in Denmark, when I was in my mid-teens. It was written and recorded by songwriters John Carter and Ken Lewis. Recorded by session musicians with Tony Burrows on lead vocal. They had to become a band to tour. Later joined by a certain John Lord on Keyboard. The composition, psychedelic in nature, took vocal and instrumental inspiration from The Beach Boys. The name The Flower Pot Men was derived from the BBC children's show Flower Pot Men, with the obvious psychedelic era puns on flower power and "pot" (cannabis). In the US, they were commonly deemed The Flower Men on radio airplay to avoid the drug reference.

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

Great Information there but I believe the lead vocals were provided by writer/producer John Carter himself.

[@StaceyGroover]

@@thomasmarthinussen8978 All lead vocals ?

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

@@StaceyGroover These songs are so intricated and divided into different vocal sections so I see your point. I believe the lead vocals on Lets Go To San Francisco were sung by John Carter, I mean his style is different from Tony Burrows. The lead vocals on A Walk In The Sky is also John Carters. By that I mean, the front lead singing voice, since there are three/four part harmonies going on throughout both songs.

[@bryanpalmer9660]

I did see on another blog a comment from John Carter himself who stated that Tony Burrows was not the lead vocalist on Let's Go ..

[@boojaboo7507]

@@bryanpalmer9660 Yes John Carter was the original singer on the studio track. None of the members in the video have ever recorded the studio track. Only after this song became a hit, John Carter decided to form a band for touring and TV performance.

[@crwydryn]

Fabulous sound, loved it then and love it now.

[@gouriorobert4111]

Wonderful song in my memory since its release the first, so long time in 1967.

[@EmileHendrikusAlfonsiusJANSSEN]

Listen to it every day

[@patricklemeur6360]

J'adore vraiment !! arrangements vocaux d'époque ! magnifique !!

[@sexobscura]

vous devez admettre que c’est aussi ringard que l’enfer, bien que

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

The breakdown in the middle of Lets Go To San Francisco sounds very inspired by Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys. I LOVE The Flowerpot Men. They morphed into White Plains in 1970, scoring a nice string of hit singles, including two UK Top 10 hits, My Baby Loves Lovin and Julie, Do You Love Me(a cover of the Bobby Sherman US hit).

[@josephstevenson7997]

Flowerpot men morphed from the ivy league... Created by Carter , lewis ..Stevens.. who no longer wanted to tour...after flowerpot men came.. first class..." Beach baby".....hey, all good 👍

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

@@josephstevenson7997 Marvellous. I feel both The Ivy League and The Flowerpot Men are criminally underrated. Heck, sane goes for The First Class! They released two superb album, one in 1974 and one in 1976. White Plains had their fair share of commercial success but they were taken that seriously by the critics. They operate on the " Pop" end of the spectrum, after all!

[@lockedin60]

Thomas, you were correct about the inspiration on the song. If you trust what Wikipedia states on their article about "The Flower Pot Men". The Wikipedia article states that Lewis and Carter took Vocal and Instrumental inspiration from the Beach Boys. Oh Tony Burrows was one busy man back in the late 60s and early 1970s. He reminds me of the American Session singer Ron Dante.

[@David-wi1ih]

Love this version

[@sallyraynor8984]

It's the only version

[@josephinerimmer6888]

The most gorgeous Robin Shaw. Heart throb of my teenage years! Xxxx

[@launayfrancois5792]

grande chanson de 1967!

[@pascalecourtial5103]

J aime beaucoup ce groupe c etait la belle epoque aussi musicalement 👩‍💻🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊💛💛💛💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞🦋🦋

[@northnsouth6813]

John Carter and Ken Lewis of The Ivy League, the song's writers sang created and recorded this in the studio. They were first heard doing background vocals for The Who on their hit single "I Can't Explain".

[@jean-francoisbara]

magnifiques voix avec des "vibratos exceptionnels

[@PaulineTregay-sg5oi]

Brings back memories ❤

[@cricketbat09]

Amazing.

[@0124amon]

They are so charming!

[@janetbrown6409]

I was about six lol. Loved it x

[@briandixon4398]

What ever happened to all the good days?

[@TeamLuka]

The backing band (not appearing here), for this singing group ... was known as "The Garden" and featured future Deep Purple upstarts Jon Lord (organ/keys) , Nick Simper (bass) .... along with noted session drummer Carlo Little.

[@garyreece5172]

Superb

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

I believe the sound is a little sped up, making them sound like Popsike Harmony singing Chipmunks! Anyway, great band with great songs. By 1970 they had changed their name to White Plains and would score a string of hit singles between 1970 and 1974, including My Baby Loves Lovin and Julie, Do You Love Me.

[@josephinerimmer6888]

God bless John Carter. He wrote some lovely stuff. Xxx

[@boojaboo7507]

Not just a songwriter. He was actually the original singer on the studio recording.

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

Every member of The Flowerpot Men sans Neil Landon would go on as White Plans, releasing their first single in early 1970 and hitting the UK Top 10 with the Bubblegum Pop classic My Baby Loves Lovin.

[@Moneytane1976]

And all of it was Tony Burrows the writer and voice behind several one hit wonders like this.

[@boojaboo7507]

@@Moneytane1976 Actually John Carter and Ken Lewis were the composers and original singer on this song. John Carter wasn't interested in performing on TV and touring. He decided to form a band for touring after he recorded this song.

[@FrankOtheMountain]

This is so psychedelic. The middle part with suuuuuuun, and the video. lol. It's like Beach Baby on acid.

[@freemenofengland2880]

Decca's contribution to building the Flower Power generation.

[@TheInnerParty]

Some interesting trivia. Robert Fripp of King Crimson fame, and who is probably your favorite musician's favorite musician's favorite musician, backed them up at a show in a club in London in the late 60's.

[@lockedin60]

I knew that Tony Burrows was in this band and I knew that they had recorded this song I just never bother to try to find it. Not to bad on a song. The special effects of their singing performance is a little wild. It reminds me of a video that was created of an early 1967-68 performance by CCR singing ether Susie Q or I Heard It Through the Grapevine.

[@boojaboo7507]

Agree. The effects are dizzying and unnecessary at all. Actually none of the members performing in the video have ever sung on the studio recording and they're literally miming to John Carter's studio vocals. A common formula that applies to different UK groups in the 60s and 70s. Tony Burrows was hired to be the incarnation of John Carter for the Flowers Pot Men 'Let's Go To San Francisco' TV performance and touring band in 1967. Andy Locke was hired to be the incarnation of Tony Burrows for Edison Lighthouse 'Love Grows' in 1970 and Del John was hired to be the incarnation of Burrows for the First Class 'Beach Baby' in 1974. A series of interesting con. Hahaha..

[@lockedin60]

@@boojaboo7507 I have seen a video of a "group" playing the song Love Grows(Where My Rosemary Goes). Is that Andy Locke? All those Musicians look like they are really playing instruments. I have been playing guitar for 58+ years I know what chords look like and chord progressions are. I know there was a lot of foolishness on the part of bands and appearances of TV shows back in the 60s. I know here in the States that there was squabbling on the record companies part about paying any performance royalties to performers. We all were lied to bands were (for the most part) miming to either a prerecorded performance or the record). I didn't notice then but have as an adult guitars are not hooked up to amps. I saw Creed Barton playing around on a Grassroots "performance". Most people who made any money (band wise) were the record companies unless the band had a good manager) Brian Epstein of he Beatles. To many bands ended up like the tragedy of Badfinger.

[@TheTrouvephoto]

Awsome clothes.

[@Hans_van_der_veen]

Great!

[@NotApplicable678]

Let's go to Milton Keynes

[@willievalentine5224]

Happy days

[@tomanderson9257]

Crazy. It's the early primitive version of Beach Baby.

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

This is not Primitive Beach at all, but I kinda think I know what you're saying. This is cutting edge 1967 Harmony Pop with psychedelic influences. These guys were just as contemporary sounding as The Beach Boys in 1967/1968.

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

Hi Tom! I misread your comment. I thought you wrote Beach Boys but I see now you wrote Beach Baby and I totally agree with you!

[@bobscott2429]

You can hear "Let's Go To San Francisco" at the 4:40 mark of the long version of "Beach Baby."

[@felixheiss]

The Flowerpot Men were talented session musicians and didn`t fool the genuine hippies one bit with their catchy summer of love hit "Lets go to San Francisco" . Tony Burrows did his usual disappearing act after doing a couple of TV shows with the band . Still a beautifully produced pop classic . I think the group was put together after the record was made but the omnipresent Burrows was probably on it anyway .

[@davidmiller4078]

Yes you can hear the Bach like diminished cord harmonies on the interude simple and very effective probaly put together by a pianist since most guitar players then were either into chacargo blues or Django Rienheart and Wes montgomery ? I love the song though cheers for posting

[@SidneyStoat]

Some truth in that. Diminished chords weren't used much, but as a guitar player of the 60s I sometimes used them. A good example, on the piano, was Love Letters by Ketty Lester.

[@juanfrankazofeifagonzalez6583]

- I Remenber To My Sacred MoTher WiTh This Marvelous Song...~🤨🌌👵🏻🌉🍑

[@AndrewKitchman]

Hello John. Can you please tell me which TV Programme about San Francisco and Flower Power this song featured, I thought it was on the CD "The Sixties -The Decade That Changed The World" and bought the CD but seems I was mistaken. Hope you can help. Best Wishes and Thanks Andy K

[@harri211]

Great video. "A Walk in the Sky" sounds sped-up though.

[@tinkerman9525]

1 hit wonder king

[@williamlynd9045]

Woah! Slow down with "Let's Go to San Francisco" - too fast! Better version at correct speed can be seen with "(Original Video) The Flowerpot Men - Let's go to San Francisco". Compare the two and see what you think!

You're correct. Haven't notice it before. Have a suspicion what went wrong here. Can be the program I used to record this, or it can be that NRKs recording did a mistake. Anyway, thanks for pointing it out.

[@gaynor1721]

William Lynd904 - It's the way it was performed and the band have artistic license.

[@ddanson5831]

I had the 7inch version of this and it is the correct speed.

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

Youre absolutely correct! They sound like Popsike Harmony singing Chipmunks! It DOES sound rather cool, however! I LOVE The Flowerpot Men/ The Ivy League/ White Plains and The First Class. Everything involving John Carter and Tony Burrows is Top Notch!

[@thomasmarthinussen8978]

@@ddanson5831 Do you mean this TV performance had the correct speed or your single record? This TV recording is obviously recorded at the wrong speed. Its way to fast. I have the original Flowerpot Men recordings on CDs and they contain the original versions and proves this TV performance was recorded waaay to fast. They sound like Harmony singing Chipmunks!

[@crimsonwizard2560]

The lead singer in this video is not Tony Burrows.

[@DannyBhoy88]

Yes it is.

[@crimsonwizard2560]

@@DannyBhoy88 yup, must've had way tooooooooooooo much wine

[@robertleJaxon4667]

Its John Carter is'nt it

[@daniellegoldi1482]

Pourquoi ne voit on pas le principal chanteur ??? et d,avantage le chœur ?? Il est moins bankable ! L.original de ce tube est moins rapide !!!

[@radomirratkovic9014]

Makes me wonder was this produced by Phil Spector...

[@charlestempest3474]

Is John Lord there? (Later of 'Deep Purple').

[@stevecampbell6294]

Tony Burrows singing lead.

[@jeantuite]

This is the originol

[@johnsain]

They wouldn't sing that about 2022 San Francisco.....

[@Moneytane1976]

Its not trippy enough, nothing says 1967 like this.

[@patricklemeur4607]

TEMPO trop rapide !!....

[@HermanVelilla]

Sabían ellos acaso que esta sociedad se iba ir al traste?

[@bubu345]

Let's go to Gaza 😮

[@robertlangley1664]

You can if want to

[@99tosign99]

Miles too fast

[@Banksia]

With Tony Burrows