Tuesday Tunes 164: California

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When I played a set of songs about US cities last Tuesday I mentioned that I might be doing it again this week. But I changed my mind after a comments chat with Di, who planted the seed of an idea. We talked about songs with states in their titles, and I mentioned how easy one of them (at least) would be. So that’s what I’m doing: this week it is (almost) songs with California in their title. I’ve had to leave out a couple of really good ones to keep this down to five, but those that made the cut are great, trust me!

Let’s start in my favourite musical decade – back to the Sixties we go:

Ah, those were the days. I was born and grew up in a seaside town. Admittedly Dover wasn’t quite Monterey but we had our moments! California Girls was the opening track on side two of the Beach Boys’ album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!!), their ninth album in a spell of fewer than three years since they started out: it was released in July 1965, peaking at #2 in the US and at #4 in the UK. This song was released as single a week after the album, and made #3 in the US but only #26 in the UK. I guess it must have reminded us that we didn’t quite have the same weather, or such great beaches!

This next one is one of the more reflective songs from the guys who, at that time, were well on their way to becoming the biggest rock band in the world:

Going To California was a track on Led Zeppelin’s fourth album, which was officially untitled, coming to be known either as Led Zeppelin IV or Four Symbols, from the pictures on the cover. It was released in November 1971, and reached #1 in the UK and Canada, but only #2 in the US. The sales figures tell the full story though: over 37m copies worldwide, including 24m in the US, 2m in Canada and 1.8m in the UK. This is still one of my favourite albums, not just by Led Zeppelin but by anyone, and ranks for me right up there with Led Zeppelin II as one of the all time great rock records. I just about played my copy to death during my days at uni!

You may have spotted that at the beginning of this piece I said that today’s tunes would almost have California in their title. This is why:

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers released their Californication album in June 1999, and it reached #3 in the US and #5 in the UK, though it did get to #1 in both Australia and New Zealand. It has sold more than 15m copies worldwide, including 7m in the US and 1.2m in the UK. The title track was the fourth to be taken as a single, but not until June 2000 by when most seemed to have already bought the album: it only got to #69 in the US and #16 in the UK. It is a very dark song, as Wikipedia tells us: it explores the dark side of Hollywood and the export of culture through the movie industry. The song begins “Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind’s elation.” It also makes references to topics such as pornography (“hardcore soft porn”) and plastic surgery (“pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging”) and even some pop culture references including Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain and David Bowie. As I said, quite a deep and dark song, but it is one I’ve always liked. And as pop culture references go, theming the video around a video game is a great idea: it is superbly well done.

Let’s lighten things up a bit now. How about a song which says how much these guys are missing the state while they are on the other side of the country:

The Mamas & the Papas were only together for a few years, from 1965 to 1968, and then again for a brief reunion in 1971. They made five albums and quite a few singles in that time, however. California Dreaming was a single in December 1965, and was later included on their debut album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears, which came out in February 1966. The single peaked at #4 in the US and #9 in the UK, while the album went to #1 in the US and #3 in the UK. They had several more big hits, including the follow up to this one: Monday Monday (US #1, UK #3). Their lives were complicated but their music wasn’t: beautiful melodies and harmonies were their trademark, and they are still good to hear today.

My final song tor today is, perhaps, the most obvious choice I could have made. I thought long and hard about including it, not because I didn’t want to but because of the controls exercised by the record label, which make it very hard to get a version that will play everywhere. So, with that risk in mind, here is one of the greatest rock songs of all time:

That is the official video for Hotel California from the Eagles official YouTube channel, so I hope it worked for you. I tried to find an official version of the song in an audio-only format, but there doesn’t appear to be one! So in case the first one didn’t work for you here is a link to an unofficial audio-only version, which might help. It has been on YouTube ten years so I hope they don’t choose to take it down now. There are times when I hate record companies! Hotel California was the Eagles’ fifth album, released in December 1976 and reaching #1 in the US, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand, and #2 in the UK. This track was issued as a single in February 1977, and got to #1 in the US and Canada, and to #8 in the UK. The album has sold around 34m copies worldwide, including 26m in the US, 1.8m in the UK and 1m in Canada, and the single has also sold 1.8m in the UK, plus a further 1m hard copies and 3m downloads in the US. By anyone’s standards, this was a success! I loved it then and I love it now: a superb album.

That’s a wrap for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed the change of plan, and I still have the remaining list of city songs to play at some point. Or maybe I could try another state – for some inexplicable reason Georgia seems to be on my mind at present…

Have a great week, and I’ll see you again soon 😊🎶

61 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 164: California”

  1. Pingback: The First Day After August | Take It Easy

  2. Ahh! A great list of songs! I just listened to California Dreaming last night. Brad was playing one of his Mama and Papa’s CD. You know I love the Beach Boys and Hotel California by the Eagles is a classic. Well done!
    If still interested in the city songs, you made my husband’s mind start going … so here are some from his list. LOL
    Little Rock – Reba McEntire
    Tallahassee Lassie – Freddie Cannon
    Honolulu Lulu- Jan and Dean
    Little Old Lady from Pasadena- Jan and Dean
    Salt Lake City – Beach Boys
    Say Goodbye to Hollywood – Billy Joel

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    • Glad you liked them. They weren’t hard to choose!

      I probably will do another set of city songs. I have enough to do it but I’m always grateful for suggestions so thank Brad for me please. An interesting list: three of them I’d never heard of, two surfer ones which is a genre I’ve played a fair bit recently, and I played the Billy Joel one back in June for a set of ‘goodbye’ songs. The other Eagles one I was thinking about but chose to leave out was Hollywood Waltz.

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      • I will thank him, you are very welcome. He is always glad to give suggestions. 🙂
        “The Little Old Lady from Pasadena” he turned into a joke by singing “The Little Old Lady from Pennsylvania!” Yes, he may have got “The Look” from me over that! LOL!

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    • I thought that one might be your favourite. Several have remarked that they didn’t know it: I guess you needed to have the album! The RHCP one was a big hit here and got lots of airplay so I’m surprised you missed it. It’s a great song and the video is brilliant 😊

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  6. A decent collection of well known songs, Clive. Thank you. But I told you last week I don’t play by rules. Today I am going to offer you a song about California, specifically San Francisco, by a band you likely never heard of in England. If you have, 5 points for you. The song is written from the perspective of a boy from Houston, Texas who went to San Francisco for the Summer of Love, and now back in Houston finds his old girlfriend inadequate (like farm boys seeing Paris during World War One), and no matter how much he loves her, she cannot compete with the girls he canmot stop dreaming of…

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    • And just in case you need a bit of convincing, I would like to add a Neil Young song first concieved in Winnipeg and according to Wikipedia written in Toronto (Yorkville) and first recorded by Buffalo Springfield in, you guessed it, California. (Oh, how a wicked mind weaves a web!) I actually prefer this arrangement to Buffalo Springfield and Neil Young solo.

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      • Just a question: Were you ever into real psychedelic music (not the shit they call psychedelic today)? Hendrix, Cream, Eric Burdon and the New Animsls, Vanilla Fudge, Arthur Brown, Frank Zappa, etc etc etc. Plus The Beatles and The Stones, can’t forget them, 😉

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      • Taking that list in order:

        Hendrix – yes but I don’t think of him as psychedelic in general

        Cream – ditto

        Eric Burdon – I preferred the original RnB version of the Animals

        Vanilla Fudge – tuneless dirges, destroying good songs

        Arthur Brown – didn’t really know much of him apart from Fire

        Frank Zappa – a definite no

        Beatles and Stones are still favourites to this day.

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      • We have different definitions for Pschedelic music, maybe I should have used the term Acid Rock. But no matter. On this genre we will never agree, as it is by far my favourite genre — even though it only lasted a few years. I won’t be suggesting any more music on your site. I will read it, but best if I don’t comment.

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      • Maybe. I’d have added Pink Floyd to the list, particularly their early stuff pre-Dark Side of the Moon.

        Happy for you to comment – it broadens my musical horizons. And you never know, I’m sure there are some I’d like 😉

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      • I never got into Pink Floyd for some reason, unless you are talking the guy in Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, featuring Animal. Them I am into, no matter what genre they might be playing..

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    • Where do you think I got the name for my blog? The Eagles were always one of my favourite bands and the only thing that made me think twice about including them today is how hard it is to get videos that don’t suffer copyright issues.

      Thanks for the tip – I don’t know that one.

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  9. I instantly looked for my favorite (Hotel California) and was pleasantly surprised to see it there. I like so many of The Eagles songs so it’s impossible to pick a favorite, but that one is near the top of the list. I like all your other selections today.

    I chuckle about the image of California as many people (I’m not one of them) are always talking about “moving the hell out of this place.” rather than the glorified sunny beaches that many older songs portray. California is a liberal state politically, and there are those who are looking for others people who think along the same lines as them.

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    • I almost left it out, as their videos often don’t play, but I had to include it, didn’t I! I’m pleased you liked all of the others too – more of a mainstream set than I sometimes do.

      I wondered how accurate that cartoon was. As you say, the image most of us have is the beach/surfer thing rather than anything darker.

      I hope you’re ok, Pete. I’ve noticed the absence of likes and comments on recent posts and hope you’ve been enjoying a break rather than being unwell!

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  10. Thanks for the nod Clive. Good selection: Beach Boys, Mamas and Papas of course, and The Eagles classic. I was never a Led Zeppelin fan so this track was a surprise. RHCP are also not my cup of tea but I enjoyed that one too!

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  11. I love every one of those California songs. I haven’t listened to that Led Zeppelin track for a while. I also enjoyed the Chili Peppers’ video. I might have included ‘California’ by Semisonic and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was on your bigger list. You could probably pick some great songs about ‘places’ in California.

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    • I’m pleased to hear it, Paul. You’re right, Semisonic were on my reserve list, along with Joni Mitchell, Tom Petty, Neil Young… Maybe another time. I still have my longer list of US cities to play in another post, and several of them are in CA too.

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    • I thought most of these would be familiar – it was a week for me not to play anything obscure! I guess you’re too young to remember a Led Zep album track, though. Please tell me your ringtone isn’t Katy Perry!

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      • Yes, probably I was too young to cross paths with it… lol
        No, it is not the Katy Perry song 🤣 It is “California” by Phantom Planet. I love it. And played it when we did drive up and down “101” this year.

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  14. A terrific post! For whatever reason I’ve never taken to the Chili Peppers, but another great song by The Beach Boys is an album track called “California saga” and it’s a three part ode to the state as well…love your music posts!

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    • Thank you, John, I’m pleased you like these. I guess the RHCPs aren’t to everyone’s taste, but that’s part of the beauty of music. I like that Beach Boys one too – had it on the Holland album – but stayed mainstream for this week’s set.

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