Five Songs About California
Like everything else listworthy, there’s a list of songs about California on Wikipedia, but here are five of my favorites in my head as I fly out to that great state myself today. Per normal, you can listen to a watery mp3 of each song by clicking its title.
- “California Dreamin’” by The Mamas & The Papas. Yes, it’s That Song, like the Stones’ “Paint it, Black,” overused by soundtrackers to evoke the dark, hippie-hedonism of the Sixties. But if you can forget that for a moment, it’s not too shabby a tune, with its magic harmonies, a bit of Byrds-y guitar chiming, empty-grain-silo reverb, and—is that a flute solo?
- “California Soul” by Marlena Shaw. Funky!
- “California Stars” by Billy Bragg and Wilco. Written by Woody Guthrie and put to music by Bragg (acoustic guitar) and Wilco (with Jeff Tweedy, also on acoustic guitar, and vocals). A dreamy, repetitive, strummy lullaby that paints pictures of starry nights that probably still exist in California’s desert places outside the city lights.
- “California Sun” by the Ramones. Popularized by a surf group named the Rivieras and probably my favorite of the California Song remakes, which also include “California Girls” (The Beach Boys vs. David Lee Roth) and “Hotel California” (The Eagles vs. The Gipsy Kings, the Spanish version of which memorably graces The Big Lebowski.)
- “Going to California” by Led Zeppelin. I went to college in the Midwest and Led Zeppelin IV was in constant rotation in the freshman dorms, typically by the guys who burned incense in their rooms for a variety of reasons and had one of those black banners featuring the ZoSo symbols and an excerpt from “Stairway” tacked up on their closet door. I’m alternately annoyed and enthralled by Robert Plant’s voice but on this one, the interweaving acoustic guitar and mandolin do it for me.