Beach Boys’ best? 50 years of “California Girls”

“Well, East Coast girls are hip, I really dig those styles they wear…”

Fifty years ago today (July 12, 1965), the Beach Boys released one of those rare songs that was intended for AM radio airplay, but sounded good in stereo too.  In case you didn’t notice, most Beach Boys songs started with the word, “Well.”  No one’s ever really explained it, but I guess it hooked us in, as if we were being invited into a conversation.    Those opening words came after a long, 27-second introduction group leader Brian Wilson has called, “The finest piece of music I ever wrote.”

How did he come up with such a unique sound? After trying LSD for the first (but not the last) time, he tried to sleep it off, then got up and started imitating the classical sounds of Bach on his piano.  His father Murry, who famously abused Brian and berated him for his musical tastes, told him to scrap it.  It was “too complex” for Beach Boys fans.  But Brian moved forward, and more music began to flow.

“And the Southern girls with the way they talk, they knock me out when I’m down there…”

The song started as Brian’s way of saying, “everybody loves girls,” and the first title was simply, “Yeah, I Dig The Girls.”  Brian’s cousin, collaborator, and frequent nemesis, Mike Love took over most of the lyric writing, turning it into a celebration of women the group had met during their frequent travels, all over the world.

“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…”

Mike Love sang the lead vocals on each verse, with Brian and his brother Carl joining forces to provide the angelic chorus that everyone in the world sings along with today:

“I wish they all could be California, I wish they all could be California, I wish they all could be California girls….”

The instrumentation, as with most Beach Boys hits, was provided by studio musicians known as “The Wrecking Crew.”  Drummer Hal Blaine, bassist Carol Kaye, and pianist Leon Russell (yes, THAT Leon Russell) are among the all-stars who can be heard on this record.  The version we’ve heard on the radio for fifty years is the most-played Beach Boys song ever.  Brian was finally satisfied with the finished product after 44 takes. Maybe that’s why it sounds so perfect.

As Brian has said, his Beach Boys mates did a great job on live shows, but he wanted only the best musicians on his recordings.  The current movie “Love and Mercy” accurately, sometimes painfully depicts Brian’s life, from creating these hits, to the drug abuse and mental breakdowns that he has somehow survived.  Today, at age 73, he still performs: a true rock ‘n roll survivor.

In a recent interview, he rode around California with a Rolling Stone reporter.  According to the writer, Brian mutes most Beach Boys songs when they come on the radio.  I guess he’s heard them enough.  But when “California Girls” comes on, he turns it up, and sings along.

Over the years, I’ve been asked to name my favorite Beach Boys song from time to time, and I think I’ve given a different answer each time.  One day, it might be “God Only Knows.”  A year later, it might be another Wilson studio masterpiece, “Good Vibrations.”  I’m sure I’ve named “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” as my favorite quite frequently.  And I always crank it up when “Don’t Worry Baby” comes on: “Well, it’s been building up inside of me, for oh, I don’t know how long….”

Brian’s brothers, Carl and Dennis both passed away decades ago.  The other surviving Beach Boys are Al Jardine, and Mike Love, often named in polls as one of the least liked figures in music.  Although Love’s nasally vocals are at the forefront of most Beach Boys’ hits, his frequent battles with Brian made him a villain to many of the group’s fans.

In 1985, twenty years after “California Girls” made its big splash, former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth re-recorded it, note for note, with Carl Wilson on back-up vocals.  Just like the original, Roth’s version hit # 3 on the charts.  Twenty-five years later, Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” was a huge hit.  It was a different song, but was certainly inspired by the 1965 classic. (Some of the youthful commenters on YouTube watch the Beach Boys song, and accuse them of ripping off Katy Perry.  How funny, or sad, is that?)

1965 was a great year for music.  “California Girls” didn’t quite make it to #1, because of two pretty good songs ahead of it: “Help” by the Beatles and “Like A Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan.  How’s that for competition?  Still, I agree with Brian Wilson.  That beautiful introduction reels me in every time.  And for the next two minutes and forty-four seconds, just like Brian, I turn it up, and sing along.  Click the video below, and you can too:

 

In addition to the Rolling Stone article by Jason Fine (6/22/2015), information for this story also came from the book “1965” by Andrew Grant Jackson and the book “The Nearest Faraway Place” by Timothy White.