McKenzie grew up in North Carolina and Virginia, where he became friends with the son of one of his mother's friends, John Phillips. In the mid 1950s, he sang briefly with Tim Rose in a high school group called The Singing Strings, and later, with Phillips, Mike Boran and Bill Cleary, he helped form a doo wop band, The Abstracts. In New York, The Abstracts became The Smoothies and recorded two singles with Decca Records, produced by Milt Gabler.
In 1961 Phillips and McKenzie met Dick Weissman and formed The Journeymen, which recorded three albums for Capitol Records. After the Journeymen disbanded in 1964, the members discussed forming a group called The Mamas & the Papas. McKenzie wanted to perform on his own, so Phillips formed the group with Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips, his second wife. The group soon moved to California. Two years later, McKenzie followed from New York and signed with Lou Adler's Ode Records. Phillips wrote and produced "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)" for McKenzie, which was released in 1967. Phillips played guitar on the recording and Michelle Phillips played bells. It became a top-five smash in the United States and a number one hit in many other countries in the world.
"San Francisco" became a hippie anthem in the United States and was popular around the world. It was played during the Summer of Love in San Francisco. McKenzie followed it with "Like An Old Time Movie", also written and produced by Phillips, which was a minor hit. His first album, The Voice of Scott McKenzie was followed with an album called Stained Glass Morning. He stopped recording about that time in the early-1970s and lived in Joshua Tree, California and Virginia Beach.
In 1986, McKenzie started singing with a new version of The Mamas and the Papas. In 1988 he co-wrote the Beach Boys hit "Kokomo" with Phillips, Mike Love and Terry Melcher; the song featured in the hit Tom Cruise movie Cocktail. In 1998 he retired from the road version of The Mamas and Papas.
McKenzie died on August 18, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA.
Don't Make Promises
Scott McKenzie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tunes of promises you can't keep
Every moment bringing the love I can only borrow
You're telling me lies in your sleep.
Do you think I'm not aware of what you're saying
Or why you're saying it ?
Is it hard to keep me where you want me staying ?
Don't make promises you can't keep.
We had a chance to find it, our time was now or never
You promised me things that I need
But then the things behind it took away the chance forever
You're telling me lies in your sleep.
Do you think I'm not aware of what you're saying
Or why you're saying it ?
Is it hard to keep me where you want me staying ?
Don't go on betraying it.
Don't make promises you can't keep
Don't make promises you can't keep.
In Scott McKenzie's song Don't Make Promises, the lyrics address the issue of broken promises within a romantic relationship. The first verse mentions how the promises made are always for the future, and are unable to be kept. The love that is "borrowed" is not genuine and the singer is aware that their partner is lying at night while they sleep. The second verse speaks about how the opportunity to grow the relationship has been missed because the promises that were made were not kept. The singer is aware of the lies that their partner is telling them, and urges them not to make promises that they cannot keep.
The song overall seems to be a warning to those in relationships that making promises that one cannot keep will only lead to pain and betrayal. It speaks to the importance of honesty and being true to one's word in order to maintain a healthy relationship. It is a poignant reminder that broken promises can irreparably damage a relationship, and one cannot continue to make promises that they do not intend to keep.
Line by Line Meaning
It seems the songs we're singing are all about tomorrow
The words that we speak to each other and the promises we make have to do with things that might happen in the future.
Tunes of promises you can't keep
There are many talk about we're making that we can't actually fulfill.
Every moment bringing the love I can only borrow
I feel like I'm being loved in trickles rather than the whole, and I'm not sure if it'll last me for too long.
You're telling me lies in your sleep.
You are deceitful and calculating even when you're supposed to be honest and transparent when you're sleeping.
Do you think I'm not aware of what you're saying Or why you're saying it ?
I know that you're not being truthful with me, and I can't trust you, and it's not okay.
Is it hard to keep me where you want me staying ?
Are you struggling to keep me close to you because you don't want to be in a place where you're open about the truth?
Don't go on betraying it.
Stop pretending that everything is okay, we both know that it is not, and you should not continue down that path.
We had a chance to find it, our time was now or never
The chance for us to explore and discover something was quickly slipping away from us, and it might never come back.
You promised me things that I need
There were certain promises that you had made to me which were essential to my well-being, and you have failed to keep those promises.
But then the things behind it took away the chance forever
The circumstances changed, and now there is no chance for me to get what I needed from you even though you had promised me that you would give it to me.
Don't make promises you can't keep.
You have made promises that you can't fulfill, and it's not fair to me to continue to do that.*
Don't make promises you can't keep.
Stop making promises that you can't fulfill because it creates a lot of pain.
Contributed by Ryan N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.