Brian Wilson Describes the Meaning Behind ‘California Girls’ by the Beach Boys
Brian Wilson offered insight into “California Girls,” which he co-wrote for the Beach Boys. Here’s what we know about one of the surf rock group’s most popular songs — and the meaning behind its lyrics.
What is ‘California Girls’ by the Beach Boys about?
They wish they all could be California girls. The Beach Boys included “California Girls” on the 1965 release Summer Days (and Summer Nights).
On Spotify, this song became the most popular addition to the album, earning over 60 million plays. The song was also added to the Beach Boys’ Greatest Hits collection. In this original, the singer laments over his romantic encounters.
“Well, East Coast girls are hip I really dig those styles they wear,” the lyrics state. “And the Southern girls, with the way they talk / They knock me out when I’m down there.”
The first verse continues, with the narrator mentioning his appreciation for the “Midwest farmers’ daughters” and the northern girls. Still, he concludes in the chorus he wishes they could all be California girls.
“The West Coast has the sunshine,” the Beach Boys sing in the second verse. “And the girls all get so tanned / I dig a French bikini on Hawaiian island dolls / By a palm tree in the sand.”
Brian Wilson shared his meaning behind the Beach Boys’ ‘California Girls’
Thanks to I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir, fans got more insight into the creative process of several Beach Boys originals. That includes the Summer Days (and Summer Nights) track — co-written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, according to the Spotify “California Girls” credits.
“The idea of ‘California Girls’ is that there’s this guy who thinks about girls all the time, so much that he starts to imagine all kinds,” Wilson wrote. “But there’s only one kind he really wants, and that’s the kind that’s right there at home.”
“The music started off like those old cowboy movies, when the hero’s riding slowly into the town, bum-ba-dee-dah,” he continued. “I was playing that at the 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.”
Brian Wilson and Nancy Sinatra recorded ‘California Girls’
At one point, Brian Wilson recorded a version of “California Girls” with Nancy Sinatra — the singer behind “Somethin’ Stupid,” “These Boots Are Made for Walkin,’” and “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down.)”
“That experience was one of the greatest in my life, and it was — I don’t know — it just came out of the blue,” Sinatra said in an interview with Wilson’s website. “‘Would you be on my ‘California Girls’ recording?’ I mean that wasn’t written for a girl to sing. And he said sure (laughs) and he was so sweet about it, you know?”
