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"San Franciscan Nights" is a 1967 song performed by Eric Burdon and The Animals, with words and music by the group's members, Eric Burdon, Vic Briggs, John Weider, Barry Jenkins, and Danny McCulloch. A paean to San Francisco, it was the biggest hit that the new band — as opposed to the first-incarnation Animals of the mid-1960s — would have, reaching a peak position of number 1 on the Canadian RPM charts, number 9 on the U.S. pop singles chart and number 7 on the UK pop singles chart. The band wrote this song themselves, which takes a stand against the Vietnam War. Looking back on the song in a 2010 interview with Songfacts, Burdon said:"The 'Love Generation' helped the anti-war stance in the States. It certainly turned a lot of soldiers' heads around, making them wonder why they had to be out fighting a war when back home their girlfriends were frolicking around and it caused a lot of anguish on that level. Maybe it helped politically with the so-called enemy. I'm not sure." The song opens with a brief parody of the Dragnet theme. This is followed by a spoken word dedication by Burdon "to the city and people of San Francisco, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so is their city," with Burdon urging European residents to "save up all your bread and fly Trans Love Airways to San Francisco, U.S.A.," to enable them to "understand the song," and "for the sake of your own peace of mind." The melody then begins with lyrics about a warm 1967 San Franciscan night, with hallucinogenic images of a "strobe light's beam" creating dreams, walls and minds moving, angels singing, "jeans of blue," and "Harley Davidsons too," contrasted with a "cop's face is filled with hate" (on a street called "Love") and an appeal to the "old cop" and the "young cop" to just "feel all right." Pulling in as many 1960s themes as possible, the song then concludes with a plea that the American dream include "Indians too." The flipside of the UK version of this single was a song called "Gratefully Dead", another nod from the Animals to the San Francisco scene. Burdon's notion that San Francisco's nights are warm drew some derision from Americans more familiar with the city's climate – best exemplified by the apocryphal Mark Twain saying "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" – and music writer Lester Bangs thought Burdon's notion "inexplicable". At a concert in Naperville, Illinois in 2010, Burdon said the song was written about an evening with Janis Joplin in San Francisco. |
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Duración: | 03:21 |
Año: | 1967 |
Formato: | 7" |
A la venta: | 01/10/1967 |
Lado B: | Good Times (EEUU), Gratefully Dead (RU) |
Disquera: | MGM |
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Barry Jenkins - batería Vic Briggs -guitarra Danny McCulloch - bajo John Weider -violín eléctrico |
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San Franciscan Nights
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Noches de San Francisco
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This following program is dedicated to the city and people of
San Francisco, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so is their city this is a very personal song, so if the viewer cannot understand it. Particularly those of you who are European residents save up all your brand and fly trans love airways to San Francisco U.S.A., then maybe you'll understand the song, it will be worth it, if not for the sake of this song but for the sake of your own peace of mind. Strobe lights beam create dreams walls move minds do too on a warm San Franciscan night old child young child feel alright on a warm San Franciscan night angels sing leather wings jeans of blue Harley Davisons too on a warm San Franciscan night old angels young angels feel alright on a warm San Franciscan night. I wasn't born there perhaps I'll die there there's no place left to go, San Francisco. Cop's face is filled with hate heavens above he's on a street called love when will they even learn old cop young cop feel alright on a warm San Franciscan night the children are cool they don't raise fools it's an american dream includes indians too. |
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Winds of Change is an album released in 1967 by Eric Burdon & The Animals. The original band, The Animals, broke up in 1966 and this band was entirely new except for lead singer Eric Burdon and drummer Barry Jenkins, who joined the original lineup when John Steel left in February 1966. With the new band, featuring guitarist Vic Briggs, bassist Danny McCulloch and electric violinist John Weider, Burdon began to transition from the gritty blues sound of the original mid-1960s group and moved into the psychedelic era of music. The album opened with the sound of waves washing over the title track, "Winds of Change". "Poem by the Sea" is a spoken-word piece by Burdon with a swirl of echo-drenched instruments. "Good Times" and "San Franciscan Nights" were two of the most popular tracks, with the latter breaking into the Top 10 in 1967. Burdon was a fan and friend of Jimi Hendrix and wrote the fifth track as an answer song to Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" from earlier that year. |
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Sfinx; The Mops; Harpo; People Under The Stairs |