“California Dreamin’” is arguably The Mamas & the Papas’ most popular hit, embraced by hippie Boomers upon its 1965 release and beloved by generations since. There’s just one problem with the song: a whole bunch of listeners have gotten a key lyric dead wrong for 60 years.

JB Eckl explains in a Sacred Riffs video: “‘California Dreamin” may be the only hit song whose central event is a fake prayer.” The lyrics describe someone stopping into a church, kneeling, and pretending to pray to get out of the cold.

However, countless people have misheard the lyric “and I pretend to pray” as “and I began to pray.” Clearly, pretending to pray and beginning to pray are two very different things. So what’s the deal?

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The real-life story behind the ‘pretend to pray’ lyric

As Eckl explains, Michelle Phillips added the church story to the song because it reflected something that had happened in real life. Phillips and her husband, John Phillips, were........

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