The Flower Pot Men - History - "Let's Go To San Francisco"

"Let's Go To San Francisco"

"Let's Go To San Francisco" was written and recorded by songwriters John Carter and Ken Lewis, previously of Carter-Lewis and the Southerners and The Ivy League, the latter of whom had three UK Top 20 hits in 1965. The name The Flower Pot Men was derived from the children's show Flower Pot Men, with the obvious psychedelic era puns on flower power and "pot" (cannabis).

The duo licensed the recording to Deram Records, who had a hit but no group to promote it. Carter and Lewis, having no interest in going on the road to promote the record, created the group from a hand-picked collective of recording studio session musicians and vocalists. Led by vocalist Tony Burrows, who had been in the Ivy League with Carter and Lewis, the band also included Billie Davis's backing band, and for a while (though not for recordings) later Deep Purple members Jon Lord, who replaced Billy Davidson on keyboards in January 1968, and Nick Simper on bass.

Carter and Lewis continued to write, record and produce most of the band's subsequent recordings over the next three years.

Read more about this topic:  The Flower Pot Men, History

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