Mimers and Papas? The story behind when Mamas & the Papas lip-synched California Dreamin'

16 July 2024, 12:29

This stuff is bananas.

Rock 'n' roll has always had a complicated relationship with the notion of authenticity, and that's especially true in conversations around lip-synching.

Most agree that going the full Boney M/Milli Vanilli is probably a flat no, while the use of backing tapes and "sweetened" vocals in concert is still up for debate.

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But when it comes to TV performances, the simple fact is that it's often not viable or even possible to perform live.

Many studios don't have the equipment or team to get a band sounding good on telly, and some outright banned their artists from actually playing and singing rather than miming.

Artists did sometimes play live on The Ed Sullivan Show, but sometimes technical issues meant they would instead mime to "playback" their records.

The Mamas & The Papas "California Dreamin'" (September 24, 1967) On The Ed Sullivan Show

That was the case when The Mamas & the Papas appeared on the show on September 24, 1967.

Despite also having mimed when they were on the show the previous December (and also a few months earlier in June), this time around they decided to make it abundantly clear to anyone watching that they weren't playing or singing live.

We're not just talking about John Phillips's guitar quite clearly not being miked up or plugged in, yet somehow providing the full instrumentation of the song exactly as it sounds on the record.

The Mamas & The Papas "California Dreamin'" (December 11, 1966) on The Ed Sullivan Show

We're not just talking about the fact that on more than one occasion the band are "singing" with their mouths nowhere near their microphones.

We're not even talking about John and Michelle Phillips stopping and having a little natter while their vocals are ringing out, clear as day.

We're all about Michelle munching on a banana before, during and after her vocal moments.

A bit of legend has grown up around The Mamas & the Papas' "banana" mime on Ed Sullivan.

It's been said that the band were so angry at being forced to mime that they went OTT as some sort of protest.

But given their happiness with miming on their other performances, and their friendly chat with Ed on the same show, it really seems as though they were just having a bit of fun.

The Mamas & The Papas "Medley: Monday, Monday, I Call Your Name & California Dreamin’" | Ed Sullivan

In fact, the full appearance, which features the medley of 'Monday, Monday', 'I Call Your Name' and 'California Dreamin'' is really a must-watch.

It shows the performance as more of an acted set-piece than an out-and-out "mimed performance", and has Denny Doherty offering Michelle Phillips a basket of grapes before she starts peeling that infamous banana.

Before they start singing, Cass Elliot even gets everyone giggling with the fantastic intro: "We'd like to sing a medley of songs that are partially responsible for our enormous wealth."

Oasis - Roll With It (Live on Top Of The Pops 17th August 1995)

The Mamas & the Papas weren't the first or the last band to make a big deal about the whole issue of miming on the telly.

Kurt Cobain did an intentionally bad job of miming his guitar on Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' on Top of the Pops while wilfully mangling the actual vocals.

And Liam and Noel Gallagher swapped places when Oasis mimed along to 'Roll With It' on the same show.

Noel singing with Liam's voice is funny enough, but seeing Liam attempt to mime a guitar solo was absolutely wonderful.