[Smt-talk] The F stands for "Francisco"

[Mark Yeary]

Dear colleagues,

While I don’t wish to detract from the discussion of non-sexist language that has spawned from Devin’s original “SFCP” post, I’ve been thinking about these chords a bit more, and I’d like to offer a possible way to subversively rebrand this rather *in*sensitive acronym.

From now on, let i-VI-III-VII be known as the San Francisco Chord Progression.

It’s heard in the opening measures (in E minor, following a two-bar G-major intro) of Scott McKenzie’s 1967 single “San Francisco.” Granted, it’s not the only progression used, but it does set the first two lines of the first stanza — and, let’s face it, these are the only ones that most people remember: “If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.”

(Too obscure, you say? Possibly. But, if you’ll permit me to engage in the same kind of ridiculous historical arms-race that has graced scholarship of the Tristan chord and the aggregate chord, “San Francisco” is a *lot* earlier than any of the other examples I’ve read so far. And now I leave it to you to counter my claim with some even more obscure single from the New Christy Minstrels or The Kingston Trio.)

Regards,
Mark


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Mark Yeary, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Music Theory
School of Music, University of Louisville