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| The Beach Boys - California Girls |
The Beach Boys - California Girls Lyrics and Youtube Music VideosAlbum:
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) Released:
1965 Well East coast girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear
And the Southern girls with the way they talk
They knock me out when I'm down there
The Mid-West farmer's daughters really make you feel alright
And the Northern girls with the way they kiss
They keep their boyfriends warm at night
I wish they all could be
California GirlsI wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girls
The West coast has the sunshine
And the girls all get so tanned
I dig a french bikini on Hawaii island dolls
By a palm tree in the sand
I been all around this great big world
And I seen all kinds of girls
Yeah, but I couldn't wait to get back in the States
Back to the cutest girls in the world
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California girls
Writer/s: LOVE, MIKE E. / WILSON, BRIAN DOUGLAS
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by
LyricFindCalifornia Girls Beach Boys Mike Love and Brian Wilson wrote this song celebrating the women of California. Along with surfing and cars, girls were a common topic in many of The Beach Boys songs, and part of the California mythos that was so enticing to young people in other parts of America.
Wilson wrote the music, and Love came up with the lyrics. Regarding his way with words, Love told us: "Ever since I can remember I've always been intrigued by poetry and literature. So that's always been something that I've immersed myself in since childhood. I'd always get really good grades in English literature and American literature and all that kind of thing. Whereas my math skills weren't exactly upgraded." (Here's our full interview with Mike Love .) Brian Wilson said of this song when he spoke to Goldmine in 2011: "I came up the introduction first. I'm still really proud of that introduction. It has a classical feel. I wrote the song 'California Girls' in the same key as the introduction. It took me some time. I wanted to write a song that had a traditional country and western left hand piano riff, like an old country song from the early '50s. I wanted to get something that had kind of a jumpy feeling to it in the verses." Structurally, this uses a contrasting verse-chorus form. Lead vocals on this song were by Mike Love, but you can also hear Bruce Johnston on the track along with Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Al Jardine. Johnston was brought in to tour with the group when Brian Wilson decided to stay off the road, and this was his first vocal appearance on a Beach Boys song. Drummer Hal Blaine and bass player Carol Kaye played on this. They were two of the first-call Los Angeles studio musicians known for working with Phil Spector and playing on many hits of the era. According to Kaye, Brian Wilson, who was himself a bass player, always had the bass parts written out for her, and "California Girls" was the only song where she was able to get a lick in that Brian didn't write. She says the bass part is reminiscent of a country song called "Tumbling Tumbleweeds."
Other musicians to play on this track include:
Jerry Cole - guitar
Billy Strange - guitar
Howard Roberts - guitar
Lyle Ritz - acoustic bass
Leon Russell - piano
Al DeLory - organ
Steven Kreisman - saxophone
Jay Migliori - saxophone
Jack Nimitz - saxophone
Roy Caton - trumpet
Frank Capp - vibraphone David Lee Roth released his own version in 1985 as his first solo single (he would leave Van Halen a short time later). The video featured a lineup of beautiful women and got loads of airplay on MTV. It set the tone for Roth's solo career as he perpetuated his image as a hedonistic party boy (not much of a change from his days in Van Halen). Carl Wilson from The Beach Boys sang backup on Roth's version, which hit #3 in the US. Paul McCartney conceived The Beatles song "Back In The U.S.S.R." as a Soviet version of "California Girls." He got the idea on a trip to India, where along with Mike Love of The Beach Boys, he was studying Transcendental Meditation. Love told us: "Paul came down to the breakfast table one morning saying, 'Hey, Mike, listen to this.' And he starts strumming and singing, 'Back in the U.S.S.R.,' the verses. And I said, 'Well, Paul, what you ought to do is talk about the girls around Russia, Ukraine girls and then Georgia on my mind, and that kind of thing.' Which he did." A problem with writing a song like this is that it's hard to top. Speaking with Rolling Stone in 2015, Brian Wilson talked about trying to write songs: "I sit at the piano and try, but all I want to do is rewrite 'California Girls.' How am I gonna do something better than that?"