The third song on the album Deliver, it peaked at number 5 on the US Billboard pop singles chart the week of Memorial Day 1967, becoming their last Top 10 hit.

[3] The title of the song, which does not occur in the lyrics, is derived from Creque or Crequi (pronounced "creaky")[4] Alley,[5] home to a club in the Virgin Islands where the New Journeymen, John and Michelle Phillips' original group, spent time on vacation.

[8] The Phillips' lyrics mention, directly or indirectly, many artists and bands who were part of the folk music scene at the time, including fellow band members Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty, Zal Yanovsky and John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, and Barry McGuire of the New Christy Minstrels (the group had previously provided backing vocals for McGuire, including on the first recorded version of "California Dreamin').

In the fourth verse, with the story of the genesis of the Mamas and the Papas nearing its denouement, Phillips changes the concluding line to "And everybody's getting fat except Mama Cass", with the word "fat" assuming the meaning of prosperous, alluding to the notion that the successes recently achieved by Cass' professional associates and friends had still eluded her.

(During that Virgin Islands vacation, Cass became the last member to join the group when they were still known as the New Journeymen; the name change followed soon afterward.)