A summer of Mamas & Papas and then...

Mamas & Papas album cover
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

NEW YORK CITY - Right after graduation, I spent the summer at Lakewood Beach, a lifeguard with Dan Harp, my cousin Kathleen McAvoy and Kathy Wood (Dan from the Class of '64, Kathy & Kathy from the Class of '65) and some of the songs from this album were big on the portable radio we kept out on the end of the dock while we watching people struggle swimming.

Sometimes we would start up a little impromptu dancing - which the little kids thought was beyond cool - and at the end, we would toss the little buggers into the lake as their reward.

And they loved it...

But the Mamas & Papas songs really came into my vision when I went to Villanova and hitchhiked to New York City (well, really Greenwich Village) for an adventure. And every bar we went into was playing Mamas & Papa's songs.

We should have called that adventure, "Geeks in New York." Three roommates in tan raincoats, wet shoes and short haircuts who couldn't stop looking up at the tall buildings. One of my roommates was from Arizona and actually hurt his neck looking up so much.

Naturally, we got cheated at every bar (Where's the booze in the drinks?), got approached by hookers (You want how much?) and managed to walk into some neighborhoods where white guys in tan raincoats were either morons or federal agents. We were not associated with the federal government, I assure you.

But to this day, when I hear the song below, I remember Lakewood Beach and the summer of 1966. It might have been the best summer of my life. Well, wait, there was 1974, and last summer wasn't half-bad either.

Hmm...

Here you go kids:

I Saw Her Again

by The Mamas and The Papas

I saw her again last night
And you know that I shouldn't
To string her along's just not right
If I couldn't I wouldn't

But what can I do, I'm lonely too
And it makes me feel so good to know
You'll never leave me

I'm in way over my head
Now she thinks that I love her
Because that's what I said
Though I never think of her

But what can I do, I'm lonely too
And it makes me feel so good to know
You'll never leave me

Every time I see that girl
You know I wanna lay down and die
But I really need that girl
Don't know why I'm livin' a lie
It makes me wanna cry

I saw her again last night
And you know that I shouldn't
To string her along's just not right
If I couldn't I wouldn't

But what can I do, I'm lonely too
And it makes me feel so good to know
You'll never leave me

------ instrumental break ------

But what can I do, I'm lonely too
And it makes me feel so good to know
You'll never leave me

Every time I see that girl
You know I wanna lay down and die
But I really need that girl
Don't know why I'm livin' a lie
It makes me wanna cry

I saw her again last night
And you know that I shouldn't
To string her along's just not right
If I couldn't I wouldn't
I'm in way over my head
Now she thinks that I love her
Because that's what I said
Though I never think of her