{{short description|1967 single by John and Michelle Phillips}} {{use mdy|date=December 2025}} {{use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox song | name = Creeque Alley | cover = Creeque_Alley_-_The_Mamas_&_the_Papas.jpg | caption = West German picture sleeve | alt = | type = single | artist = the Mamas & the Papas | album = The Mamas & The Papas Deliver | B-side = Did You Ever Want to Cry | released = April 1967 | recorded = Late 1966 | studio = Western Recorders, Hollywood, California | genre = {{hlist|Folk pop|sunshine pop}} | length = 3:45 | label = Dunhill | writer = John Phillips, Michelle Phillips | producer = Lou Adler | prev_title = Dedicated to the One I Love | prev_year = 1967 | next_title = Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon) | next_year = 1967 }}
"'''Creeque Alley'''" is an autobiographical hit single written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas in late 1966, narrating the story of how the group was formed, and its early years. The third song on the album ''Deliver'', it peaked at number 5 on the US ''Billboard'' pop singles chart the week of Memorial Day 1967, becoming their last Top 10 hit.<ref>{{cite magazine |year=1967 |title=''Billboard'' Hot 100 |magazine=Billboard |volume=79 |issue=22 |page=20 |publisher=Nielsen Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ScEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 |access-date=30 May 2011 }}</ref> It made number 9 on the UK Singles Chart,<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/creeque-alley/ |title=Official Charts Company |website=Officialcharts.com |date=1967-08-01 |access-date=2019-07-11}}</ref> and number 4 on the Australian and number 1 on the Canadian charts.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image%3Dnlc008388.10075%26URLjpg%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2Fobj%2F028020%2Ff4%2Fnlc008388.10075.gif%26Ecopy%3Dnlc008388.10075 |title=Image : RPM Weekly |website=Library and Archives Canada |access-date=2016-05-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919220134/http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.10075&URLjpg=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2Fobj%2F028020%2Ff4%2Fnlc008388.10075.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.10075 |archive-date=2016-09-19 }}</ref>
==Background== The title of the song, which does not occur in the lyrics, is derived from Creque or Crequi (pronounced "creaky")<ref>{{cite book |last=Laredo |first=Joseph F. |title=The Mamas and the Papas: Greatest Hits |type=CD liner |publisher=MCA Records, Inc. |page=5 |date=1998}}</ref> Alley,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f7-5XMues6cC&q=crequi+huguenot&pg=PA209 |title=History of the Huguenot Emigration to America |author=Charles Washington Baird |year=1885 |page=209 |isbn=9781548722708 |access-date=2016-09-30}}</ref> home to a club in the Virgin Islands where the New Journeymen, John and Michelle Phillips' original group, spent time on vacation.<ref>{{cite web |title=How It All Got Started |url=https://www.angelfire.com/ma2/mamasandpapas/bio.html |publisher=California Dreamin' with the Mamas and the Papas |access-date=2014-02-14}}</ref> The lyric "Greasin' on American Express cards" refers to that time, during which they could only make ends meet by using their credit cards,<ref name="songfacts">{{cite web |url=http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5500 |title=Creeque Alley |work=Songfacts.com |access-date=2009-03-14}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hidden Secrets on the Island of Vieques|url=http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/hot-tropics|website=Travelandleisure.com |access-date=2014-02-14}}</ref>
The Phillips' lyrics mention, directly or indirectly, many artists and bands who were part of the folk music scene at the time, including fellow band members Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty, Zal Yanovsky and John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, and Barry McGuire of the New Christy Minstrels (the group had previously provided backing vocals for McGuire, including on the first recorded version of "California Dreamin'). Several locations important to the band's story are mentioned, such as the Night Owl Cafe in Greenwich Village. Michelle Phillips is referred to in the lyrics by her nickname Michi ("John and Michi were getting kind of itchy, just to leave the folk music behind"). John Phillips said that he wrote the song to tell their producer Lou Adler "who was who" in the band's history.<ref>{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19792/m1/#track/4 |show=33 |title=Show 33 – Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders. [Part 1]}}</ref>
The line that ends the first three verses is "And no one's getting fat, except Mama Cass." Michelle Phillips recalls being initially unwilling to sing the line, thinking it was too insensitive to Cass's weight, only to be surprised when Cass heard it a few minutes later, laughed and said "Oh God, that is so funny. I love it, that’s a great lyric."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barnard |first1=Jason |title=Michelle Phillips - The Mamas & The Papas |url=https://thestrangebrew.co.uk/interviews/michelle-phillips-mamas-papas/ |website=The Strange Brew |access-date=February 28, 2026}}</ref> In the fourth verse, with the story of the genesis of the Mamas and the Papas nearing its denouement, Phillips changes the concluding line to "And everybody's getting fat except Mama Cass", with the word "fat" assuming the meaning of prosperous, alluding to the notion that the successes recently achieved by Cass' professional associates and friends had still eluded her. (During that Virgin Islands vacation, Cass became the last member to join the group when they were still known as the New Journeymen; the name change followed soon afterward.) The final line, "And California dreamin' is becoming a reality" is an apparent reference to their hit song "California Dreamin'{{-"}}, and marks the point at which the group achieved its breakthrough, leaving behind the lifestyle described in the rest of the song.
==Reception== ''Cash Box'' called the single a "driving, pulsing, groovin’ ditty."<ref name=cb>{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=April 29, 1967 |page=22 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1967/CB-1967-04-29.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}}</ref> ''Record World'' called it "infectious."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Single Picks of the Week|magazine=Record World|date=April 29, 1967|page=1|access-date=2023-07-11|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/60s/67/RW-1967-04-29.pdf}}</ref>
==Chart history== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}}
===Weekly charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |+Weekly chart performance for "Creeque Alley" !scope="col"|Chart (1967) !scope="col"|Peak<br />position |- !scope="row"|Australia (''Go-Set'') | style="text-align:center;"|4 |- !scope="row"|Canada ''RPM'' Top Singles<ref name="auto"/> | style="text-align:center;"|1 |- {{single chart|Ireland2|14|song=Creeque Alley|rowheader=true|access-date=April 15, 2019}} |- !scope="row"|New Zealand (''Listener'')<ref>[http://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search%20listener&qsongid=1495#n_view_location] {{dead link|date=September 2023}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|16 |- !scope="row"|South Africa (Springbok)<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.rock.co.za/files/springbok_top_20_(M).html |title= South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (M) |website= Rock.co.za |access-date=September 8, 2018}}</ref> |align="center"|19 |- !scope="row"|UK<ref name="auto1"/> | style="text-align:center;"|9 |- !scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref>''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990'' - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|5 |- !scope="row"|US ''Cash Box'' Top 100<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/19670610.html|title=Cash Box Top 100 6/10/67|website=Tropicalglen.com|access-date=September 6, 2023}}</ref> |align="center"|5 |} {{col-2}}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |+Year-end chart performance for "Creeque Alley" !scope="col"|Chart (1967) !scope="col"|Position |- !scope="row"|Canada<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.100151&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=dtlhqtcdftn9t40n27r4hds2h0 |title=''RPM'' Top 100 Singles of 1967 |access-date=2019-07-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812082630/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.100151&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=dtlhqtcdftn9t40n27r4hds2h0 |archive-date=2016-08-12 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|74 |- !scope="row"|US (Joel Whitburn's ''Pop Annual'')<ref>{{cite book |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |date=1999 |title=Pop Annual |location=Menomonee Falls, WI |publisher=Record Research Inc. |isbn=0-89820-142-X}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|60 |- !scope="row"|US ''Cash Box''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1967YESP.html |title=Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 23, 1967 |access-date=July 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930105232/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1967YESP.html |archive-date=September 30, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|88 |} {{col-end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://creequealley.com creequealley.com] — a line by line analysis of Creeque Alley by The Mamas and The Papas *{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t884558}} *[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Creeque+Alley&lastnode_id=124&searchy=search Everything 2 page]
{{The Mamas & the Papas}}
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Category:The Mamas & the Papas songs Category:1967 songs Category:1967 singles Category:Songs written by John Phillips (musician) Category:Song recordings produced by Lou Adler Category:Songs written by Michelle Phillips Category:Dunhill Records singles Category:Songs based on actual events Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles