I Saw Her Again - Single Version

This song was written by John Phillips, the leader of the Mamas And The Papas, about the affair between his wife, Michelle Phillips (a Mamas And Papas member), and Denny Doherty (also a Mamas And Papas member), which ultimately led to Michelle Phillips' unceremonious dismissal from the band and John and Michelle's divorce. Ironically enough, Doherty received a songwriting credit. The sessions for this album must have been as uncomfortable as were the sessions when Fleetwood Mac was recording the Rumours album 10 years later and the personal relationships in that band were imploding.

Lou Adler produced this song, and Bones Howe was the engineer for the session. According to Bones, the part around the 2:45 mark where "I saw her" is repeated twice was a happy accident. Said Bones: "We were punching vocals in, and when we came to that part where the rhythm stops and the group goes, 'I saw her again last night,' I just punched in early. They came in early, and so we stopped. And then we went back and started again, and I punched in at the beginning of the vocal, they started two bars later or whatever it was. And when I played it back, the vocal went, 'I saw her - I saw her again.' It was a mistaken punch. And Lou said, 'I love it! Leave it in.' It was an error, it was a mistake. But Lou was wise enough, it caught his ear and he left it. And I learned something from that. You go with your gut. If something catches - they could be - there are wonderful mistakes that happen in the studio and you have to learn to catch those when they happen and use them."