California Girls

"California Girls" 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 like the original it topped at #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.

1 Recording
2 References
- 2.1 Performers
3 See also

[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 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 Power Mower," (other takes indicate the title of the song was not yet finalized, and it is referred to by various names). 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]}

"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.

[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 (no relation to the Wilson brothers) 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 referred to "California Girls" as the theme song of The Beach Boys.

Ricky Martin sang a cover version on "An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson (2001)."

The song has been also heard in the James Bond movie ( Starring Roger Moore ) , "A View To a Kill" in 1985.

This song can be heard at the beginning of Rush Hour 2 where main characters Lee (played by Jackie Chan) and Carter (played by Chris Tucker) sing along to the song as it plays on the radio. In Rush Hour 3, Lee uses it as his ringtone when Carter calls him at the beginning, and later on in the movie a french performer sings the song on the street where Carter is eating dinner.