California
Lyrics
someday california's gonna fall into the ocean some say that'll be an awful waste of land someday california's gonna fall into the ocean so you said you better get there while you can the lord will break it off along the san andreas fault and watch it sink into the silent depths below someday california's gonna fall into the ocean i hope it doesn't take you with it when it goes (harmonica solo, starring emily cooper) forty-nine of these united states will cling to one another just the way the lord designed them to someday california's gonna fall into the ocean i just didn't think she'd want to leave so soon
Music
Chords
verse:
D A7/C# b a G e D A7 D A7/C# b D7/A G e A7
chorus:
f# G b A e D/F# G e b/F# G D G A D (A7)
Structure
A B A B
Author's Notes
I like this song. When I was working on it, I wrote an email to Becky Stark with the lyrics and this comment, "so imagine this one a little faster than it might be, and as far as feel... think: billy joel's "piano man..." as recorded by the beatles circa 1965, but they've somehow been listening to too much tom waits. with the aid of a time machine. i don't know." Obviously I was flattering myself, or at the least setting my sights a little high, but I am proud of this number.
When The Passerines perform this one, we do a sparser, slower, more deliberate version. Lixian sings some really outstanding harmonies on the refrain. With luck we'll record a finished version of this soon with Em on drums and Lixian on keyboards and backup vocals.
Comments
i need the rest of the chords so i can cover the hell out of this. i don't know why, but it took me a long time to realize this song is not merely good. it's excellent! i love the line "sink into the silent depths below," very graphic and still serene. this song is very fun to sing along to, particularly the passerines version on pure hype from feb 07. anyway. i am not articulating it well so i will give up now, but this song makes my day, like, every single day. Sara 23:15, 11 April 2007 (PDT)
I was a little surprised to see that you wrote this song. I think I heard Becky play it in our apartment and assumed that she wrote it. It's totally plausible as a Becky song, but it makes sense in your catalog too. I am a huge fan of your short songs (California, Snuggle, Fireman etc). You have a knack for writing short pieces that sound complete, interesting, and mysterious.
- The melody is great, and you do a great job sing it
- You have some killer lines here. "forty-nine of these united states will cling to one another / just the way the lord designed them to" is particularly amazing to me.
- I love the slightly non-sequitur ending "i just didn't think she'd want to leave so soon". It's a little jarring in a wonderful way. For me, the parallel between California being doomed and a relationship being doomed snaps into focus all of a sudden. Its great.
- Like your other short songs, the pacing is perfect. You keep the song moving through the structure so that when it ends, it doesn't feel truncated, instead it feels like a mini-universe, like a snow globe or something. Tiny and complete.
Conorl 06:26, 24 March 2008 (PDT)
