Mike Love Reveals Fans Misunderstood ‘California Girls’

The Beach Boys’ “California Girls” is a classic; there’s no doubt about it. When Brian Wilson began penning the tune, he was high on drugs that subsequently ruin his life. Nevertheless, the hit became one of the most recognizable Beach Boys songs, with Mike Love writing its lyrics.

According to an interview Love gave to Rock Cellar Magazine in 2013, Wilson was inebriated when he first started writing the song’s tune. “He had the chorus ‘I wish they all could be California Girls’ but no other lyrics,” Love remembered. So, in a true teamwork fashion, he helped his cousin formulate the lyrics of the said gem.

“So, I went out in the hallway and came up with [recites lyrics] ‘Well East Coast girls are hip I really dig the styles they wear, and Southern girls with the way they talk knock me out when I’m down there,’” Love added. “So, I wrote this poem touching on four corners of the U.S. and then over to Hawaii and all around the world.”

The song became an instant hit, but Love was quite bothered that the listeners often misinterpret the real message of the song. “What we were really saying if you listen or read the lyrics, we were appreciating the fact that even though we went all around the world we’d like to bring them all back to California with us,” the musician continued. “And in a sense, California is a microcosm of the macrocosm of what’s out there in the world in terms of all the pretty girls.”

Check out the song below.