At number 5 is The Beach Boys' brilliant "California Girls". A song that marries the teenage sound of their early hits and the brilliant harmonies of their more grown up masterpieces.
One of my favourite pointless chats is discussing whether the Beach Boys are saying that they wish all the girls around the world were Californian girls or that all the girls in the world were in California. It becomes pretty clear when you listen to the lyrics it is the latter - that Brian Wilson et al. wishes all the girls from around the world were in California, presumably so they didn't have to travel around too much to see them.
"California Girls" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love and recorded by The Beach Boys in 1965. It features contrasting verse-chorus form. The song was released as a single, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also appeared on the album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!).
The song "California Girls" is part of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list. In 2004, it was ranked #71 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The music for the song came from Brian Wilson's first LSD experience. According to Brian Wilson himself in the Beautiful Dreamer documentary, 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." Some time later he left the room 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 supposedly finished off the remainder of the song.
"California Girls" was the first Beach Boys recording to feature vocals from Bruce Johnston, who had joined the group to substitute for Brian Wilson on concert tours.
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.
And now, the greatest fact you will read in this entire countdown:
Principal Belding from Saved by the Bell tells Zack that it is his all time favourite song and walks off screen, humming the song.
If it's good enough for Principal Belding, it's good enough for me!
Labels: James G, The Summer of Love Countdown