When you wake up
Cobwebs on your eyelids
Stuck in rigor mortis
Just get going
Till you hit the ocean
And you turn Californian
You don't have to have the answers
Don't you worry, don't you worry
It's gonna be alright
If you're on a sinking ship
The California kids
Will throw you a lifeline
And if you're up all night
Thinking 'bout something you did
The California kids
Will show you the sunshine
In your bare feet
In mid-January
Swimming in the mystery
Second guessing almost everything
Don't you worry, don't you worry
It's gonna be alright
If you're on a sinking ship
The California kids
Will throw you a lifeline
And if you're up all night
Thinking 'bout something you did
The California kids
Will show you the starlight
All your old friends
Chilling back in Boston
You never forgot them
It's gonna be alright
If you're on a sinking ship
The California kids
Will throw you a lifeline
And if you're up all night
Thinking 'bout something you did
The California kids
Will show you the sunshine
The California kids
Will show you the starlight
California Kids
| "California Kids" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Album track by Weezer | |||||
| Album | Weezer (The White Album) | ||||
| Released | March 9, 2016 | ||||
| Recorded | 2015 | ||||
| Length | 3:25 | ||||
| Label | Crush Music/Atlantic Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo, Daniel Dodd Wilson | ||||
| Producer(s) | Jake Sinclair | ||||
| Status | officially released | ||||
| Stream |  Spotify |
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 Apple Music |
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| Professional reviews | |||||
|
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| Weezer (The White Album) track listing | |||||
|
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| "カリフォルニア" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Single by Scott & Rivers | |||||
| Released | December 2014 | ||||
| Format | digital | ||||
| Length | 3:02 | ||||
| Label | Universal Music Japan | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo, Scott Murphy, Daniel Dodd Wilson | ||||
| Producer(s) | Dan Wilson, Daniel Brummel, Jake Sinclair | ||||
| Status | officially released | ||||
| Stream | Spotify |
||||
| Scott & Rivers singles chronology | |||||
|
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| "カリフォルニア サンシャイン" | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Album track by Scott & Rivers | |||||
| Album | ニマイメ | ||||
| Released | April 12, 2017 | ||||
| Length | 3:13 | ||||
| Label | SMJ | ||||
| Writer(s) | Rivers Cuomo, Scott Murphy, Daniel Dodd Wilson | ||||
| Producer(s) | Patrick Lukens | ||||
| Status | officially released | ||||
| Stream | Spotify |
||||
| ニマイメ track listing | |||||
|
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"California Kids" is the lead track on Weezer's eponymous White Album. The song was first released as "California" (Japanese: カリフォルニア), a standalone single by pop/rock duo Scott & Rivers (consisting of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and Scott Murphy of the band Allister) on iTunes in December of 2014. The song was later reworked in English as "California Kids", for inclusion on The White Album in 2016. A new recording of the original Japanese song was later released under the title "California Sunshine" (Japanese: カリフォルニア サンシャイン) on Scott & Rivers' sophomore album, Nimaime, in 2017.
Appearances
- "California" (digital single) (2014)
- Weezer (The White Album) (2016)
- Spotify Sessions (2016)
- Nimaime (2017)
Overview
"California Kids" was co-written by Rivers Cuomo with songwriter Dan Wilson (of the band Semisonic). Wilson previously collaborated with Cuomo on the song "Ruling Me" from Weezer's 2010 album, Hurley. The phrase "California kids" was inspired by Cuomo spending time on the beach in Santa Barbara with his family and being struck by the realization that his children were growing up in California and how that contrasts with his East Coast upbringing in Connecticut.[1]
In early 2015, Cuomo told fans that an English version of "California" was being considered for inclusion in the pilot episode of DeTour,[citation needed] a television series—loosely based on Cuomo's life—pitched by Psych creator Steve Franks for the Fox network in 2015. Though the show was not picked up and did not air, the pilot (which leaked online in 2023) features the song (within the diegesis of the show), performed acoustically by series protagonist Michael Sturges (Ben Aldridge).
"California Kids" was the only song kept from a group of 235 demos that Cuomo and producer Jake Sinclair listened to in early 2015 when beginning work on what would become The White Album[2], and it was the inspiration for the album's "beach/nautical theme." The lyrics feature a "pack of heroic slackers," according the the album's iTunes description. The song was accidentally made available for streaming on Apple Music in the US on February 25, 2016 and shared among the fan community before it was taken down again by Apple.
"California Kids," performed live and acoustically, was released on the band's Spotify Sessions EP in 2016.
Reception
The song received a middling review from Teenage Victory Songs, representing the moderately positive reception that band's more diehard fan base has shown the song. NPR ranked the song as the 55th best song of 2016.[3]
Video/Audio
The music video was directed by SCANTRON and Jade Ehlers and premiered on YouTube on March 9, 2016.
Scott & Rivers
Personnel
Weezer
- Rivers Cuomo – guitar, lead vocals
- Patrick Wilson – percussion
- Brian Bell – guitar, backing vocals
- Scott Shriner - bass guitar, backing vocals
Scott & Rivers
|
This section requires expansion. |
Lyrics
ため息 凍る窓に 白い世界
遠くに 海を仰ぎ カリフォルニアに
見えない ゆく未来 不安を ぬぐうと
It's gonna be alright 沈みかけても
カリフォルニアの 陽を浴びたら
くじけそうで 眠れない日も
カリフォルニアの そこにサンシャイン
真冬に 素足でビーチ まわるフリスビー
水際 波たてば 潮風 ふきつけて
It's gonna be alright 沈みかけても
カリフォルニアの 陽を浴びたら
くじけそうで 眠れない日も
カリフォルニアの そこにサンシャイン
誰にも わからなくても 僕だけの場所
It's gonna be alright 沈みかけても
カリフォルニアの 陽を浴びたら
くじけそうで 眠れない日も
カリフォルニアの そこにサンシャイン
カリフォルニアの そこにサンシャイン
ショー ミー ザ サンシャイン
Intro:
My breath freezes on the window, the world is white (i.e. snowing outside)
Verse:
Looking across the ocean, far away, to California
An unseen future to clear away anxiety
Chorus:
It's gonna be alright, even if you're about to sink,
if you bathe in the California sun
Even on days when I can't sleep
there is sunshine in California
Verse:
A frisbee's spinning while we're barefoot on the beach in the middle of winter
The waves roll in at the water's edge, the sea breeze blows
Bridge:
A place just for me that no one else knows
Outro:
Show me the sunshine
When you wake up
Cobwebs on your eyelids
The audience is waiting
You don't want to
Fake another moment
Sometimes you can try too hard
You don't have to have the answers
Don't you worry, there's no worry
It's gonna be alright
If we're on a sinking ship
The California kids
Will throw us a lifeline
And if we're up all night
Thinking 'bout something we did
The California kids
Will show us the sunshine
...
Thinking 'bout something we did
The California kids
Will throw us a lifeline
Known recordings
| Performer(s) | Title | Filename | Date of recording | Recording location | Length | Appeared on | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivers Cuomo | Untitled2 9.mp3 | 2015 | 8:40 | Alone XII: The White Year | Practicing intro melody | ||
| Scott & Rivers | カリフォルニア | ? | ? | 3:02 | Digital single | ||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | CALIFORNIA KIDS - V1 - NOV 20.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | California Kids 3.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | California Kids 4.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | California Kids 5.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | California Kids 5 2.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | California Kids 6.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | California Kids 7 bgvs.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | california kids regular chorus vocal up guitar clarity.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | california kids doubletime chorus vocal up guitar clarity.mp3 | |||||
| Rivers Cuomo | California Kids | California Kids JS 6-8.mp3 | |||||
| Weezer | California Kids | 2015 |
|
3:25 | Weezer (The White Album) | ||
| Weezer | California Kids | April 2016 | Spotify offices, New York, NY | 3:10 | Spotify Sessions | ||
| Scott & Rivers(?) | California Sunshine | [check] california sunshine_[mix0223].mp3 | |||||
| Scott & Rivers | California Sunshine | 04 カリフォルニア サンシャイン -Mastered 44.1Khz 16bit.wav | |||||
| Scott & Rivers | カリフォルニア サンシャイン | ? |
|
3:13 | Nimaime |
See also
References
- ↑ "Guest DJ: Weezer's Rivers Cuomo" All Things Considered 10 May 2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2016/05/10/477368704/guest-dj-weezers-rivers-cuomo
- ↑ see Wannabeezer
- ↑ NPR. "Top 100 Songs of 2016" https://apps.npr.org/best-music-2016/list/top-songs/
- Pages using Tabber parser tag
- Apple Music-link page
- Citation needed
- Known recordings table
- Scott & Rivers songs
- Weezer songs
- Rivers Cuomo songs
- Songs on Weezer (The White Album)
- Weezer songs produced by Jake Sinclair
- Allmusic track picks
- Songs on Spotify Sessions
- Songs on Nimaime
- Songs in languages other than English
- Co-writing credit