San Franciscan Nights

"San Franciscan Nights" is a 1967 song performed by Eric Burdon and The Animals, with words and music by the group's members, Eric Burdon, Vic Briggs, John Weider, Barry Jenkins, and Danny McCulloch. A paean to San Francisco, it was the biggest hit that the new band — as opposed to first-incarnation Animals of the mid-1960s — would have, reaching a peak position of number 1 on the Canadian RPM charts, number 9 on the U.S. pop singles chart and number 7 on the UK pop singles chart.

The song opens with a guitar riff, that's a different version of the "Dragnet" theme, which is followed by a spoken word dedication by Burdon "to the city and people of San Francisco, who may not know it but they are beautiful and so is their city," with Burdon urging European residents to "save up all your bread and fly Trans Love Airways to San Francisco, U.S.A.," to enable them to "understand the song," and "for the sake of your own peace of mind."

The melody then begins with lyrics about a warm 1967 San Franciscan night, with hallucinogenic images of a "strobe light's beam" creating dreams, walls and minds moving, angels singing, "jeans of blue," and "Harley Davidsons too," contrasted with a "cop's face is filled with hate" (on a street called "Love") and an appeal to the "old cop" and the "young cop" to just "feel all right." Pulling in as many 1960s themes as possible, the song then concludes with a plea that the American dream include "Indians too."

Burdon's notion that San Francisco's nights are warm drew some derision from Americans; writer Lester Bangs thought this belief "inexplicable".

Cover versions

Romanian rock band Sfinx recorded in 1967 a cover version of the song with a totally different set of lyrics. It was never released on disc and is now known both as "Toamna" (ro. "Autumn") and "Nu mai sunt flori de mai" (ro. "No more flowers of May"). The guitar riff in the song's original version is doubled by the French horn, played by hornist Petre Iordache. Lead vocals are sung by guitarist Octav Zemlicka.