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“California Girls” by The Beach Boys
My continuing series of “songs that matter”
Brian Wilson decided to stop touring with The Beach Boys to dedicate more time to recording. Wilson’s primary goal became using the studio as an instrument. Glen Campbell replaced Wilson on the road, but studio musicians were laying down the musical background in L.A.’s Western Studio for a new song with the working title, “We Don’t Know.” The song would eventually reach number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965. It trailed “Like A Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan and “Help” by The Beatles.
Let’s take a closer look at “California Girls” by The Beach Boys.
In his 2016 memoir, I Am Brian Wilson, the singer/songwriter/producer wrote: “The idea for ‘California Girls’ is that there’s this guy who thinks about girls all the time, so much that he starts to imagine all kinds. But there’s only one kind he really wants, and that’s right there at home. The music started off like those old cowboy movies, when the hero’s riding slowly into town, bum-ba-dee-dah. I was playing that at a piano after an acid trip. I played it until I almost couldn’t hear what I was playing, and then I saw the melody hovering over the piano part.”
Wilson told Goldmine magazine in 2011: “I came up with the introduction first. I’m still really proud of that introduction…
