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Creeque Alley

"Creeque Alley"
Single by The Mamas & the Papas
from the album The Mamas & The Papas Deliver
B-side "Did You Ever Want to Cry"
Released April 1967
Format 7" single
Genre Pop, Rock
Length 3:45
Label Dunhill
Writer(s) John Phillips, Michelle Phillips
Producer(s) Lou Adler
The Mamas & the Papas singles chronology
"Dedicated to the One I Love"
(1967)
“Creeque Alley”
(1967)
"Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)"
(1967)

“Creeque Alley” is an autobiographical hit single written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, and composed by John Phillips, in 1967, narrating the story of how the group was formed, and its early years. The third song on the album Deliver, it peaked at #5 on the U.S. Billboard pop singles chart the week of Memorial Day, 1967. It made #9 on the UK charts and #4 on the Canadian charts.

The title of the song, which does not occur in the lyrics, is derived from Creque or Crequi (pronounced "creaky") Alley, home to a club in the Virgin Islands where John and Michelle Phillips's original group, the New Journeymen, spent time on vacation. The lyric "Greasin' on American Express cards" harks back to that time, during which they could only make ends meet by using their American Express cards, and the lyric "Duffy's good vibrations, and our imaginations, can't go on indefinitely" refers to Hugh Duffy, the owner of the club on Creeque Alley. Duffy later owned Chez Shack in Vieques, Puerto Rico.

The lyrics of the song also mention, directly or indirectly, many artists and bands who were part of the folk music scene at the time, including the other two members of The Mamas & the Papas, Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty, who were members of The Mugwumps, as well as Zal Yanovsky and John Sebastian (of The Lovin' Spoonful), Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds), and Barry McGuire (of The New Christy Minstrels). Several locations important to The Mamas and The Papas story are also mentioned, for example the Night Owl Cafe in Greenwich Village. Michelle is referred in the lyrics by her nickname "Michi" ("John and Michi were getting kind of itchy, just to leave the folk music behind").


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