The Mamas & the Papas Songs - Creeque Alley Lyrics

The Mamas & the Papas - Creeque Alley

The Mamas & the Papas - Creeque Alley Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Deliver
Released: 1967

Creeque Alley Lyrics

John and Mitchy were gettin' kind of itchy
Just to leave the folk music behind
Zal and Denny workin' for a penny
Tryin' to get a fish on the line
In a coffee house Sebastian sat
And after every number they'd pass the hat
McGuinn and McGuire just a-gettin' higher
In L.A., you know where that's at
And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass

Zally said "Denny, you know there aren't many
Who can sing a song the way that you do, let's go south"
Denny said "Zally, golly, don't you think that I wish
I could play guitar like you"
Zal, Denny and Sebastian sat (At the Night Owl)
And after every number they'd pass the hat
McGuinn and McGuire still a-gettin higher
In L.A., you know where that's at
And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass

When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swarthmore
But she changed her mind one day
Standin' on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike
"Take me to New York right away"
When Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps
Called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps
McGuinn and McGuire couldn't get no higher
But that's what they were aimin' at
And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass

Mugwumps, high jumps, low slumps, big bumps
Don't you work as hard as you play
Make up, break up, everything is shake up
Guess it had to be that way
Sebastian and Zal formed the Spoonful
Michelle, John, and Denny gettin' very tuneful
McGuinn and McGuire just a-catchin' fire
In L.A., you know where that's at
And everybody's gettin' fat except Mama Cass
Di-di-di-dit dit dit di-di-di-dit, whoa

Broke, busted, disgusted, agents can't be trusted
And Mitchy wants to go to the sea
Cass can't make it, she says we'll have to fake it
We knew she'd come eventually
Greasin' on American Express cards
It's low rent, but keeping out the heat's hard
Duffy's good vibrations and our imaginations
Can't go on indefinitely
And California dreamin' is becomin' a reality

Writer/s: JOHN EDMUND ANDREW PHILLIPS, MICHELLE GILLIAM
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Creeque Alley

This is the story of how the band met and formed. Individual members had sung in other bands before and these show up in the lyrics (Mugwumps etc.). The Mamas & The Papas spent time in the Virgin Islands staying in a club on a road called Creeque Alley, providing the name of this song.

While the song is about the formation of the Mamas and the Papas, it mentions other artists who were getting their starts at the same time:

Sebastian is John Sebastian, who, with Zal Yanovsky (also mentioned in the song), formed the Lovin' Spoonful.

"McGuinn and McGuire, couldn't get no higher" - Jim "Roger" McGuinn was the lead singer for The Byrds, who were starting to take flight at the time and who had two #1 songs in 1965 - "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn, Turn, Turn." Barry McGuire had a #1 in 1965 with the anti-war song "Eve Of Destruction." In other words, at #1 they "Couldn't get no higher."

The line, "Zallie said 'Denny, you know there aren't many who can sing a song the way that you do,'" "Zallie" is The Lovin' Spoonful's Zal Yanovsky, and he's talking about Papa Denny Doherty, who sang the male lead on "California Dreamin'" and many of their other songs. Doherty died of kidney failure on January 19, 2007 at age 66.

The lyrics, "Greasin' on American Express cards" refers to a time when the band was in the Virgin Islands and living off their American Express cards, running up balances they couldn't (and didn't intend to) pay.