California Girls
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| "California Girls" | |||
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| Single by The Beach Boys | |||
| from the album [[Summer Days (And Summer Nights | )]] | ||
| Released | July 12, 1965 | ||
| Format | Vinyl | ||
| Recorded | 1965 | ||
| Genre | Pop | ||
| Length | 4 min 58 sec for both songs | ||
| Label | Capitol Records | ||
| Producer(s) | Brian Wilson | ||
| Chart positions | |||
| The Beach Boys singles chronology | |||
| "Help Me, Rhonda"/"Kiss Me, Baby" (1965) ---- "California Dreamin'"/"Lady Liberty" (1986) |
"California Girls"/"Let Him Run Wild" (1965) ---- "Happy Endings"/"California Girls" (1987) |
"The Little Girl I Once Knew"/"There's No Other (Like My Baby)" (1965) ---- "Kokomo"/"Tutti Frutti" (1988) |
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"California Girls" is the title of a song written by Mike Love and Brian Wilson and recorded by The Beach Boys for their 1965 album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). It features contrasting verse-chorus form.
The song was covered by former Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth on his 1985 EP Crazy from the Heat (with background vocals contributed by Beach Boy Carl Wilson along with Christopher Cross), and reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song "California Girls" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list.[1] Rolling Stone ranked it #71 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
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[edit] Recording
The music for the song came from Brian Wilson's first LSD experience. According to Brian Wilson himself, shortly after taking LSD, he ran up to a bedroom and hid under a pillow, shouting "I'm afraid of my mom, I'm afraid of my dad." Randomly, he got up, said "That's enough of that" and went to a piano. He started playing in the bass the B-F#-G# pattern over and over, and then added in the right hand after a few minutes a B chord, moving to an A chord. Within a half hour, he had come up with the "well east-coast girls are hip, I really dig the styles they wear" part of the song.
The next day, he and Mike Love (who had hitherto allegedly not consumed illicit substances) supposedly finished off the remainder of the song; interestingly, take 8 announces the song as "You're Grass and I'm a Lawn Mower." Unfortunately, Brian Wilson claims that not only did this particular LSD trip produce one of his greatest compositions—"California Girls"—it also left him with a threatening voice in his head, permanently, paving the way for the mental illness which would strike him later in life.[citation needed]
[edit] References
The song has been prominently referenced by other artists on more than one occasion. Most notably, the Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R." is considered an homage to the song.
On her 2005 album, "All Jacked Up", Gretchen Wilson performs a song composed with John Rich entitled 'California Girls'. Her song, a unique composition rather than a cover of the Beach Boys original, is instead a country-styled retort to Beach Boys song, featuring a chorus that asks, "ain't you glad we ain't all California girls?".
In Brian Wilson's 1998 concert Live at the Roxy he refered to "California Girls" as the theme song of The Beach Boys.
[edit] Details
- Written by: Brian Wilson and Mike Love
- Album: Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
- Time: 2 min 38 sec
- Produced by: Brian Wilson
[edit] Performers
- Mike Love: Lead Vocals
- Brian Wilson: Lead Chorus Vocals
- Bruce Johnston: Backing Vocals
- Carol Kaye: Electric Bass
- Carl Wilson: 12 String Electric Guitar (electric)
- Hal Blaine: drums
