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Alicia Keys - Better You, Better Me

Alicia Keys - Better You, Better Me Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete
Released: 2013

Better You, Better Me Lyrics

I look into the mirror
And see a different girl
Hiding from herself with
Not a care in the world
Her smile pretends to fool
Those she chooses to please
If they could only see the tears she cries for help
See, I have been that girl
Didn’t know which way to turn
Then one day I turned to me

I told myself to wake up
It’s gonna be a better day
I just have to believe that
My dreams won’t have to wait
At times I’ve lost my mind
Had to look deep inside
And find a way to get over
Had to swallow my pride
I searched the world for and answer
But I’ve been searching too far
Because I’ve been here all along

I’m here to make a statement
My place I’m here to claim it
Don’t tell me what my name is
I Know, I’m gonna make it
I’ve come to far to lose it
Gotta stay focused
And find a better me

Feels like forever
Trying to work it out
Sometimes you’re gonna fail
And you know
Sometime it will rain
But the sun will come
When u think it’s all said and done
You know u see the light
And everything is alright
You can do
Whatever you put your mind to
'Cause you’re all that you need
Like I do just believe

You’re here to make a statement
You’re place you’re here to claim it
You know just what your name is
Now, go, you’re gonna make it
You’ve come to far to lose it
Gotta stay focused
And find a better you
Me, oh me, me

I got to love me
I got to know me
I got to find me
I know what now

I've been here all alone
I'm here to make a statement
I'm place you’re here to claim it
Don't tell me what your name is
I know gonna make it
I’ve come to far to lose it
Gotta stay focused
And find a better me

You’re here to make a statement
You’re place you’re here to claim it
You know just what your name is
Now, go, you’re gonna make it
You’ve come to far to lose it
Gotta stay focused
And find a better you

I'm here to make a statement
I'm place you’re here to claim it
Don't tell me what my name is
I know gonna make it
I’ve come to far to lose it
Gotta stay focused
And find a better me

Writer/s: STEVE MOSTYN, MARSHA ANGELIQUE AMBROSIUS, ALICIA AUGELLO-COOK, RON HANEY, MARSHA AMBROSIUS
Publisher: SONGS MUSIC PUBLISHING
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Better You, Better Me

This motivational anthem is the main theme of The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, an inspirational American drama film that was executive produced by Alicia Keys. Mister and Pete are two inner city youths who are left to fend for themselves in the Brooklyn housing projects after their mothers are taken away by the authorities. Keys sings of finding hope amidst the inner emotional stress of their situation.

"You're gonna make it
You've come to far to lose it,
Gotta stay focused
And find a better me."

Keys penned the song with:
Steve Mostyn, with whom she also wrote "Superwoman."

Marsha Ambrosius, former member of the English Hip-Hop/Soul duo Floetry.

Ron Haney, a guitarist who also collaborated with the singer on her "Tell You Something (Nana's Reprise)" track.

The song was made available to digital retailers October 11, 2013, the same day the film was released in theaters in the United States.

Alan Jackson - Midnight in Montgomery

Alan Jackson - Midnight in Montgomery Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Don't Rock The Jukebox
Released: 1991

Midnight in Montgomery Lyrics

Midnight in Montgomery,
Silver Eagle, Lonely Road,
I was on my way to Mobile,
For a big new year's eve show,
Stopped for just a minute,
To see a friend outside of town,
With my collar up, I found his name,
And felt the wind die down,
And a drunk man in a cowboy hat,
Took me by surprise,
Wearin' shiny boots, a nudie suit, and haunted, haunted eyes,
He said friend it's good to see you,
It's nice to know ya care,
Then the wind picked up and he was gone,
Was he ever really there?

[Chorus]
'Cause it's midnight in Montgomery,
Just hear that wipperwill,
See the stars light up the purple sky,
Feel that lonesome chill,
'Cause when the wind is right,
You'll hear his song,
Smell whisky in the air,
Midnight in montgomery,
He's always singin' there,

Well I climbed back on that eagle,
Took one last look around,
Red tail lights, shadow moves slow across the ground,
And off somewhere a midnight train, is slowly passin' by,
I can hear that wistle moanin',
I'm so lonesome I could cry,

[Chorus]

He's always singin there

Well Hank's always singin' there.

Writer/s: JACKSON, ALAN EUGENE / SAMPSON, DON
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Midnight in Montgomery

Written by Alan Jackson and Don Sampson, this is an ode to country music legend Hank Williams, who fell ill on his way to a New Year's Eve performance and died the following day in 1953. In the song, Jackson is on his way to his own New Year's Eve show and makes a late-night visit to Williams' grave in Montgomery, Alabama, to pay his respects... only to bump into the singer's ghost.

The lyrics contain lines that are used in the Hank Williams song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," including "Of somewhere a midnight train slowly passes by, I can hear that whistle blowing; I'm so lonesome I could cry."

Hank Williams became a co-conspirator in Jackson's rebellion against the ACM Awards in 1994. It all started with Jackson showing up to the typically black tie event in a sleeveless Hank Williams T-shirt, claiming he thought it was perfect because who is more country than Hank Williams? Then, when he was told he had to perform his hit "Gone Country" to a pre-recorded track, he tipped his hat to the charade by telling his drummer to play without sticks. Jackson got away with his antics, along with an award for Top Male Vocalist.

Jackson met up with Williams' ghost again, so to speak, when he was invited to join The Lost Notebooks project, spearheaded by Bob Dylan, to add music to the late singer's unrecorded lyrics. Jackson's take on "You've Been Lonesome, Too" introduces the 2011 album. He told the Wall Street Journal: "Hank Williams has always been just such a big part of what real country music is - and a poet. He showed how simply you can write; people still need to learn that from him. And he's a reason I moved to Nashville."

Jackson wasn't the first country artist to cross paths with the singing specter. David Allan Coe's 1983 hit "The Ride" tells the haunting tale of a hitchhiker who spots the apparition on a lonely country road. Mark Chestnutt may or may not have been "Talking to Hank" in his 1992 duet with George Jones, where he stumbles upon an old shack in the woods that houses a country singer who is suspiciously like Hank.

This song peaked at #3 on the Country charts.

The black-and-white music video, directed by Jim Shea, won the CMA Music Video of the Year in 1992. Fitting in with the lyrics, Jackson emerges from his tour bus at a cemetery and performs the song at the gravesite.

Calvin Harris - Under Control

Calvin Harris - Under Control Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Motion
Released: 2013

Under Control Lyrics

I might be anyone
A lone fool out in the sun
Your heartbeat of solid gold
I love you, you'll never know

When the daylight comes you feel so cold,
You know
I'm too afraid of my heart to let you go

Waiting for the fire to light
Feeling like we could do right
Be the one that makes tonight
'Cause freedom is a lonely road
We're Under Control

We're under control

I might be anyone
A lone fool out in the sun
Your heartbeat of solid gold
I love you, you'll never know

When the daylight comes you feel so cold,
You know
I'm too afraid of my heart to let you go

Waiting for the fire to light
Feeling like we could do right
Be the one that makes tonight
'Cause freedom is a lonely road
We're under control

Waiting for the fire to light
Feeling like we could do right
Be the one that makes tonight
'Cause freedom is a lonely road
We're under control

We're under control

Writer/s: Harris, Calvin / Hutchcraft, Theo / Lindblad, Alessandro
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Under Control

This song finds Calvin Harris collaborating with the Swedish DJ Alesso. The Swede's real name is Alessandro Lindblad; he is a Stockholm native of Italian ancestry who gained worldwide attention and popularity in 2012 with his hit collaboration with Swedish House Mafia's Sebastian Ingrosso, "Calling (Lose My Mind)."

The song was premiered on August 2, 2013 during Alesso's portion of Pete Tong's Essential Selection on BBC Radio1, which was broadcast live from Ibiza's Ushuaia hotel.

This features vocals by the British singer-songwriter Theo Hutchcraft, the lead singer of the English Electronic duo Hurts. Theo said: "I love Calvin. He’s been a good friend of mine for about six years now, since before his first record came out. We have the same manager and go a long way back."

Gwen Stefani - Cool

Gwen Stefani - Cool Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Love.Angel.Music.Baby
Released: 2005

Cool Lyrics

It's hard to remember how it felt before
Now I found the love of my life
Passes things, get more comfortable
Everything is going right

And after all the obstacles
It's good to see you now with someone else
And it's such a miracle that you and me are still good friends
After all that we've been through
I know we're Cool
I know we're cool

We used to think it was impossible
Now you call me by my new last name
Memories seem like so long ago
Time always kills the pain

Remember Harbor Boulevard
The dreaming days where the mess was made
Look how all the kids have grown, oh
We have changed but we're still the same
After all that we've been through
I know we're cool
I know we're cool

Yeah, I know we're cool

And I'll be happy for you
If you can be happy for me
Circles and triangles
And now we're hanging out with your new girlfriend
So far from where we've been
I know we're cool
I know we're cool

See-cool, I know we're cool
I know we're cool

Writer/s: AUSTIN, DALLAS / STEFANI, GWEN
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Cool

This song is about Gwen's ex-boyfriend and band member from No Doubt, Tony Kanal. Gwen and Tony dated for 8 years before breaking up because Tony needed "space." The song is about how both of them have moved on and how through the ups and downs, over the years, they've become really good friends. Gwen has found the "Love of her life," Gavin Rossdale, so now things are more comfortable with Tony and Gwen hanging out together.

The lyrics mention Harbor Boulevard, which is located in Fullerton California where Gwen attended California State University Fullerton.

Stefani wrote this with Dallas Austin, who has written hits for TLC ("Creep," "Unpretty") and Madonna ("Secret").

The music video, directed by Sophie Muller, was shot in Lake Como, Italy, and depicts Stefani's "cool" relationship with her ex-boyfriend, played by Spanish actor Daniel Gonzalez. Tony Kanal's then-girlfriend and future wife, Erin Lokitz, plays Gonzalez's current girlfriend.

Jake Bugg - Slumville Sunrise

Jake Bugg - Slumville Sunrise Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Shangri La
Released: 2013

Slumville Sunrise Lyrics

The wind is beating on my window. I haven't slept all night.
That drum just keeps on banging.
They must be buzzing in the mind, bees in the hive
Tell me when the morning arrives.
This place is just not for me I say it all the time.
My friends they just ignore me.
Tell me never mind, waiting on your line for the Slumville Sunrise.

Slumville Sunrise.
Nobody cares or looks twice.
Shout away in the morning across this place where I was born in.
Every roof, every flower illuminated by the morning.

My face upon the concrete, the dirt is in my mouth.
I clench my fist and feet. I try to cry out loud.
Make a sound, somethin' is keepin' me down.
This place is just not for me
I'll say it a thousand times
My friends they just ignore me. Tell me never mind
Waiting on your line for the Slumville Sunrise.

Slumville Sunrise
Nobody cares or looks twice.
Shout away in the morning across this place where I was born in.
Every roof, every flower illuminated by the morning.

This place is just not for me
I say it all the time
My friends they just ignore me. Tell me never mind.
Waiting on your line for the Slumville Sunrise.

Slumville Sunrise.
Nobody cares or looks twice.
Shout away in the morning across this place where I was born in.
Every roof, every flower illuminated by the morning.
Every roof, every flower illuminated by the morning.

Writer/s: Archer, Iain Denis / Kennedy, Jake Edwin
Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Slumville Sunrise

This song finds Bugg thinking back to his childhood on Nottingham's Clifton Estate. It was released as the second single from the Rick Rubin produced Shangri La set. "'Slumville Sunrise' is the first track I wrote for the album," Bugg told NME. "It's kind of one last look back to where I came from."

The heist movie themed video was helmed by Shane Meadows and co-stars Andrew Shim from the director's This Is England film in full Elvis gear. Bugg makes his acting debut in two scenes that frame the song.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - This Is The Place

Red Hot Chili Peppers - This Is The Place Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: By The Way
Released: 2002

This Is The Place Lyrics

This Is The Place where all
The junkies go
Where time gets fast
But everything gets slow

Can I get some Vaseline
Step into a modern scene
Take a chance of that
Which seems to be
The making of a dream

I don't want to do it
Like my daddy did
I don't want to give it
To my baby's kid

This is my calling
This is the place where all
The devils plead
Their case to take from you
What they need
Can I isolate your gene
Can I kiss your dopamine
In a way I wonder
If she's living in a magazine

I don't want to say it
If it isn't so
I don't want to weigh it
But I've got to know

This is my calling
I saw you out there yesterday
What did you want to say
A perfect piece of DNA
Caught in a flashing ray
I caught you out there in the fray
What did you want to say
A master piece of DNA
Caught in a flashing ray

Can I smell your gasoline
Can I pet your wolverine
On the day my best friend died
I could not get my copper clean

I don't want to take it up
With little Joe
I don't want to fake it
But I've gotta know

This is my calling
I am a misfit
I'm born with all of it
The fucking ultimate
Of love inside the atom split

I'm in a flash ray
A mash of DNA
Another poppin' Jay
Who thinks he's got
Something to say

Writer/s: Kiedis, Anthony / Smith, Chad / Balzary, Michael 'Flea' / Frusciante, John
Publisher: MoeBeToBlame
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

This Is The Place

The lyrics deal with Anthony Kiedis' drug addiction, and mention the streets where he used to get drugs. The line, "The day when my best friend died" is a reference to former band member Hillel Slovak's death due to drug overdose.

Justin Bieber - All That Matters

Justin Bieber - All That Matters Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Journals
Released: 2013

All That Matters Lyrics

Oh oh, just as sure as the stars in the sky
I need you to shine in my life
Not just for the meanwhile, for a long long time
Better believe it

Oh oh, whenever you're not in my presence
It feels like I'm missing my blessings, yeah
So I sleep through the daylight, stay awake all night
'Til you're back again, oh yeah, yeah

You think I'm biased
To my significant other
You hit it right on the head
Only been missing my lover
Got a whole lotta texts in my phone and I don't reply
The next eight bars tell you why

You're All That Matters to me, yeah, yeah,
Ain't worried about nobody else
If it ain't you, I ain't myself
You make me complete

You're all that matters to me, yeah, yeah,
What's a king bed without a queen
There ain't no "I" in team
You make me complete
You're all that matters to me

Take the gas out the car it won't drive
That's how I feel when you're not by my side
When I wake up in the morning up under you, and only you

Oh oh, grateful for your existence
Faithful no matter the distance
You're the only girl I see
From the bottom of my heart, please believe

You're all that matters to me, yeah, yeah
Ain't worried about nobody else
If it ain't you, I ain't myself
You make me complete
You're all that matters to me, yeah, yeah
What's a king bed without a queen
There ain't no "I" in team
You make me complete
You're all that matters to me

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You're all that matters to me
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You're all that matters to me

Writer/s: BIEBER, JUSTIN / HARRIS, ANDRE / BOYD, JASON P. D. / KNIGHT, DONOVAN CHRISTOPHER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

All That Matters

This sexy R&B track was the second promotional single from Justin Bieber's #MusicMondays series, a 10-week drive in which he unveiled a new tune every Sunday at midnight. The song was released on October 14, 2013.

Justin explained the background to the track: "The lyrics of this song are pretty self explanatory," he said, "when you fall in love with someone, that someone can make you feel whole."

"I feel like anyone who has been in love knows what I mean," he added. "The song conveys that being in love is one of the greatest feelings on earth. Love is all that matters. But the void you feel when love goes away is gut-wrenching."

Justin concluded: "I worked so heard on this song in the studio - trying to put that feeling into music was extremely important to me. I'm happy to share it with you."

The song was produced by Philadelphia producer Diplo, who as well as heading his own dancehall project, Major Lazer, has also provided the soundscape for a succession of pop hits such as Usher's "Climax" and Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now."

Whilst we're on the subject of the Philly producer, Diplo obviously isn't his real name. He was born Thomas Wesley Pentz and his moniker, short for Diplodocus, derives from his childhood fascination with dinosaurs.

The songs in Justin's Music Mondays series got a positive reaction. The Canadian star's manager Scooter Braun told Billboard magazine: "He's so incredibly grateful to see the reaction from people to this music. 'All That Matters' is a very important song to him on a personal level, and to see people react to it like this - to have producers like Benny Blanco call me and say, 'I think this is one of the best songs, if not the best song, he's ever written' - that means a tremendous amount to him."

The song's raunchy Colin Tilley directed official music video finds Bieber getting up close and personal with a sultry seductress. The comely blonde is played by the American model Cailin Russo, who became one of the most reblogged faces on the net after her Tony Kelly shoot for American Apparel.

Travis - Blue Flashing Light

Travis - Blue Flashing Light Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Man Who
Released: 1999

Blue Flashing Light Lyrics

Saturday evening
Saturday evening at a quarter to five
I would see him arrive at the door
Pushed you aside as he staggered inside

Spilling alcohol over the floor
A storm is abrewin' and it's sure to fall soon
As I look at you from the shore
So

You better hold on
'Cause it's Saturday night
And your friends are all out
And you feel like shit

'Cause they never call you
No they never call you
No they never call
Never call

Never bloody ever
Call me a name and I'll hit you again
You're a slut, you're a bitch, you're a whore
Talked to your daddy in that tone of voice

There's a belt hanging over the door
So you run to your room
And you hide in your room
Thinking how you could settle the score

But
Saturday night at a quarter to six
And your friends are all out
And you're live in the sticks

Still they never call you
No they never call you
No they never call
Never call

Never bloody ever call
Blue Flashing Light last Saturday night
Brought the neighbours all out on the street
They watched as the firemen carried you out

And they stared at each other's feet
Now everyone sees and yet nobody says
How we're all just afraid of the heat
But

It's Saturday night
And I'm lying alone in the bed that I made
Disconnected the phone
Still they never call you

No they never call you
No they never call
Never call
Never bloody ever call

Never bloody ever
Never
Never do
Never do

Writer/s: HEALY, FRANCIS
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Blue Flashing Light

This is a song about an abusive father whose drunken abuse towards his family ends one night in tragedy. This is referenced in the song when it mentions his arriving home drunk, beating his daughter and calling her names.

It is the hidden track on The Man Who.

Kenny Rogers - Dreams Of The San Joaquin

Kenny Rogers - Dreams Of The San Joaquin Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: You Can't Make Old Friends
Released: 2013

Dreams Of The San Joaquin Lyrics

I'm sending you some money
I wish it could be more
But it's harder than I thought
To find the work I came here for

This place is just as pretty
As I pictured it to be
And a man in need of work's
An all too common sight to see

Each morning as the trucks roll in
A lucky few climb on
And the rest of us are left to wonder
Where the dream has gone
Where the dream has gone

They say the Sierras melt with the rain
And race through the valley
Like blood through the vein
Turning the lowland
From golden to green
To harvest forever
Our Dreams Of The San Joaquin

Every day I struggle
With the distance and the fear
That I will not return or find
A way to bring you here

My emptiness grows deeper
I feel my spirit fall
As night comes like a blanket
That brings no sleep at all

I only hope that time will find
A way to work things out
And we will be together
In the life we dream about
The life we dream about

Repeat Chorus and add line:
We'll harvest forever
In dreams of the San Joaquin

They say the Sierras melt with the rain
And race through the valley
Like blood through the vein
Turning the lowland
From golden to green
To harvest forever
Our dreams of the San Joaquin

Writer/s: Sharp, Randy L / Routh, Jack Wesley
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Dreams Of The San Joaquin

Kenny Rogers has had considerable success throughout his career with songs that tell stories ("Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town," "The Gambler," "Lucille"). He continues the tradition with this tune. "It's the story of a worker in the fields of the San Joaquin valley in the 30s and 40s, during the height of the depression and the Dust Bowl," he explained to Billboard magazine. "If you studied history, you know that farmers quit working the soil in Oklahoma and went west. So, all that soil died and created the dust bowl. Eventually, everyone ended up west of the San Joaquin up on the mountaintops."

"The song is a letter that this worker is writing home to his wife," Rogers continued. "He says 'I'm sending you this money. I wish it could be more, but it's harder than I thought to find the work I came here for. It's very poignant to me, and almost cinematic."

The Beach Boys - Heroes And Villains

The Beach Boys - Heroes And Villains Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Smiley Smile
Released: 1967

Heroes And Villains Lyrics

I've been in this town so long that back in the city
I've been taken for lost and gone
And unknown for a long long time

Fell in love years ago
With an innocent girl
From the Spanish and Indian home
Home of the Heroes And Villains

Once at night Catillian squared the fight
And she was right in the rain of the bullets that eventually
Brought her down
But she's still dancing in the night
Unafraid of what a dude'll do in a town full of heroes and
Villains

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done

Stand or fall I know there
Shall be peace in the valley
And it's all an affair
Of my life with the heroes and villains

My children were raised
You know they suddenly rise
They started slow long ago
Head to toe healthy wealthy and wise

I've been in this town so long
So long to the city
I'm fit with the stuff
To ride in the rough
And sunny down snuff I'm alright
By the heroes and

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done

Writer/s: WILSON, BRIAN DOUGLAS / PARKS, VAN DYKE
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Heroes And Villains

Brian Wilson wrote this with lyricist Van Dyke Parks . It was intended for the Smile album, but Brian Wilson abandoned the project and the album was not finished until 2004. Once the album was scrapped, Wilson recorded this with the intention of releasing it as a single.

This was the first time Wilson and Parks wrote together, and it is reported that when Wilson first played the melody to him, Parks came up with the opening line on the spot.

The Beach Boys did at least 20 recording sessions for this song over a period of several months, as Brian Wilson was very particular about it. Sections known as "Cantina Scene" and "Bicycle Rider" were dropped, although The Beach Boys often included them in live performances of the song.

A different version was released on The Beach Boys 30th anniversary boxed set Good Vibrations, which was issued in 1993. This version included the Cantina Scene and some additional lines ("At threescore and five, I'm very much alive, I've still got the jive to survive with the heroes and villains").

When Brian Wilson was going through a period of nervous breakdowns, he referred to the voices in his head as the "heroes and villains," which created a constant buzzing in his brain that he couldn't turn off.

The Killers - The Slot Tech

The Killers - The Slot Tech Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Not Released on An Album
Released: 2012

The Slot Tech Lyrics

The Slot Tech

This song was mentioned in interviews from mid 2011 through to mid 2012 in the lead-up to the release of Battle Born. Despite being referred to a number of times, it was omitted from the final tracklisting. The seven-and-a-half minute epic concerns the men who service the thousands of slot machines and one-armed bandits in Brandon Flowers' Las Vegas hometown. He told Q magazine: "My wife has family who are slot techs. We all know people employed in the casinos and I have worked there myself. It's a great way to tell stories about ordinary folk in extraordinary circumstances."

The Beach Boys - California Girls

The Beach Boys - California Girls Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Released: 1965

California Girls Lyrics

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 Girls
I 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 LyricFind

California 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?"