Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)

"Twelve Thirty" a.k.a. "Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)", the song's main refrain, is a song by The Mamas & the Papas.

"Twelve Thirty"
Single by The Mamas & the Papas
from the album 'The Papas & The Mamas'
Released1967
GenrePop rock, folk rock, psychedelic pop
Length3:24
LabelDunhill
Songwriter(s)John Phillips[1]
Producer(s)Lou Adler
The Mamas & the Papas singles chronology
"Creeque Alley"
(1967)		 "Twelve Thirty"
(1967)		 "Glad to Be Unhappy"
(1967)

After the release of the group's third album—Deliver—and their appearance as the closing act of the Monterey International Pop Festival, the group was scheduled to appear in England. The visit was catastrophic for the group, and for Cass Elliot in particular (see The Mamas & the Papas main article for further details), resulting in Cass leaving the group temporarily. The group had completed four tracks for their fourth album—initially titled Springboard—but when the group fracture occurred, progress on the new album stopped completely. Dunhill Records, hoping to keep the group in the public eye while personal matters were sorted out, released a Greatest Hits compilation, entitled Farewell to the First Golden Era, a smash hit at #5 on the charts, and certified gold. "Twelve Thirty," one of the completed songs from the fourth album, was included on the album in order to entice record buyers with new material, and simultaneously released as a single. "Twelve Thirty" would also appear on the now-retitled fourth album, The Papas & The Mamas, when finally released in the fall of 1968. The song peaked at number 20 as a single in the US, but failed to chart in the UK. The group would perform the song on The Ed Sullivan Show on 24 September 1967, in one of their last televised appearances as a group.

Song origin

The song was written by John Phillips[1] shortly after the band had relocated to Southern California in 1965. It is often cited as the band's last great single.[2] In a 1968 interview,[3] Phillips cited this arrangement as an example of "well-arranged two-part harmony moving in opposite directions".[1]

Jim Ward of Rolling Stone, said "Twelve Thirty" was "the last recording of the self-proclaimed 'Golden Era'", he added, "It's probably the best realized song the group has recorded."[4]

Interpretations

The song was inspired by Laurel Canyon, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.[5] In the song, the writer says he used to live in "dark and dirty" New York City, where a broken clock on a church steeple was stuck at 12:30. John and Michelle had a difficult marital relationship then,[6] and he compares this period to being in "the Canyon" (generally accepted to refer to Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, home to many show business types and where Phillips occasionally resided). A popular interpretation[7] is that girl "groupies" would party into the night at the homes of show business types in the canyon and wander home the next morning, passing the house and engaging the songwriter in conversation as they went. The song fades out during a repeat of the final chorus.

With the lasting cultural resonance of "Twelve Thirty", there is analysis in lay discourse, and appropriation of meaning and metaphor with reference to epiphany or lifting of depression.[8][9] In celebration of its popularity, the conclusion of its variety show performance included a question on its spirituality.[10] Besides the literal Laurel Canyon reference, the song title calls up another literal reference, the dissonant metaphor of a broken tower clock in a church steeple close to John Phillips' home in New York City[11] - churches do not commonly tell us the time of day, but do post scripture by chapter and verse. An uncommon steeple clock, stuck at 12:30 (hour hand to heaven, minute hand to earth) makes an esoteric and perhaps unconscious cultural reference to love of God in Mark 12:30,[12] which says "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart... ...this is the first commandment." The melody and lyrics trace a transformation from the grey gloom of New York City to the joyful sunlight of Laurel Canyon in California, from metaphorical darkness to light, coherent with an awakening from grief into greater love and fellowship. This otherwise lyrical nonsense rhyme of twelve-thirty connects a literal arrest of the clockworks in the dark and dirty city, the brightening warmth of loving God, with Phillip's renewed artistic creativity in the Canyon.

The song is featured in Drew Goddard's 2018 film Bad Times at the El Royale. The song is also featured during a pivotal scene in Quentin Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. [13] The reason the song was used is most likely due to the fact that both films contain characters inspired by Charles Manson, and for its ironic foreboding as a dramatic device - the "young girls" coming to the canyon were shallow groupies in showbusiness, but also murderous cult followers. Apparently, when the bodies of Sharon Tate and her friends were found in the Cielo Drive house following the Manson Massacre, the song was heard playing in another room.

Track listing
7" Vinyl
  1. "Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)" (Phillips) — 3:24
  2. "Straight Shooter" (Phillips) — 2:57

Other recordings

References
  1. John Phillips interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
  2. Greenwald, Matthew. "Twelve-Thirty: Song Review". Allmusic.
  3. Gilliland, John (1969). "O-S interviews" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  4. Ward, Jim (6 July 1968). "Album Reviews: The Mamas & The Papas". Rolling Stone Archived at Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on September 17, 2009. Retrieved 15 June 2013.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. Eliscu, Jenny (11 December 2008). "Hot Scene: The Return to Laurel Canyon". Rolling Stone Archived at Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on April 18, 2009. Retrieved 15 June 2013.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2007/12/phillips200712
  7. Kubernik, Harvey (5 March 2012). Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon (2012 (reprint) ed.). Sterling. pp. 138–139. ISBN 978-1402797613.
  8. https://helen5questions.wordpress.com/2015/01/18/18-the-twelve-thirty-metaphor/
  9. https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5302969740978506228&postID=4126072509904344737&page=1&token=1600678821958
  10. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c0JUSzh-YVs?start=147" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  11. https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/42549/
  12. https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Mark%2012:30
  13. Moran, Sarah (July 26, 2019). "Every Song in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". screenrant. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  14. Scott McKenzie, The Voice of Scott McKenzie Retrieved May 16, 2015
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