“It’s Getting Better”/”Make Your Own Kind of Music”/”New World Coming” (Cass Elliot)

Continuing to honor the memory and the songwriting of the late Cynthia Weil, it’s time to turn our attention to former Mama, Cass Elliot, and the three hits she had with Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil tunes. We’re talking about, in chronological order, “It’s Getting Better,” “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” and “New World Coming.”

The first of these tunes, “It’s Getting Better,” was Cass’ first hit after leaving the Mamas and the Papas. (One could argue that the group’s 1968 single, “Dream a Little Dream of Me” was actually a Cass solo single; the 45 label read “Mama Cass with The Mamas & the Papas.”) “It’s Getting Better” was released in May of 1969 and peaked at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #13 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

“Make Your Own Kind of Music” was released a few months later, in September of 1969, and didn’t do quite as well on the charts, although it’s probably Cass’ best-remembered song today. This one only reached #36 on the Hot 100 but did better on the Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at #6.

Cass’ final cover of a Mann/Weil tune was “New World Coming.” Released three months after the prvious single, in January of 1970, this one only hit #42 on the Hot 100 but rose to #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

The first two songs were from Cass’ second solo album, Bubblegum, Lemonade, and… Something for Mama. The third tune was from her follow-up album, Make Your Own Kind of Music. Cass hated them all. She told an interviewer in 1971 that when she was with Dunhill Records, she had been “forced to be so bubblegum that I’d stick to the floor when I walked.”

That was a deliberate choice from Dunhill Record’s VP of A&R, our old friend Steve Barri. He said that he had Cass record this so-called bubblegum music (which was really sunshine pop) because he “wanted to capture who she was…this real fun-loving positive kind of person.” He also said that they “never recorded anything that she didn’t want to do.”

It’s a shame that Cass didn’t like these tunes, because they’re classic Mann/Weil compositions. Mann’s melodies are catchy and hummable and Weil’s lyrics have more depth than is apparent at first listen. Barri described them accurately as “pop songs [that] really kind of say something.”

In any case, Cass left Mann and Weil (and Steve Barri) behind and tried out a variety of musical personas over the next few years. She even leaned into cabaret and put together a Las Vegas act. Unfortunately, she passed way in 1974. (She died of a heart attack, not of choking on a sandwich, as urban legend would have it.) Cass Elliot was just 32 years old, younger than both Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and had her whole life ahead of her.