1967 single by Eric Burdon and The Animals
"
San Franciscan Nights
" is a 1967 song performed by
Eric Burdon and The Animals
. Words and music were composed 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. It reached a peak position of number 1 on the Canadian
RPM
charts, number 9 on the
U.S. pop singles chart
,
[1]
and number 7 on the
UK pop singles chart
.
Background
[
edit
]
The band wrote "San Franciscan Nights" themselves as a protest song against the
Vietnam War
. Looking back on the tune 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."
[2]
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".
Billboard
described the single as having an "off-beat opener" that "turns into a plaintive, meaningful ballad saluting the hot music
city".
[3]
Cash Box
said that it has "pretty guitar work behind the easy-going vocal".
[4]
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."
[5]
? and music writer
Lester Bangs
thought Burdon's notion "inexplicable".
[6]
But in fact, Burdon and his group had recently played in San Francisco during a rare 10-day stretch of exceptionally warm spring weather, which left a strong, if erroneous impression on them.
[
citation needed
]
At a concert in
Naperville, Illinois
in 2010, Burdon said the song was written about an evening with
Janis Joplin
in San Francisco.
[
citation needed
]
Charts
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"Winds of Change charts and awards"
.
Allmusic
. Retrieved
January 23,
2012
.
- ^
"San Franciscan Nights"
.
Songfacts.com
. Retrieved
December 25,
2010
.
- ^
"Spotlight Singles"
(PDF)
.
Billboard
. July 29, 1967. p. 18
. Retrieved
February 25,
2021
.
- ^
"CashBox Record Reviews"
(PDF)
.
Cash Box
. July 29, 1967. p. 20
. Retrieved
January 12,
2022
.
- ^
Nolte, Carl (August 19, 2005).
"Fog Heaven: The sun will come out tomorrow. Or maybe not. It's summer in the city, and that means gray skies"
.
San Francisco Chronicle
. Hearst Communications. p. A-1
. Retrieved
June 13,
2008
.
- ^
Lester Bangs
(1980). "The British Invasion".
The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll
.
Random House
/Rolling Stone Press.
- ^
"
Eric Burdon & The Animals ? San Franciscan Nights"
(in French).
Ultratop 50
.
- ^
"
Top RPM Singles: Issue 10096
."
RPM
.
Library and Archives Canada
.
- ^
Nyman, Jake (2005).
Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja
(in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. p. 105.
ISBN
951-31-2503-3
.
- ^
"
The Irish Charts ? Search Results ? San Franciscan Nights"
.
Irish Singles Chart
.
- ^
"
Eric Burdon & The Animals ? San Franciscan Nights"
(in Dutch).
Single Top 100
.
- ^
"Eric Burdon and the Animals (search)"
. Flavour of New Zealand.
- ^
"Eric Burdon: Artist Chart History"
.
Official Charts Company
.
- ^
"Eric Burdon Chart History (Hot 100)"
.
Billboard
.
- ^
"
Offiziellecharts.de ? Eric Burdon & The Animals ? San Franciscan Nights"
(in German)
.
GfK Entertainment charts
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Studio albums
| The Animals (1962?1966)
| |
---|
Eric Burdon and the Animals
| |
---|
The Animals (1977, 1983)
| |
---|
|
---|
Compilations
| |
---|
Hit singles
| |
---|
Related articles
| |
---|
|
|
---|
Characters
| |
---|
Series
| |
---|
Notable episodes
| |
---|
Films
| |
---|
Parodies
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|
|
---|
Television series
| |
---|
Radio series
| |
---|
Films
| |
---|
Miscellaneous
| |
---|