Far Out 40: A playlist of the best songs about California
In 2026, California might not be what it used to be.
The film studios are becoming relics of a time gone by, where elaborate movies were made inside the warehouses of Hollywood’s greatest lots, and audiences would rush to the box office to see them. And without the allure of the silver screen, musicians are no longer banding together in studios that hug the Pacific coastline and are instead becoming globetrotters, who pull their influence from all parts of the world.
Nevertheless, this abandoned theme park is still alluring from a distance, such is the power of its legacy in modern art. It may not be the place right now, but it has been the place in history and will surely become the place of the not-too-distant future.
Let’s not forget the bands who are all lucky enough to call this sunny state their homeland. Famously, The Red Hot Chili Peppers made something of a living off penning love lyrics to state and, more specifically, Los Angeles, over whatever bass lick Flea had pulled out of his hat. Not to mention Eagles, who similarly made their most famous song as an ode to the state, albeit slightly more cutting, then there are The Beach Boys, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead, who all hail from the coastal state where dreams are made.
But many have flocked to California also, in a bid to inject themselves with that hypnotic magic the state seems to harbour, and it all seemed to culminate in the glittering summer of 1969, where the reputation that made Los Angeles the powerhouse it is today was set. Nestled high above Hollywood Boulevard, where the rich and famous of cinema’s elite were mingling at cocktail parties, was Laurel Canyon.
The free-spirited neighbourhood became the de facto home of any budding songwriter, and swiftly became one of the most prolific musical communities in history. Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash entered the whistling hills of this neighbourhood, arm-in-arm as a couple, where they would eventually meet Stephen Stills and David Crosby. In one fateful meeting, the most iconic three-part harmony was formed, and Laurel Canyon’s place in musical history was cemented.
“Ask anyone in America where the craziest people live, and they’ll tell you California,” stalwart of the Laurel Canyon community, Mitchell claimed, “Ask anyone in California where the craziest people live, and they’ll say Los Angeles. Ask anyone in Los Angeles where the craziest people live, and they’ll tell you Hollywood. Ask anyone in Hollywood where the craziest people live, and they’ll say Laurel Canyon. And ask anyone in Laurel Canyon where the craziest people live, and they’ll say Lookout Mountain. So I bought a house on Lookout Mountain.”
Mitchell’s desire to be at the very heart of madness and creativity via something of a primal community is ultimately what runs through the veins of California as a state. At its very best, it’s on the verge of innovative culture, while still offering a pathway into the very natural past that keeps its inhabitants at one with our planet. Sure, the coastal state might not be in season as of right now, but it won’t be long until its fertile soil is once again delivering some of music’s greatest ever moments and forming future iconic bands.
The 40 best songs about California:
- Eagles – ‘Hotel California’
- The Mamas & the Papas – ‘California Dreamin’
- The Doors – ‘LA Woman’
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Californication’
- Joni Mitchell – ‘California’
- America – ‘Ventura Highway’
- 2Pac – ‘California Love’
- Albert Hammond – ‘It Never Rains In Southern California’
- NWA – ‘Straight Outta Compton’
- Joni Mitchell – ‘Ladies of the Canyon’
- Led Zeppelin – ‘Going to California’
- Grateful Dead – ‘Estimated Prophet’
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Dani California’
- Father John Misty – ‘Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings’
- People Under The Stairs – ‘San Francisco Knights’
- The Kinks – ‘Celluloid Heroes’
- Tom Petty – ‘Free Fallin’
- Anderson Paak – ‘The City’
- Kings of Leon – ‘California Waiting’
- Marlena Shaw – ‘California Soul’
- Otis Redding – ‘(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay’
- Lana Del Rey – ‘West Coast’
- Lorde – ‘California’
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Under The Bridge’
- Creedence Clearwater Revival – ‘Lodi’
- Babe Rainbow – ‘California’
- Jungle – ‘Heavy, California’
- Alice In Chains – ‘Check My Brain’
- James Blake – ‘I’ll Come Too’
- Dionne Warwick – ‘Do You Know the Way to San Jose’
- The Beach Boys – ‘California Girls’
- Randy Newman – ‘I Love LA’
- Donna Summer – ‘Sunset People’
- Elliott Smith – ‘LA’
- Wolf Alice – ‘Delicious Things’
- Patti Smith – ‘Redondo Beach’
- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – ‘Our House’
- HAIM – ‘Los Angeles’
- St Vincent – ‘Los Ageless’
- Jurassic 5 – ‘Lausd’
