Fever Tree - San Francisco Girls

This band lived about a block away from me before they made it big. My sis used to watch them practice in their garage. They used to frequent the neighborhood swimming pool and allowed us to play chicken on their backs. I was all of 10 years old. Numerous times they referred to themselves as the band Fever Tree but I did not put it all together until after San Francisco Girls was released.

The band hailed from Houston, Texas and started in 1966 as a folk rock outfit, The Bostwick Vines. They changed their name to Fever Tree a year later after the addition of keyboard player Rob Landes.

Their fifteen minutes of fame arrived when their song "San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native)" reached #91 in the U.S. charts, sometime in late 1968. This four-minute track captured all the band's trademarks: Dennis Keller's incantation-like vocals, the quick shifting between slow parts with an almost sacral feeling and faster, more rock-oriented parts, and especially the searing guitar work by Michael Knust.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Fever
• Tree
• San
• Francisco
• Girls

[sherrylynn70]

Wow! What a beautiful tribute to a major SacredMojo Moment...this audio/visual is just classic for the times...What an awesome band they were...they were certainly tuned in...Donna, thank you so much for sharing your experience and introducing me to FeVeR TREE...a brilliant Audio/Visual and one, I am so thankful was not lost...what band would not be honored to be remembered like this..I find it to be an HoNoR!! And, and honor to experience..PEACE!

[SacredMojo]

Sherry, glad you like this.. I do so love that 60's Frisco sound myself... Milk & Honey daze forever :)

[languagedancer]

Seems like a million lifetimes ago...seems like only yesterday...love the re-work!

[SacredMojo]

I know EXACTLY what you mean :)

[rorydaddy]

Can you believe how KOOL the music of the 60's was and still is!!

[gblueslover2]

Definately one of those ICONIC songs that defined the era. I'm 59, did NOT go to Nam as my draft number was...364. I could not BELIEVE that when I got the letter. Anyway, my older brother was not so lucky, he did go to Nam, he did NOT return the same happy-go-lucky guy as when he left, but thankfully he returned. LOVED this era, and all the great stuff that went along with it. I sought this tune out as a curiosity, wanted to see where the artists were today. Thank goodness for Youtube - Got it !

[galaxybeing101]

hello again Mr. Darrell, my memories of Nam are mostly good too. for some reason I got along great with everyone over there. even partied with the "brothers" who were big into the "black-power" salutes and such. listening to hot jams in each others "hootches" and other nice times. a few nights on the bunker-line when the cong sent in some rockets was a bit nerve wracking. of course everyone hated the monsoon--no dry clothes!--keep on rockin---

[darrellstreetdude]

@galaxybeing101 I must admit that, I was infantry driving an APC, pretty much all I have is good memories of my experiences there. There are even times I wish I could relive certain snippets of the times there.

[galaxybeing101]

hello Mr. darrell! I was just getting out of high school in 67, didn,t join the boys in green till May 68. I also got a bit "finely-tuned" in the Nam which was 70 and ets out of there in May 71. --my time in was at Ft. Lewis, Ft. Ord, then Kaiserslautern, Germany, then Chu Lai, Nam. --that good stuff is all I turn the stereo on for, except for movies.----have a beer and stay cool----

[darrellstreetdude]

@galaxybeing101 You and I were listening to the exact same music.67' Fort Polk, then Ft. Leonardwood and 68' and 69' Nam. Good times.stevefurlan@yahoo.com

[darrellstreetdude]

Thanks for the wonderful memories. I was in VietNam when we first got the album. Add a little Steppin'Wolf's The Pusher and a little weed and drink and dreammmmmm.

[tendtheflag909]

great video.....they played a lot of venues from houston thru southeast texas to southwest lousiana. if im not mistaken, their "made it big now" was opening for jefferson airplane. i think Keller owns a computer company now in houston, please correct me if im wrong-thanks

[galaxybeing101]

I was in my first months of training in the army at Ft. Lewis, Wash. and Ft. Ord, Calif. One of the guys in the barracks had a transistor radio which we gathered around to listen to after the day,s various activities. We heard these guys, Steppenwolf, Hendrix and all of the other hot bands of the day. --now if we only had this kind of quality of music today!---rap--%&#@?--no thanks!

[ric60100]

So UNDERATED! RIP, Michael Knust.