Today’s post, like my last post, is about two songs with a complex and suspect legacy. The first is the 2010 summer jam “California Gurls” by Katy Perry, which features third-wave feminism, cynical exploitation of the historical East Coat / West Coast hip hop feud, and Snoop Dogg in his least gangsta video to date:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwE-SLnLkqY
And the second is, of course, the Beach Boys’ “California Girls,” from 1965, a song that seems a lot simpler than it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZDlnU5zwwE
What do these songs have in common, what is different, and why do neither of the videos show girls in California? This and more, after the jump –
There are these girls, you see. Yeah, that’s the ticket. And they’re from, guess where? California!
These songs, just to state the obvious, are about how women who live in California are allegedly more sexually desirable than women who live in other places in the United States. To the Beach Boys, it’s a mythologizing recollection – supported by generalizations drawn from firsthand experience by the Beach Boys meeting women as they tour around the country.
For Perry, it’s a jingoistic anthem, perhaps written as a third-wave feminist “girl power” anthem about how “melting popsicles” with one’s sexiness is empowering. According to reports, it was allegedly written as a(n inadequate) response to Alicia Keys in “Empire State of Mind,” perhaps hoping to cash in on the unfortunate American addiction to Hegelian dialectic. Yes, there are two sides to every story, and this one is worse.
Oh, and for David Lee Roth, it’s about being a huge womanizer: At least he acknowledges that every song in this tradition reductively categorizes women by their sexual qualities as if for purchase. Diamond Dave acknowledges it; he just doesn’t have a problem with it, the kid in me thinks it’s awesome, while the adult in me thinks it isn’t awesome at all (it’s a Frosted Mini Wheats moment):
I like his video more than the other two videos I’ve posted so far, because he’s being honest about his intentions, and also because it has an element similar to Edward D. Hoch’s classic short story, “Zoo,” where the girls are the nominal object of the audience’s attention, but we are reminded that the audience (and DLR himself) are perhaps the stranger of the creatures and more entertaining to look at. Sometimes, when you stare into the California Girls, the California Girls stare into you.
Gretchen Wilson flips the script and speaks from the political standpoint of post-rural American persecution narrative, using California Girls to build a straw man her brand of cowboy hat imperial superiority can take potshots at to make itself look better. By which of course I mean she scores cheap points by making fun of Paris Hilton. Jay Leno would be proud:
I should clarify that the song does have a message of self-acceptance, but it frames it in a fairly negative and hypocritical way — we should all be ourselves, except the people we hate. They shouldn’t be themselves. And also, there are only a few of us left, the real America, because the other people whom we hate have unjustly reduced our numbers by infringing upon us with their non-Merle Haggard standards of beauty. It’s a classic, “everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others” song.
At any rate, “California Girls” is more than just one song (fitting for the results of Brian Wilson’s first acid trip), it’s a whole cultural space – part of the literary tradition, something people understand often immediately and intuitively, even if, upon inspection, it makes a strange, ambiguous statement.
I wish they all could be
The way I see it, “I wish they all could be California Girls” means one of two things:
1. California girls are superior to other girls, so if other girls were replaced 1 for 1 with California girls (or if they changed sufficiently to earn the designation), the speaker would find it preferable.
2. Women everywhere have great qualities, but there is something about California that adds even greater qualities, so all other women should move to California and add their distinctness to its own, Locutus-of-Borg style.
Do the singers want the Midwest Farmers’ Daughters to stay in the Midwest and start wearing more bikinis (this is what the DLR version seems to think)? Or do the singers want the Northern girls with the way they kiss to move to California where the Beach Boys live so the Beach Boys can kiss them more and so they can get tans? I think the song is ambiguous on this point, which is part of why it is interesting. (well, really, it’s interesting because of the music, not the lyrics, and the Katy Perry version is interesting in a Ke$ha-esque way in that it identifies weird things that aren’t necessarily true, but I’ll get to that).
None of this makes the song or the ideas it suggests admirable .It’s an “I want I want I want” song, careless about the major changes it asks women to make in their lives and extremely superficial, in any version, even the country ones that say drinking beer and being good at sex are the unique provision of dyed in the wool red-staters, with what it thinks makes women more sexually desirable or otherwise superior.
(By the way, I’m making political statements about Gretchen Wilson, not about country singing in general – Gretchen Wilson is a very politicized country singer, who sings for one of many politically convenient imaginings of what country might be like maybe but really isn’t.)
But why?
Here’s the rub, though. The Beach Boys come up way short of justifying their claim of California girl superiority. Let’s look at the relevant lyrics:
The West Coast has the sunshine
And the girls all get so tanned
I dig a French bikini on Hawaii island,
Dolls by a palm tree in the sand
These are the only lines in the Beach Boys song that actually talk about California girls, and they talk much more about the place than about the women. I don’t know about you, but the other girls mentioned in the song all sound more fun and more interesting than California girls, who are just tan and wear bathing suits. Women in Florida are also tan and wear bathing suits. And I hate to break it to Brian Wilson, but if you go to Revere Beach on the North Shore here in lovely scenic greater Boston Massachusetts, you can find girls in bikinis who have tans. It’s not tremendously exotic – although this was perhaps much earlier on in the ill-conceived but nonetheless unstoppable march of tanning technology.
The last two lines are a bit cryptic – I might not have gotten them right, but this is what the lyric sites say. Are they not even about California, but about Hawaii? It’s pretty weak that you have to already begin talking about another state, even if, at the time of the song’s initial recording, it had been a state for fewer than 10 years.
And calling the women dolls does not make them more attractive. What man wants to play with dolls? When the other girls “with the way they kiss, they keep their boyfriends warm at night” the “dolls by a palm tree” are hardly flattered by comparison.
Hey, why don’t I just take my girl whom I have met elsewhere and has regional qualities all her own to California so she can sit next to a palm tree?
And hey, if the East Coast Girls are hip, and you really dig the styles they wear, then maybe they would be better to hang out with than the ones who are “dolls.” It seems as if dollhood has already been surpassed.
You could take a cynical view of the Beach Boys’ attitude toward controlling women – that they must love the idea of dolls because it is in their songs. They certainly aren’t discouraging it. But they also talk about cars a whole lot – so maybe they just run out of stuff to talk about or really like Toys ‘R Us.
Meanwhile, in naked Candy Land, which is not California at all
Katy Perry provides some interesting explanation for “California Gurls” in the video below. It’s particularly interesting how the references to Snoop Doggy Dogg were added to the song before he was signed on to be featured in it as a way to encourage him to do so – and also because Katy Perry apparently loves Tupac so much the force of her love projects him back in time 30 years so that “California Love” was recorded before “California Girls.” In the Earth in which Overthinking It exists and publishes, “California Love” was not the original California song, but string theory does admit to the possibility of multiple universes:
So, if you consider explained the appeals to Death Row era West Coast Rap and some of its terminology, as well as the dated and needless call Katy Perry has issued to “West Coast represent, now put your hands up,” which were added for business reasons and because Katy Perry intended for this song to exist in opposition to “Empire State of Mind,” that leaves the song with the following:
I know a place where the grass is really greener
Warm, wet and wild, there must be something in the water
Sipping gin and juice, laying underneath the palm trees
The boys break their necks trying to creep a little sneak peek
If you’re by the water where there are palm trees, why is there grass rather than sand? The song is at least a little sarcastic, or at least posturing in its arrogance, which makes sense because it is an anthem meant to rouse people who already believe what it is saying. Usually “the grass is greener” implies that it isn’t really any better than what you already have, and, as I prove in every article I write, the word “really” adds nothing. What is really different here is that it is from the perspective of the girl and it really talks about California right away, rather than really talking about a whole bunch of other places. Really.
You could travel the world
But nothing comes close to the golden coast
Once you party with us, you’ll be falling in love
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Okay, so this is a lot like the Beach Boys song, although it’s a bit blunt. There’s no description of other places, just a suggestion that you could go there if you wanted to.
As for the falling in love part, why will you be falling in love once you party with them? And will you be falling in love with one of them? With all of them? With the state of California? That isn’t clear, and I think that’s on purpose, by tone and feel if not by design.
See, sexual superiority is a tough value to hang your regional superiority on, because when you’re creating imperial language to boast about your culture to other places and extend partisanship for your regional/cultural identity into other areas, as Katy Perry is doing here, you want to have everybody on the same team, and sexual selection is divisive, even within groups (especially within groups).
So, Katy never in the song talks about a specific person falling in love with or having sex with a single person. Tupac does the same thing in “California Love.” He talks about crews, not about individuals. Women are always presented plurally, never singularly.
California girls, we’re unforgettable
Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top
Sun-kissed skin, so hot will melt your popsicle
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
California girls, we’re undeniable
Fine, fresh, fierce, we got it on lock
West coast represent, now put your hands up
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Here we learn that California girls are “unforgettable” and “undeniable,” which I think bespeaks the central insecurity that got the song written. They are negative compliments — they suggest Katy is opposing people who are attempting to forget or deny California girls – namely, that Alicia Keys is encouraging them to do so, and Katy Perry’s friends are doing it with Alicia Keys when they toast to “Empire State of Mind” at parties.
The “Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top” is interesting, because a) the video never really shows it b) it’s new; I haven’t heard it in a pop song before and c) Daisy Dukes are associated not with California, but with the American South (that is, the Southeast). Daisy Duke is of course the name of the Jessica Simpson character in the Dukes of Hazzard remake. I mean the name of the sister on the Dukes of Hazzard who always wore short shorts, and Hazzard is in Kentucky.
You could travel the world, and if you did, you’d probably find out Kentucky is not in California, because you’d see a map at some point.
According to Urban Dictionary, “got it on lock,” means “To be in 100% control of a particular situation, and to have previously orchestrated a favourable conclusion.” Thank you, British-spelling contributor to Urban Dictionary!
The “unforgettable, undeniable, fine, fresh, fierce, on lock” etc. is the Spice Girls breed of third-wave feminism at work – that all this stuff about being sexy and having fun is empowering and promotes kick-assitude. This sort of feminist thought is always tricky to pin down, because third-wave feminist tries to be post-modern and anti-essentialist, which means it refers more to a group of people talking about a broad topic under a wide array of circumstances than people making points that are collectively cogent.
I do not know whether Mary Wollestonecraft “got it on lock,” but, by virtue of her strong place among eighteenth century British political philosophers, she “got it on Locke.”
The popsicle melting part means that California girls are sufficiently attractive that, under the right circumstances, they will cause men to ejaculate. Just in case Katy Perry didn’t make it obvious enough with her coy and artful wordplay, “popsicle” means penis.
Sex on a beach we get sand in our stilettos
We freak in my jeep, Snoop Doggy dog on the stereo
This means people are doin’ it in a car, wearing inappropriate clothing for the circumstances. This part is not in the Beach Boys song. Just in case Katy Perry didn’t make it obvious enough with her coy and artful wordplay, “freak” means “have sexual intercourse.”
You could travel the world
But nothing comes close to the golden coast
Once you party with us, you’ll be falling in love
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
It’s worth noting that the best parts of the song from a memorable in a Ke$ha sort of way / dance party perspective are the “Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top” line and the “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.” Transcribing that lyric doesn’t really do it justice.
[Snoop Dogg]
Toned, tan, fit and ready
Turn it up cause its gettin’ heavy
Wild wild west coast
These are the girls I love the most
I mean the ones, I mean like she’s the one
Kiss her, touch her, squeeze her
This might be the laziest rap Snoop Dogg has ever written. This says virtually nothing, other than that California girls are tan and in good shape, which we already know, because it is the only thing that ever is said consistently about them in all the other songs.
The girl’s a freak, she drives a jeep
The men on the beach,
I’m okay, I won’t play, I love the bay
Just like I love LA
Venice Beach and Palm Springs
Summer time is everything
This is definitely the laziest rap Snoop Dogg has ever written. He’s literally summarizing the lyrics to the pop song to which you are currently listening, in case you didn’t hear what Katy Perry said fifteen seconds ago. It’s as if they handed Snoop Dogg the Katy Perry lyrics while he was brushing his teeth, and he finished this rap before he was done flossing. But to be fair, Snoop Dogg is always flossin’.
To try to not be such a judger, this part of the song is about how, even though we have already identified that owning a jeep in which to have sexual intercourse is one of the singular and most identifiable qualities of California “gurls,” having this jeep is also associated with being a “freak,” or somehow unusual. Also, Snoop Dogg is speaking in the singular – probably about Katy Perry, as we’ll find out soon, which doesn’t match up with the rest of the song, which speaks collectively. There is a literary ambiguity here — a freak is also somebody who has unusual or especially enthusiastic sexual intercourse.
Snoop Dogg continues by mentioning a couple of places here that are in California, and says he likes the summer, which is not a controversial statement, but still nice to know.
Come on boys, hanging out
All that ass hanging out
Bikinis, tankinis, martinis, no weenies
Just to get in betweeny
Katy my lady (yeah)
You looking here baby (uh huh)
I’m all up on you
Cause you representing California
Okay, this overthinking has devolved into scorn as I’ve actually read these lyrics. We’re pretty far off the reservation at this point. Snoop Dogg is just coming up with random words that rhyme and are associated with women in some way. Snoop Dogg then praises Katy Perry for praising the state he lives in by humping her or something.
“Well East Coast Girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear,
And California girls, with all that ass hanging out
And who don’t have weenies to get in betweeny…”
Yeah, the magic is gone.
(Chorus)
[Snoop Dogg]
California girls man
I wish they all could be California girls (x2)
There’s only a few children who do what we do
Aaand, I’m spent, and the song is over. That didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. And it didn’t for Snoop Dogg either, as there was a bunch of publicity and legal flak because the penultimate and pen-penultimate lines were plagiarized from the Beach Boys song, which is still under copyright protection (thank you, Walt Disney Corporation, for bribing our national leaders!).
Comparisons
So, there are four things the Katy Perry song says about California girls that the Beach Boys song does not:
- They have lots of sex of at least serviceable quality.
- They wear inappropriate clothing, either for their region or for a given activity.
- Partying with them is important
- They indulge in freakish jeep ownership
I still don’t think any of these people has made a strong case for why California girls are different from other girls, let alone why “Gurls” are different from “Girls.” There’s no differentiator. If you’re going to treat different regions as different sorts of sexual objects, then you should at least set apart and describe the one you recommend so people know why to buy it.
But alas, perhaps because of the creepiness of what is being suggested, nobody really can explain why they like California girls or why they are special.
And this goes back to why the Katy Perry song was made in the first place – the crippling fear, perhaps justified, that California girls are just like other girls and are not special at all. Maybe there is no differentiator.
“I wish they all could be Calfornia girls…” well, maybe they already are, because a lot of California girls come from somewhere else. Like Candy Land. Right.