“California Dreamin'” is arguably The Mamas & the Papas’ most popular hit, embraced by hippie Boomers upon its 1965 release and beloved by generations since. There’s just one problem with the song: a whole bunch of listeners have gotten a key lyric dead wrong for 60 years.
JB Eckl explains in a Sacred Riffs video: “‘California Dreamin” may be the only hit song whose central event is a fake prayer.” The lyrics describe someone stopping into a church, kneeling, and pretending to pray to get out of the cold.
However, countless people have misheard the lyric “and I pretend to pray” as “and I began to pray.” Clearly, pretending to pray and beginning to pray are two very different things. So what’s the deal?
The real-life story behind the ‘pretend to pray’ lyric
As Eckl explains, Michelle Phillips added the church story to the song because it reflected something that had happened in real life. Phillips and her husband, John Phillips, were outside in a New York winter, and Michelle wanted to go into St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “But John wouldn’t go in because he had strong, negative feelings about religion, stemming from his parochial school childhood,” Eckl says.
John presented the beginnings of the song “California Dreamin'” to Michelle, and she added the church memory to the lyrics. John reportedly hated the addition and wanted to change it, but it stuck.
Eckl says he’d spent his life thinking the lyric was “I began to pray,” not “I pretend to pray.” Many people in the comments agreed, and they aren’t the only ones.
Cass Elliot had the lyric wrong, too
Cass Elliott, the other female band member, sang the lyric as “began” in the background vocals on the album and on tour until Michelle corrected her.
“We were somewhere in the Midwest in the middle of a tour, and we were doing a sound check,” Phillips told her daughter, Chynna. “We were singing ‘California Dreamin’,’ and we get to that lyric and Cass says, ‘Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What’d you say?’ ‘I got down on my knees and pretend to pray.’ And she says, ‘That’s not the lyric.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, what do you mean? I wrote it. It is the lyric.’ She said, ‘Oh, well, I sang “I began to pray” on the record.'”
So don’t feel bad if you thought it was “began.” Even a quarter of the band had it wrong for a while there.
How ‘pretend to pray’ alters the meaning of the song
Some people were dismayed to learn that what they thought was a lyric of devotion was actually a lyric of doubt. Eckl spends a little time exploring the verse and its meaning.
“The idea of pretending to pray changes the character of the moment completely,” Eckl explains. “What is prayer if you’re not sure if you believe? People sometimes enter sacred spaces for warmth, for community, for beauty, sometimes out of desperation, and only discover later if there was anything spiritual about it.”
The lyric about the preacher liking the cold because he knows it will keep people there adds another layer to the song’s narrative. Some might see it as cynical. Others might find hope in it (especially if they hear the line as “the preacher lights the coals,” which is also a common mishearing).
Finally, Eckl discusses the song’s iconic alto flute solo and, surprisingly, ties it to the Persian mystic poet Rumi.
“In the poetry of Rumi, the flute represents longing, spiritual homesickness,” Eckl shares. Interesting, considering “California Dreamin'” was originally written about physical homesickness. Eckl leaves listeners with food for thought: two lines from a Rumi poem speaking from the flute’s perspective:
“Since I was cut from the reedbed, I have made this crying sound…anyone pulled from a source longs to go back.”
Really puts “California Dreamin'” in a whole new light, doesn’t it?
You can find more Sacred Riffs takes on the intersection of spirituality and rock n’ roll on JB Eckl’s Instagram.
The post For 60 years, people have misheard the ‘pretend to pray’ lyric in ‘California Dreamin’.’ It totally changes the song. appeared first on Upworthy.
