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30 May 2009

AskMecha: In the Beach Boys song "California Girls"...→[More:]are they saying that they wish that every beautiful woman everywhere lived in California? Or are they saying that they wish that women everywhere were as universally beautiful as the women from California?

post by: ColdChef at: 12:40 | 27 comments

I think the latter.

posted by amro 30 May | 12:56

I agree.

posted by box 30 May | 13:07

I disagree. I think the song indicates a desire to see women of all types and from all climes, but outfitted for a hypothetical (and largely fantasy-based) California lifestyle: stripped down to a bikini and oiled up for the beach, relaxed and tanned.

posted by Elsa 30 May | 13:32

...in other words, looking like the girls from Califoria do. Hence, the latter interpretation.

posted by Wolfdog 30 May | 13:33

I *knew* you were going to ask this question ColdChef, when I read the front page. I've pondered this often, myself.

posted by gaspode 30 May | 13:38

Nooooo, though I can see that as a valid interpretation.

I argue that the speaker wishes women of putatively geographically-based variance in type and appearance could change their garb and environments, but have their pre-existing habits and physical attributes remain intact.

Follow-up question: wouldn't it be nice if we were older?

posted by Elsa 30 May | 13:39

Well east coast girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear
And the southern girls with the way they talk
They knock me out when Im down there

The mid-west farmers daughters really make you feel alright
And the northern girls with the way they kiss
They keep their boyfriends warm at night

I wish they all could be california
I wish they all could be california
I wish they all could be california girls

The west coast has the sunshine
And the girls all get so tanned
I dig a french bikini on hawaii island
Dolls by a palm tree in the sand

I been all around this great big world
And I seen all kinds of girls
Yeah, but I couldnt wait to get back in the states
Back to the cutest girls in the world

I wish they all could be california
I wish they all could be...

posted by box 30 May | 14:16

Oh, thanks for providing the lyrics, box, so I don't have to search for them.

*puts on insufferable English lit hat and posh accent*

The crux of the matter is encoded in the fourth verse, wherein the speaker mentions that even as a man of the world he yearns to return to his homeland and more specifically, the women with whom he has surrounded himself his whole life. One also gets the impression that the speaker is nearing the twilight of his life because of the wistful yearning expressed consistently in the refrain ("I wish"), the words of a person who has endured a few decades, seen and experienced new places ("been all around this great big world"), and is eager to come home to the California in his mind: sunny, but smogless, with melanoma-free women reclined on hills of sand by the Pacific Ocean.

In short: I think it's the former.

posted by TrishaLynn 30 May | 14:36

I have to side with "I wish all types of beautiful girls were local" viewpoint. Why would the lyrics talk about digging Eastern girls as they are? or being knocked out by an attribute of Southern girls? or how Midwestern girls make you feel or how Northern girls kiss? Or the french bikini on the Hawaiian girls? if all he wants is them to give up those great things for a suntan? I think he wishes that California, with its awesome girls, also had other types of awesome girls. But then, of all the places I lived, I liked Southern California's aesthetic the least, so I am, quite frankly, biased against it.

posted by crush-onastick 30 May | 14:48

Why would the lyrics talk about digging Eastern girls as they are? or being knocked out by an attribute of Southern girls?

Because the way you build up to saying California girls are the very most awesomest ones of all is not by first saying that Minnesota girls are kind of frumpy, southern girls have a farm-like aroma, etc. etc. You say all these things are pretty great, nay even fantastic, but even they can't compare to...

posted by Wolfdog 30 May | 15:09

Okay, Wolfdog, that makes sense, but I'm still not convinced. I still think he's a greedy cocky little bastard who just wishes they'd all be local so he wouldn't have to go so far to bag 'em.

:p

posted by crush-onastick 30 May | 15:51

To me it's always seemed like the singer wants them all to be the literal girls of California. But I am not an English major.

posted by DarkForest 30 May | 16:10

I've never even thought that this one was up for discussion - it's that he thinks the California girls are the best around.

It's the West Coast version of "My gal is red hot - Your gal ain't doodly-squat"

posted by Slack-a-gogo 30 May | 16:11

On a related note - in college I worked with a guy who had just arrived to America from (I think) Peru and his dream while he was in the States was "to date a California girl and play guitar on the beach".

posted by Slack-a-gogo 30 May | 16:16

Presumably somewhere in California there is a guy who dreams of strumming a charango in the Andes with a sleek, silky llama by his side.

posted by Wolfdog 30 May | 16:48

He wants all the girls to move to California yet retain their uniqueness. If he lives in California, and where else would a Beach Boy live, wouldn't he want all the girls to live in close proximity?

But, of course, once a girl leaves her original home and moves to California, she loses her uniqueness and becomes a blonde beach bimbo complete with faux tan and curtains that no longer match the rug. So, really, he doesn't know it, but he's better off travelling to get his rocks off.

posted by deborah 30 May | 17:05

Slack: I went to college in Texas, with a bunch of guys from Texas who had the very same dream!

posted by crush-onastick 30 May | 17:07

"I hate California girls."

posted by BoringPostcards 30 May | 17:23

Tewtally the latter, dewd.

posted by Specklet 30 May | 17:43

Slow clap for BoringPostcards

posted by The Whelk 30 May | 17:51

Is there a name for a song where some dude details what an international player he is? There's Ricky Nelson's 'Travelin' Man,' Ludacris 'Area Codes,' the Motley Crue and Jay-Z 'Girls Girls Girls' songs...

posted by box 30 May | 18:54

The former, since proximity makes coitus more practical.

posted by jonmc 30 May | 20:34

The "Catalogue" aria from Don Giovanni? Although the dude there isn't singing about his *own* international exploits...

posted by casarkos 30 May | 20:34

Well, the Ukraine girls really knock me out
they leave the West behind...
and Moscow girls make me sing and shout
that Georgia's always on my my- my- my- my- my- my- my- my-mind!

posted by flapjax at midnite 31 May | 08:25

Is there a name for a song where some dude details what an international player he is?

Oh!
I could love a million girls and every girl a twin
I could love a chinese girl an eskimo or finn
I could love a german girl a girl with golden curls
In fact I think that I could love about a million girls

posted by The Whelk 31 May | 12:59

I have always understood it to be a fascist screed where the singer is calling for all women, the world over, to be remade in the image of this mythological "California Girl." It's pro-eugenics and anti-diversity. *shiver*

posted by Eideteker 06 June | 17:42

I grew up in ground zero for CaliforniaGirlness. The only thing worse than being a shy boy in that place and time, was probably being a shy girl who did not fit the specifications that Brian Wilson, who lived FOUR MILES INLAND came up with.

I hate hate hate the Beach Boys.

posted by danf 06 June | 19:26

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