I've been living with the Bear
In a big house full of blues
Going back through the years
Hear any record you choose
The sun is shining down
And the Bear is rolling in the shade
Everybody's gonna boogie
Blues roll night and day
Turn on all of the people
Who got no place to stay
The title of the album derives from Laurel Canyon, California, USA (in the Los Angeles area) where John Mayall subsequently lived from 1969 to 1979. It forms a record of his visit there before moving to the US on a more permanent basis. The area was favoured by many musicians at the time.
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The lyrics are autobiographical and refer, if obliquely, to people Mayall met on his first visit, such as Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa (on 2401), the band Canned Heat (on The Bear), and famous groupie, Catherine James (on Miss James).
www.wikiwand.com/en/Blues_from_Laurel_Canyon
Canned Heat appeared on a November 1969 episode of Playboy After Dark. Hite was invited to talk with Hugh Hefner after the performance, along with other guests Sonny and Cher, Vic Damone, Dick Shawn and Larry Storch. A 20-year-old Lindsay Wagner, playing the part of one of Hefner's party guests, sat on Hite's lap and played a party game. When asked by Hefner what kind of animal Hite would be if he were an animal, Wagner claimed he'd be a bear. Hite told her she got it right, that people called him "The Bear." It was also on this episode that Bob Hite informed Hugh Hefner that he had over 15,000 78s.[SUP]
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www.wikiwand.com/en/Bob_Hite