“I wanted to be just like Cass”: Cass Elliot’s best quality, according to Michelle Phillips
During their two-and-a-half-year run, The Mamas and The Papas couldn’t wait to get out. Although they created some of the best tunes of the 1960s, Michelle Phillips, John Phillips, Cass Elliot, and Denny Doherty would find themselves counting down the days to freedom despite the initial love and appreciation they displayed for one another.
The Mamas and The Papas had a good run while they were in the spotlight. Behind closed doors, they even accumulated a host of wholesome memories, like Elliot once being woken up by someone she greatly admired – John Lennon – who whispered “I love you, Cass” in her ear, echoing the sentiment she shared in the band’s cover of The Beatles’ ‘I Call Your Name’.
However, clashing interests, explosive arguments, and, interestingly, The Beatles led to them disbanding in 1968 and trying their luck as solo artists. Discussing the Fab Four, John Phillips said at the time that they “showed the way” and introduced a technological and compositional complexity that was difficult to keep up with and “would leave many of us behind”.
Although they each would go their separate ways, the soft spot among some members would remain forever. Namely, Michelle Phillips’ appreciation for Elliot, whose impact stayed with her long after she died. When asked by Goldmine what she would do if she could spend one more day with Elliot, she said: “I would like to sit at her feet and listen to her making me laugh”.
According to Phillips, Elliot “was the funniest person” she had ever met. Her “wonderful sense of humour” is what “made her so much fun” and the thing that she misses the most about her. Elliot was incredibly talented, of course, but her “beautiful humour” was undoubtedly an endearing aspect of her shining soul. In an industry as cut-throat as the music space, humour like Elliot’s likely made Phillips feel a lot more weightless.
The Mamas and The Papas may have had a tough go of it, but hindsight proves that the good far outweighed the bad. Phillips wouldn’t go back for the biggest prize in the world, but people like Elliot likely made it all a lot more worthwhile. Like anybody, Phillips says Elliot could also be “cutting”, but this shows a side to her that was ready to go any time the industry called upon her.
Alongside helping her to overcome stage fright at one 1966 gig, Phillips met Elliot for the first time on LSD, setting the path for a personal experience that would become a tough amalgamation of reality and fiction. Phillips’ life hasn’t been easy, but neither was Elliot’s, and no amount of media speculation was going to tap into a potential rift between the pair.
“I wanted to be just like Cass,” Phillips once explained, discussing the ways in which she helped her during her most difficult times. “Cass liberated me; she stopped John trying to have too much control over me. She taught me a lot about feminism, and she always encouraged me, although I was obviously inferior to her as a singer.”
