Joni Mitchell, Phantom Planet and the Beach Boys in the sunshine of California
California - Smog, Sunshine, Music
and Flowers in Your Hair
California, the Golden State, on the west coast of the USA, is home to over 38 million people. One of the geographically largest states in the US, it is bounded by the forests of Oregon in the north, the deserts of Nevada and Arizona to the east and Mexico to the south. The population is clustered in the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Long Beach, Oakland and Sacramento, the state capital.
A number of songs have been inspired by the sunshine and opportunities of southern California here are two of the better ones and one not-so-good.
A number of songs have been inspired by the sunshine and opportunities of southern California here are two of the better ones and one not-so-good.
JONI MITCHELL - CALIFORNIA
Live at the BBC - October 1970
Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell (nee Roberta Joan Anderson) moved to the USA in 1965, eventually settling in Southern California where she recorded her first Reprise album, with the help of David Crosby and Stephen Stills in 1968.
Her first album, Song to a Seagull, shows her ambivalence towards the claustrophobia of Los Angeles and her preference for the sea, countryside and being close to nature. Mitchell's early attitudes were summed up in the song, Out of the City and Down to the Seaside. By the time she wrote California, however, she was becoming reconciled to all things Californian, urban or rural.
Her first album, Song to a Seagull, shows her ambivalence towards the claustrophobia of Los Angeles and her preference for the sea, countryside and being close to nature. Mitchell's early attitudes were summed up in the song, Out of the City and Down to the Seaside. By the time she wrote California, however, she was becoming reconciled to all things Californian, urban or rural.