The Flower Pot Men were an English pop group created in 1967 as a result of the single, "

Let's Go to San Francisco "Let's Go to San Francisco" is the only UK-charting single by the British pop group The Flower Pot Men. The song was written and produced by John Carter and Ken Lewis, engineered by John Mackswith and released in 1967 on 7" single format. Cart ...

", recorded by

session musicians Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a t ...

, becoming a major UK

Top 20 A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

and

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in the autumn of 1967. The group's sound was characterised by rich, three-part vocal

harmonies In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howev ...

History

The Flower Pot Men were a studio recording construct created by John Carter and Ken Lewis, originally the main songwriters of The Ivy League. They notably were featured as backup vocalists for early

Who Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

albums and for the first recording of a song that Sagittarius covered, "My World Fell Down". Ken Lewis departed as a result of his lack of interest in touring, and Carter joined him soon after to create a musical songwriting duo.

"Let's Go to San Francisco"

" was written and recorded by John Carter and Ken Lewis, a songwriting team known as Carter & Lewis. The composition, psychedelic in nature, took vocal and instrumental inspiration from

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by the ...

. The name The Flower Pot Men was derived from the BBC children's show '' Flower Pot Men'', with the obvious

psychedelic era The Psychedelic era was the time of social, musical and artistic change influenced by psychedelic drugs, occurring from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. The era was defined by the proliferation of LSD and its following influence in the development of p ...

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

s on

flower power Flower power was a slogan used during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a symbol of passive resistance and nonviolence. It is rooted in the opposition movement to the Vietnam War. The expression was coined by the American Beat poet Allen Ginsbe ...

and "pot" (

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

). In the US, they were commonly deemed ''The Flower Men'' on radio airplay to avoid the drug reference. The duo licensed the recording to

Deram Records Deram Records was a subsidiary record label of Decca Records established in the United Kingdom in 1966. At the time, U.K. Decca was a different company from the Decca label in the United States, which was owned by MCA Inc. Deram recordings w ...

, 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 musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s and vocalists. Led by vocalist

Tony Burrows Anthony Burrows (born 14 April 1942) is an English pop singer and recording artist. As a prolific session musician, Burrows was involved in the production of numerous transatlantic hit singles throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, most of wh ...

, who had been in the Ivy League with Carter and Lewis, the band also included

Billie Davis Carol Hedges (born 22 December 1945) who was known professionally as Billie Davis, is an English singer who had hits in the 1960s, and is best remembered for the UK hit version of the song, " Tell Him" (1963) and " I Want You to Be My Baby" ( ...

's backing band, and for a while (though not for recordings) later

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Originally formed as ...

members

Jon Lord John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...

, who replaced Billy Davidson on keyboards in January 1968, and

Nick Simper Nicholas John Simper (born 3 November 1945) is an English bass guitarist, who was a co-founding member of Deep Purple and Warhorse. In the 1960s, he began his professional career in bands such as Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, The Flower Pot Me ...

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

Other records

The follow-up to "Let's Go to San Francisco" was the similar-sounding "A Walk in the Sky", released in November 1967. It was not a hit in the UK, but reached No. 4 in the

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and also proved popular in Germany. Carter and Lewis continued writing and recording new material, but Deram wanted another hit to rival the success of "Let's Go to San Francisco". When the third Carter-Lewis single "Man Without a Woman" / "You Can Never Be Wrong" failed to chart in April 1968, the label had the touring band record "In A Moment of Madness" by

Roger Greenaway Roger John Reginald Greenaway, (born 23 August 1938) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer, best known for his collaborations with Roger Cook. His compositions have included "You've Got Your Troubles" and the transatlantic mill ...

without the involvement of Carter and Lewis, which also failed to chart. As Mark Frumento wrote in the liner notes of the retrospective Flower Pot Men album, ''Listen to the Flowers Grow'': ''"At this point Deram decided that the Flower Pot Men name was no longer commercial and the next single, "Piccolo Man" was released under the band name 'Friends' ... The final Flower Pot Men single was released in 1969, but this time the writing team Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway were behind the production."'' The line-up of the Flower Pot Men had changed considerably by then. Lord and Simper left in summer 1968, Neil Landon in December 1968 to become lead singer of

Fat Mattress Fat Mattress were an English folk rock band that formed in Folkestone in 1968. Founded by guitarist and vocalist Noel Redding, during his time as bassist for The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and vocalist Neil Landon, the band was completed by multi- ...

. Neil was then replaced by backing band member Ricky Wolff in January 1969. Wolff, Burrows, Shaw and Nelson stayed with Greenaway, added new musicians and changed their name to White Plains, who scored a hit with "My Baby Loves Lovin'" in 1970. The Flower Pot Men dissolved at that point.

Post 1970

Burrows and Shaw later surfaced in another John Carter project,

The First Class The First Class were a British pop music studio-based group, put together by songwriter and record producer John Carter. They are best known for their hit song "Beach Baby," a top 20 hit in both the US and UK. Career The First Class was the ...

, whose sole

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

hit was "Beach Baby". A harmony phrase shortly before the fade out of this record referenced "Let's Go to San Francisco". Carter also recorded a track "Let's Go Back To San Francisco (Parts 1 and 2)", released as 'Beautiful People' in 1981. Later the song appeared on a First Class retrospective and ultimately appeared on a

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

by the Flower Pot Men. In 2000 Carter released a CD ''Peace Album'' / ''Past Imperfect'' that comprised two unreleased Flower Pot Men albums recorded between 1967 and 1969. Burrows still performs on the oldies circuit as does Landon. Shaw is still on the road with White Plains. In the liner notes of ''Listen to the Flowers Grow'' (RPM Retro 809) from April 2007, Mark Frumento mentioned that "sadly, Pete Nelson died a few years ago." Singer Tony Burrows' voice is also heard on many UK hit singles of that era, including White Plains: "My Baby Loves Lovin'",

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initi ...

: "United We Stand", Edison Lighthouse: " Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)",

: "Beach Baby" and

The Pipkins The Pipkins were a short-lived English novelty duo, best known for their hit single "Gimme Dat Ding" (written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood), which reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Charts, No. 7 in Canada ( ''RPM'' Top Singles), and No. ...

: "

Gimme Dat Ding "Gimme Dat Ding" is a 1970 popular UK song, of the novelty type, sung by "one-hit wonder" The Pipkins, and written and composed by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. Released as a single, it is the title selection of an album which The Pipkins rec ...

". Lord and Simper's connection to this pop band was later lampooned in the fake rock documentary '' Spinal Tap'', whose fictional first hit was called "(Listen to the) Flower People", a reference to "Let's Go to San Francisco".

Personnel

– vocals * Neil Landon (born Patrick Cahill, 26 July 1941, Kirdford,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

– died 26 March 2020,

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, Germany) – vocals *Robin Shaw (born Robin George Scrimshaw, 6 October 1943,

Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Hay ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

) – vocals *Pete Nelson (born Peter William Lipscomb, 10 March 1943,

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

, London – died 23 October 2005,

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was his ...

, London) – vocals *Ricky Wolff (born Richard Wolff, 8 July 1945, Pretoria, South Africa) - keyboards, sax, flute (from Autumn 1968), vocals (from January 1969) *

Ged Peck Ged Peck (19 October 1947 – 10 January 2015) was an English musician who played in several bands - mainly backing work with Billy Fury, Vince Eager, Tommy Quickly when he was managed by Brian Epstein, Americans Bob & Earl who had a hit singl ...

(born 19 October 1947,

West Hendon West Hendon is a district of Hendon in North London, in the London Borough of Barnet. It is the NW9 part of Hendon, located around the A5 Edgware Road and the Welsh Harp (Brent Reservoir). The area is known for the West Hendon Estate which is un ...

, London) – guitar * Carlo Little (born Carl O'Neil Little, 17 December 1938,

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character ...

, London – died 6 August 2005,

Cleadon Cleadon is a suburban village in South Tyneside in the North East of England. Prior to the creation of Tyne and Wear in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, the village was part of the historic County Durham. In the 2011 UK Census the pop ...

, County Durham) – drums *

– bass *

– organ *Mick Stewart – lead guitar *Tony 'Tex' Makins – bass * Gordon Haskell – bass *Billy Davidson – keyboards *John Carroll – organ *Robin Box - guitar *Tony Hall - sax *Roger Hills - drums

References

Sources

*Mark Frumento, liner notes of ''Listen to the Flowers Grow'' (RPM Retro 809), April 2007. *Mark Frumento, liner notes ''John Carter – A Rose by any Other Name'' (Rev-ola REV 84), October 2004. *Bob Stanley, liner notes ''The John Carter Anthology – Measure by Measure'' (RPM rpmd268), 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Flower Pot Men, The Deram Records artists English pop music groups English psychedelic rock music groups Psychedelic pop music groups Musical groups established in 1967 Musical groups disestablished in 1970 1967 establishments in the United Kingdom Sunshine pop