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| What’s Your Favorite California Song? | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Good morning. | Good morning. |
| (Here’s the sign-up, if you don’t already get California Today by email.) | (Here’s the sign-up, if you don’t already get California Today by email.) |
| Today, I’m excited to introduce a new California Today feature. | Today, I’m excited to introduce a new California Today feature. |
| The idea is straightforward. We want to build a playlist of songs that are about, evoke or otherwise have some connection to California. We’re calling it the California Soundtrack — though that’s subject to change as it, like any good playlist, evolves. | The idea is straightforward. We want to build a playlist of songs that are about, evoke or otherwise have some connection to California. We’re calling it the California Soundtrack — though that’s subject to change as it, like any good playlist, evolves. |
| And that’s where you come in: Each week, we want to add a new song recommended by a reader — the more diverse, the more creatively they fit the theme, the better. | And that’s where you come in: Each week, we want to add a new song recommended by a reader — the more diverse, the more creatively they fit the theme, the better. |
| My picks are Frank Ocean’s “Sweet Life” from 2012 and Merle Haggard’s 1969 anthem, “Okie from Muskogee.” They sound totally different, but I love the way they each skate a fine line between celebrating and skewering versions of the California dream. | My picks are Frank Ocean’s “Sweet Life” from 2012 and Merle Haggard’s 1969 anthem, “Okie from Muskogee.” They sound totally different, but I love the way they each skate a fine line between celebrating and skewering versions of the California dream. |
| I’m no music expert, though. For that, I asked The Times’s chief pop music critic, Jon Pareles, to get the conversation properly started: | I’m no music expert, though. For that, I asked The Times’s chief pop music critic, Jon Pareles, to get the conversation properly started: |
| California has always been a mythic home and destination in pop songs: a place of sunswept euphoria and decadent pleasures, of organic purity and stylist-assisted Hollywood artifice. There isn’t one pop California: There are contradictory multitudes, as natural Northern California instincts and world-of-illusion Southern California fantasies coexist and cross-fertilize. | California has always been a mythic home and destination in pop songs: a place of sunswept euphoria and decadent pleasures, of organic purity and stylist-assisted Hollywood artifice. There isn’t one pop California: There are contradictory multitudes, as natural Northern California instincts and world-of-illusion Southern California fantasies coexist and cross-fertilize. |
| Coastal geography makes California the predestined home of surf-rock; car culture has made it a realm of leisurely, isolated sonic luxury. Urban pressures made it a laboratory for gangsta rap; suburban boredom made it a haven for punk, and the state’s Southern border has made it a gateway for subtle and overt influences from Mexico and points south. | Coastal geography makes California the predestined home of surf-rock; car culture has made it a realm of leisurely, isolated sonic luxury. Urban pressures made it a laboratory for gangsta rap; suburban boredom made it a haven for punk, and the state’s Southern border has made it a gateway for subtle and overt influences from Mexico and points south. |
| Here are five songs that, for this New York City lifer, summon visions of California from afar: | Here are five songs that, for this New York City lifer, summon visions of California from afar: |
| The Beach Boys: “Good Vibrations” (1967) | The Beach Boys: “Good Vibrations” (1967) |
| California is never mentioned in the lyrics of “Good Vibrations,” but its aura is unmistakable: in the “way the sunlight plays upon her hair,” in the exultant vocal harmonies that the Beach Boys had made inseparable from surf-rock, in the production’s euphoric blend of reverence, momentum, innovation and yearning. The way so many voices rush in, the swoop and quiver of the electrotheremin and the multiple sections packed into the song’s three-and-a-half minutes all add up to pure California optimism. | California is never mentioned in the lyrics of “Good Vibrations,” but its aura is unmistakable: in the “way the sunlight plays upon her hair,” in the exultant vocal harmonies that the Beach Boys had made inseparable from surf-rock, in the production’s euphoric blend of reverence, momentum, innovation and yearning. The way so many voices rush in, the swoop and quiver of the electrotheremin and the multiple sections packed into the song’s three-and-a-half minutes all add up to pure California optimism. |
| The Grateful Dead: “Ripple” (1970) | The Grateful Dead: “Ripple” (1970) |
| “Ripple” is a psychedelic string-band benediction. The melody seems to simply roll off Jerry Garcia’s acoustic guitar, with David Grisman’s mandolin glimmering above it like reflections from a mountain stream. Robert Hunter’s lyrics offer sympathy for every lone traveler’s journey as they hint at biblical psalms and Zen koans; the chorus has 17 syllables like a haiku (though divided differently). A wordless singalong at the end shares the consolations of that melody with a gathering of friends. | “Ripple” is a psychedelic string-band benediction. The melody seems to simply roll off Jerry Garcia’s acoustic guitar, with David Grisman’s mandolin glimmering above it like reflections from a mountain stream. Robert Hunter’s lyrics offer sympathy for every lone traveler’s journey as they hint at biblical psalms and Zen koans; the chorus has 17 syllables like a haiku (though divided differently). A wordless singalong at the end shares the consolations of that melody with a gathering of friends. |
| Joni Mitchell: “California” (1971) | Joni Mitchell: “California” (1971) |
| Homesickness defines “California,” written by a Canadian songwriter who had made Southern California her new home and had found an admiring peer group among the songwriters around Los Angeles’s Laurel Canyon. The verses are set in Europe, as the singer hops from France to Greece to Spain, enjoying dalliances and parties but always looking back toward her adopted home; when she sings “California” in the chorus, her voice giddily leaps up an octave. The accompaniment is sparse and precise — dulcimer, guitar, pedal steel guitar — and the longing is palpable, as she wonders, “Will you take me as I am?” | Homesickness defines “California,” written by a Canadian songwriter who had made Southern California her new home and had found an admiring peer group among the songwriters around Los Angeles’s Laurel Canyon. The verses are set in Europe, as the singer hops from France to Greece to Spain, enjoying dalliances and parties but always looking back toward her adopted home; when she sings “California” in the chorus, her voice giddily leaps up an octave. The accompaniment is sparse and precise — dulcimer, guitar, pedal steel guitar — and the longing is palpable, as she wonders, “Will you take me as I am?” |
| Black Flag: “Rise Above” (1981) | Black Flag: “Rise Above” (1981) |
| For some young rockers, the California dream had curdled by the early 1980s. Hope could hardly sound more furious than it does in “Rise Above,” the terse punk manifesto that helped make Black Flag the spearhead of California hard-core in the early 1980s. It announces itself with a hurried beat and a screech of feedback, then bears down on jumpy, heavily distorted guitar chords to launch shouts of defiance: “We! Are Tired! Of your! Abuse!/Try! To! Stop us! It’s! No use!” | For some young rockers, the California dream had curdled by the early 1980s. Hope could hardly sound more furious than it does in “Rise Above,” the terse punk manifesto that helped make Black Flag the spearhead of California hard-core in the early 1980s. It announces itself with a hurried beat and a screech of feedback, then bears down on jumpy, heavily distorted guitar chords to launch shouts of defiance: “We! Are Tired! Of your! Abuse!/Try! To! Stop us! It’s! No use!” |
| Kendrick Lamar: “good kid” (2012) | Kendrick Lamar: “good kid” (2012) |
| There’s a bitter sense of urban California history in Kendrick Lamar’s songs, particularly his first album, “Good Kid, M.A.D.D. City.” He raps about his birthplace, Compton, the city in Los Angeles County made infamous in the 1990s by the producer Dr. Dre. Decades later, things are still desperate with poverty and gang violence. The sound of “Good Kid” harks back to the smooth grooves of Dr. Dre’s G-funk while Lamar’s rhymes consider both the persistence of gang activity in the neighborhood and the racial profiling that misjudges individuals: “I recognize that I’m easily prey,” he raps. | There’s a bitter sense of urban California history in Kendrick Lamar’s songs, particularly his first album, “Good Kid, M.A.D.D. City.” He raps about his birthplace, Compton, the city in Los Angeles County made infamous in the 1990s by the producer Dr. Dre. Decades later, things are still desperate with poverty and gang violence. The sound of “Good Kid” harks back to the smooth grooves of Dr. Dre’s G-funk while Lamar’s rhymes consider both the persistence of gang activity in the neighborhood and the racial profiling that misjudges individuals: “I recognize that I’m easily prey,” he raps. |
| Click here to open the Spotify playlist. | Click here to open the Spotify playlist. |
| The ground rules: | The ground rules: |
| Email CAToday@nytimes.com the name of the song you’re recommending, the artist and no more than 100 words about what it means to you and your connection to California. | Email CAToday@nytimes.com the name of the song you’re recommending, the artist and no more than 100 words about what it means to you and your connection to California. |
| Please also include your name, age and where you live if you’d like to have your submission considered for publication. | Please also include your name, age and where you live if you’d like to have your submission considered for publication. |
| Know someone who loves music and knows California? Send them the sign-up to get California Today delivered to their inbox. | Know someone who loves music and knows California? Send them the sign-up to get California Today delivered to their inbox. |
| (We often link to sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. We appreciate your reading Times coverage, but we also encourage you to support local news if you can.) | (We often link to sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. We appreciate your reading Times coverage, but we also encourage you to support local news if you can.) |
| • Gov. Gavin Newsom is “swinging at every pitch.” But is he doing too much? And how far he can take a progressive agenda in a time of prosperity? [The New York Times] | • Gov. Gavin Newsom is “swinging at every pitch.” But is he doing too much? And how far he can take a progressive agenda in a time of prosperity? [The New York Times] |
| • Once all the votes are counted, turnout for Measure EE was expected to be about 10 percent. The measure, which would have raised money for Los Angeles public schools, got about 45 percent of the vote, far short of the necessary two-thirds approval. What went wrong? [The Los Angeles Times] | • Once all the votes are counted, turnout for Measure EE was expected to be about 10 percent. The measure, which would have raised money for Los Angeles public schools, got about 45 percent of the vote, far short of the necessary two-thirds approval. What went wrong? [The Los Angeles Times] |
| • As federal regulators turn their attentions toward tech giants, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have amassed armies of lobbyists for the battles ahead. [The New York Times] | • As federal regulators turn their attentions toward tech giants, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have amassed armies of lobbyists for the battles ahead. [The New York Times] |
| • The Trump administration’s move to restrict funding for research involving fetal tissue obtained from abortions immediately halted a decades-long partnership with U.C. San Francisco that involved H.I.V. research. [The San Francisco Chronicle] | • The Trump administration’s move to restrict funding for research involving fetal tissue obtained from abortions immediately halted a decades-long partnership with U.C. San Francisco that involved H.I.V. research. [The San Francisco Chronicle] |
| • The leader of La Luz del Mundo, a Mexican church that claims to have more than a million followers, was charged in L.A. with more than a dozen sex crimes, including ones involving children. [The New York Times] | • The leader of La Luz del Mundo, a Mexican church that claims to have more than a million followers, was charged in L.A. with more than a dozen sex crimes, including ones involving children. [The New York Times] |
| • Oakland’s City Council voted to bar the police from enforcing laws banning “magic” mushrooms, making it the second city in the U.S. after Denver to decriminalize their use. The move also included ayahuasca and peyote. [The Mercury News] | • Oakland’s City Council voted to bar the police from enforcing laws banning “magic” mushrooms, making it the second city in the U.S. after Denver to decriminalize their use. The move also included ayahuasca and peyote. [The Mercury News] |
| • The Sundance breakout “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” is a lament about the city’s shrinking black community, and the affordability crisis that’s pushing out everyone but the super wealthy. But it’s also a paean to a singular city. [The New York Times] | • The Sundance breakout “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” is a lament about the city’s shrinking black community, and the affordability crisis that’s pushing out everyone but the super wealthy. But it’s also a paean to a singular city. [The New York Times] |
| • It’s D-Day. Revisit the story of a Martinez man who’s heading back to Normandy for the first time in 75 years. [The New York Times] | • It’s D-Day. Revisit the story of a Martinez man who’s heading back to Normandy for the first time in 75 years. [The New York Times] |
| • U.C.L.A.’s softball team claimed its 118th national title, with a win over Oklahoma. [The Daily Bruin] | • U.C.L.A.’s softball team claimed its 118th national title, with a win over Oklahoma. [The Daily Bruin] |
| • The Raptors went “south” the wrong direction over the Golden Gate Bridge and got called out by Governor Newsom on Twitter. They still pummeled the Warriors in the third game of the N.B.A. finals. [The New York Times] | • The Raptors went “south” the wrong direction over the Golden Gate Bridge and got called out by Governor Newsom on Twitter. They still pummeled the Warriors in the third game of the N.B.A. finals. [The New York Times] |
| California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here. | California Today goes live at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for California Today here. |
| Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan. | Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, went to school at U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter, @jillcowan. |
| California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. | California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. |