It’s 1967, the Mamas & the Papas are on The Ed Sullivan Show to perform “California Dreamin’,” and nobody is taking it seriously.
For decades, the story behind the onstage shenanigans was that the band was pissed about having to lip-sync and pretend to play their instruments, so they protested by barely pretending at all.
And watching it, it’s easy to believe. John carries on a conversation with Michelle during his own vocal parts. Cass wanders around with a cartoonish flower prop. Denny lazily wags his microphone. And Michelle spends much of “California Dreamin’” eating a banana and confusing it with her microphone.
Now, the Mamas & the Papas are no strangers to messy lives and wild stories, but apparently this one isn’t true. Or at least that’s what the only person left to ask says.
In a 2021 phone call on her daughter Chynna’s podcast, Michelle, the group’s lone surviving member, shot down the protest theory. She said they weren’t making some grand statement about lip-syncing. She was simply standing there, saw the banana, and picked it up because she needed something to do with her hands.
I believe the one left holding the banana.