Bummer In The Summer: Top 50 Melancholy California Songs

by California-based bands/artists, about California, etc.

50. Topanga Canyon - John Phillips
49. X - Come Back To Me

48. Red House Painters - entire discography

47. Winter - The Rolling Stones
46. A Long December - Counting Crows

45. Cracker - Big Dipper

44. Kate Wolf - Here in California

43. Steely Dan-"Bad Sneakers"

42. Neko Case - In California

Laguna Sunrise-Black Sabbath

43.^

40. The Eagles - Hotel California

39. half the songs on Pet Sounds

38 Neil Young- Revolution Blues (perhaps not melancholy so much a raging)

37. Beach Boys-"Busy Doin' Nothin'"

36. Linda Perhacs - Chimacum Rain

caveat: not calif.-based artists
37.Sausalito - Conor Oberst
36.Come Back from San Francisco - magnetic fields
35. California- Joni

wtf most of these folks are not from California

34. Albert Hammond-"It Never Rains In Southern California"

31. Saint Etienne - Downey, CA.
30. Bran Van 3000 - Drinking in LA.

non-californians are fine as long as the song is about california; california artists can just be melancholy without specifically mentioning california

The Carpenters discography

^^^lolz was gonna be my first post but I couldn't think of any songs specifically about Cali

29. Go Go's-"This Town"

28. Grateful Dead - Black Peter, High Time, Comes a Time, Ship of Fools, To Lay Me Down, West LA Fadeaway, Stella Blue

27. Grateful Dead- Wharf Rat

26 Dead homies - Ice Cube

25. Lodi - Creedence Clearwater Revival

24. Tom Waits-"Ol' 55"

23. Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay

22. Phil Ochs - One Way Ticket Home, No More Songs, Rehearsals For Retirement, The World Began In Eden But Ended In Los Angeles

21. America Music Club - all (special mention to Highway 5)

American

20. Deltron 3030 - Madness

19. Harry Nilsson - Don't Forget Me
18. Randy Newman - Old Man
17. Jackson Browne - Somebody's Baby

16. Neil Young - On The Beach (the song, though the whole album could work)

15. Surf's Up - Beach Boys

14. http://www.timbuckleymusic.com/images/album_covers/Blue_Afternoon_8_Track.jpg

13. John Stewart - Gold

12. Jack Nitzsche - Lower California

already named but Joni owns this thread, any expat who hears it & doesn't cry is posing

also, 11. 2Pac & Dr. Dre, California Love

25. Lodi - Creedence Clearwater Revival

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, May 5, 2009 7:08 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

winner so far

also, 11. 2Pac & Dr. Dre, California Love

― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Tuesday, May 5, 2009 3:53 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

You gotta weird idea about melancholy, dude.

11. Goin' To California - Led Zep

10. History Lesson Pt 2 - The Minutemen

9. Above the Law - Promise Me
8. Souls of Mischief - Times Ain't Fair
7. 2Pac - So Many Tears

re: cali love, maybe u mean 'to live and die in LA'?

6 War - The World is a Ghetto

no I mean "California Love" but you have to have grown up in SoCal & moved away to get melancholy about "let me serenade the streets of L.A."

that's not on the song though, so yeah

inglewood, inglewood, always up to no good ... :'(

cali love makes u more melancholy than "to live and die in la"???

I do often cry about Inglewood & its inability to do right

xpost I really hate "to live & die in l.a.," the sung hook is garbage

cali love is whatever to me, maybe cuz i knew it so well even just living in jersey, but 2L&DinLA gets me going

wow thats terrible for you, youre missing out

I think if you had had the experience of being abroad & being Californian & hearing "cali love" on German radio you'd know how intense it is

(= like I said, it's personal)

5 This Year - The Mountain Goats

4. Steely Dan, "Babylon Sisters"
3. Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Under the Bridge"

xpost yeah, i actually agree -- as a Californian, weird songs (not just the ballad-y stuff) definitely make me miss the Golden State, in particular old gangsta rap. it was just a big part of the landscape growing up.

2. America, "Ventura Highway"

SemiOne1 (1 day ago) +1 Reply
FACT: mickey rourke and tupac were close mates

shoelessg (1 day ago) 0 Reply
So sad that hes gone
Wish he was still here, even though it be a little wierd since hed be alot older
hed still be the best though

lol i just looked it up on youtube too

ha i love this vid

5 This Year - The Mountain Goats

man, if you mean this, I want to say thank you, because the unnamed target of the love in that song is southern California.

thread is totally gonna make me lose it, I love where I am now & will be happy to die here but there is no way of not missing California after you leave, sometimes I think the purpose of being Californian is to leave it & come to understand what you left

25. Lodi - Creedence Clearwater Revival

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, May 5, 2009 7:08 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

winner so far

― 69, Tuesday, May 5, 2009 3:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

ha, there's a lodi in OH (where i grew up - OH, not lodi tho) and i just always thought of the OH town

does john not understand the difference between melancholy and sentimental or something?

don't you have some midtown meet-n-greet to get to or something

thread is totally gonna make me lose it, I love where I am now & will be happy to die here but there is no way of not missing California after you leave, sometimes I think the purpose of being Californian is to leave it & come to understand what you left

― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Tuesday, May 5, 2009 3:13 PM (55 minutes ago)

You are J0an Didi0n and I claim my five.

I thought mamas and papas would be the first post

i imagine a lotta ppl thought quickly of california dreamin and rejected it almost as quickly because it's about being melancholy because Not in california

no everybody's saving it for #2

after "One" of course

can I just

1. The Coup - "Santa Rita Weekend"

also uh,

0.5. Woody Guthrie - "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos"

other good ones:

The 6ths - "San Diego Zoo"
Ashby - "West Coast Town"
The Kinks - "Hollywood Boulevard"

^^^or "Celluloid Heroes", if you prefer...

-1. "california" by phantom planet

lol just kidding, that song makes me hate california with a seething rage

-6. Rogue Wave - California

"ha, there's a lodi in OH (where i grew up - OH, not lodi tho) and i just always thought of the OH town"

I always thought it was about Lodi, New Jersey. If you were stuck in Lodi, NJ, you would definitely be saying "Oh no", trust me.

-7 Leaving California - PJ Harvey and John Parish

man, if you mean this, I want to say thank you, because the unnamed target of the love in that song is southern California.
― worm? lol (J0hn D.)

Of course I meant it. It's a very Californian song to my ears, though I don't know if melancholy is exactly the right word for it.

See also: "Moving to L.A." -- Art Brut; "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" -- Dionne Warwick;
"Thank You For Making Me Feel ... Better" -- Linus of Hollywood; "California Shake" -- Margo Guryan; "Yesterday Can't Hurt Me" -- Evie Sands

Pete Townshend - "Exquisitely Bored"

Sly & the Family Stone - "Luv 'n' Haight"

"Understanding California Women" -- Swamp Dogg

i guess no one has mentioned "Bummer in the Summer" by Love? Not really that melancholy a song, tho.

in some ways, i'd say most of 'We Shall All Be Healed,' though i am sure j0hn d could educate me on which songs are about Portland and which are about Cali. sometimes i sing "Pigs..." when i'm walking around...god, Chico is such a hellish place.

also:
Ariel Pink- Life in LA

Pal Joey, the movie, comes to mind for some reason.

"Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered"
"My Funny Valentine" - though better perhaps in Chet Baker's version.

I don't know why, but Sinatra's "The Hurt Doesn't Go Away" seems to fit.

Morrissey, "First of the Gang to Die," "I'm Playing Easy go Get"

Patti Smith, "Redondo Beach"

Dennis Wilson, It's Not Too Late.

It's not about California, but it perfectly captures that California melancholy feel.

-22. 'california morning' young tradition

See also: Ides of March, "L.A. Goodbye."

Omigod! We like, totally forgot about California by Quasi. Gag me with a spoon.
It's totally tubular. Barf out, people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life is full life is grey:
At its best it's just OK.
But I'm happy to report
Life is also short.
So I find myself back in California -
I'm a coolie for the tourists,
those happy Epicureans:
Evil spectres from my own suburban upbring.
As I reveal points of interest, I can chat so pleasantly,
But it's hard to be cheerful when you feel so hopeless
And there's no reason for this dark mood.
It will pass; it will return, but will I ever learn ?
And the children of privilege begging for my spare change.
Do they need my assistance to purchase their intoxicants,
or would they best be served a swift kick
Slowly sinking in the vast ambivalent sea of California.

Like, that first line should totally be "Life is dull, life is grey"

every song on Gaucho

also this is like my favorite micro genre

Buffalo Springfield - Sad Memory

Finally got around to making a Spotify playlist from this thread, been meaning to do it for a while. I was able to add 57 tracks, a handful couldn't be found on Spotify. The playlist:

http://open.spotify.com/user/hetdronkenschip/playlist/3YgRP8X0Pj9TIsSntBfjlG

This is the first time I am sharing a playlist, it'd be nice of someone can let me know if it works!

Oh, and I added the brilliant 'West Coast Calamities' by Ariel Pink.

'california in popular song' lucksmiths