What's the Deal with "California Dreamin'"????

GenePontecorvoGenePontecorvo 5,612 Posts
edited October 2007 in Strut Central
Major soul/funk dudes loved covering this song apparently.Eddie HazelBaby HueyLee Moses I'm just playing Lee Moses for the first time (thanks LV) and I see he's covered it.Eddie Hazel fuckin' kilt it deader than dead in my opinion.
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  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    There are also about 8 trillion totally forgetable versions. It's just one of those songs.

  • There are also about 8 trillion totally forgetable versions. It's just one of those songs.

    2 posts in and Crink brings the downer. Thanks dude!





    Lee's version is pretty nice as well.

  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    I'm sorry. There are some good versions, sure, but I just don't really see anything magical about the song in and of itself.

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,902 Posts
    East of Underground!

    Where you dreamin' @ ???

    MO TRYIN' TO GET HOME!!!

  • I'm sorry. There are some good versions, sure, but I just don't really see anything magical about the song in and of itself.

    J you know I'm messin no need for "I'm sorry".

    I would say the song at least lends itself to some really emotive interpretations when in the right hands. Do you dig any of the above mentioned versions or are you completley "out" on it?

    I still need this "East of Underground" reissue. Vinyl still available on that?

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    When I was in high school and moved from Huntington Beach to Houston, that song had quite a bit of meaning for me...in an albeit corny 15 year old way.

  • faux_rillzfaux_rillz 14,343 Posts
    There are also about 8 trillion totally forgetable versions. It's just one of those songs.

    2 posts in and Crink brings the downer. Thanks dude!


  • BOBBY WOMACK


  • not a fan of the song but bobby womack does a pretty nice version. he always kills
    it with cover versions..

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts


    SLAPSHOT fan art?!


  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    I'm sorry. There are some good versions, sure, but I just don't really see anything magical about the song in and of itself.

    J you know I'm messin no need for "I'm sorry".

    I would say the song at least lends itself to some really emotive interpretations when in the right hands. Do you dig any of the above mentioned versions or are you completley "out" on it?

    Yeah, EoU does a great version... I like the Eddie Hazel version too. But it's basically a cheesy song that I've heard way too much of. Some people can do wonders with the mundane though.

    I dunno, maybe I've spent so much time in California that I've become unsympathetic to the message.

  • I dunno, maybe I've spent so much time in California that I've become unsympathetic to the message.

    I'd say it's that you haven't spent enough time suffering through "such a winter's day" to be sympathetic to the message. Nor have I, but I'm just sayin'.


    This song always makes me think of Faye Wong in Chung King Express.

  • CosmoCosmo 9,768 Posts
    I'm sorry. There are some good versions, sure, but I just don't really see anything magical about the song in and of itself.

    J you know I'm messin no need for "I'm sorry".

    I would say the song at least lends itself to some really emotive interpretations when in the right hands. Do you dig any of the above mentioned versions or are you completley "out" on it?

    Yeah, EoU does a great version... I like the Eddie Hazel version too. But it's basically a cheesy song that I've heard way too much of. Some people can do wonders with the mundane though.

    I dunno, maybe I've spent so much time in California that I've become unsympathetic to the message.

    I agree - cheesy song that I can only deal with when it's one of the few covers done by the above dudes (Hazel, EOU and Moses.) Sorry, but I can't deal with the trip that's the Baby Huey version. Color me disconnected.

    One song that I cannot stand in ANY FORM is "Windmills Of Your Mind." Hate pretty much every version I have ever heard.

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts

    One song that I cannot stand in ANY FORM is "Windmills Of Your Mind." Hate pretty much every version I have ever heard.



    waaaay too show-tuney

  • hcrinkhcrink 8,729 Posts
    I dunno, maybe I've spent so much time in California that I've become unsympathetic to the message.

    I'd say it's that you haven't spent enough time suffering through "such a winter's day" to be sympathetic to the message. Nor have I, but I'm just sayin'.

    What means this "winter"?

  • CosmoCosmo 9,768 Posts

    One song that I cannot stand in ANY FORM is "Windmills Of Your Mind." Hate pretty much every version I have ever heard.



    waaaay too show-tuney

    ... and I even fuck with some show-tunes, dog!

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts

    One song that I cannot stand in ANY FORM is "Windmills Of Your Mind." Hate pretty much every version I have ever heard.



    waaaay too show-tuney

    ... and I even fuck with some show-tunes, dog!


    haha, yeah - I even like other Michel Legrand stuff, like
    "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" - but "Windmills ... " is just painful.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    There are also about 8 trillion totally forgetable versions. It's just one of those songs.

    No shit. You could have changed a few names and done a post called "What's The Deal With "By The Time I Get To Phoenix"???? Both songs were just two of those standards that made the rounds.

  • California Dreaming is a great song. Everytime I am forced to leave california I think of it.

  • California Dreaming is a great song. Everytime I am forced to leave california I think of it.


    hahaha... not.

  • California Dreaming is a great song. Everytime I am forced to leave california I think of it.


    hahaha... not.


    retrololol?

  • Other pop songs that got the extensive soul dude treatment: Wichita Lineman, Ode to Billie Joe, Sunny, Walk On By... The music business was just a lot different back in those days. Hardly any artists cover contemporary material anymore. Which is probably a good thing. But back then a lot of artists were doing multiple LPs per year, hence the need for padding out with covers.

  • Oh yeah, and I ride for Dusty Springfield's Windmills.

  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts


    SLAPSHOT fan art?!


    haha! i knew SOI would know what's up

    i was looking for a slapshot poster on google and came across the steve hanson fan art. i'm determined to put this on a t-shirt.

  • FatbackFatback 6,746 Posts
    It's a great song. I actually listened to Wes Montgomery's version this morning. I used to shut it out or turn the channel when it came on. But I got turned on to that John Phillips solo record last year (shows late pass) and then went back through his 'other' work. I been playing People Like Us and Papas and Mamas all summer. Great records. I see California Dreamin' a little different now.

  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts
    i remember being really young at disneyland and hearing this song blasted on a stage nearby at the precise moment i was entranced by one of those alhambra water trucks that was covered with shiny shingles which gave the illusion of waves. everytime i hear that song i think of that moment i was hypnotized by a water truck at disneyland. (but i don't listen to it on purpose. it is mega corny)

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts

    One song that I cannot stand in ANY FORM is "Windmills Of Your Mind." Hate pretty much every version I have ever heard.



    waaaay too show-tuney


  • dayday 9,611 Posts


    One song that I cannot stand in ANY FORM is "Windmills Of Your Mind." Hate pretty much every version I have ever heard.

    I agree it's a pretty corny song, but not even this version?



    My father hates "California Dreamin'" and used to turn it off everytime it came on the radio. He said it reminded him of his days in the Army during Vietnam.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Other pop songs that got the extensive soul dude treatment: Wichita Lineman, Ode to Billie Joe, Sunny, Walk On By... The music business was just a lot different back in those days. Hardly any artists cover contemporary material anymore. Which is probably a good thing. But back then a lot of artists were doing multiple LPs per year, hence the need for padding out with covers.

    ^ What he said.

    If a song was a hit and it was good it got covered.

    CD is a great song. The Mamas and the Papas may have been cheesy, but that song, even their version, is not cheesy. It is great.

    Jim Webb was cheesy, but some of his songs (Wichita Lineman, BTTIGTP) are great. Ode To Billie Jo? Great great song. Walk On By (and lots of other Bachrach hits most first recorded by Dionne Warwick) great songs. Sunny, Bobby Hebb, I'm told this is great, only versions I like are by James Brown and Mingering Mike and both of those are cases of artists overcoming the material. Ain't No Sunshine When Shes Gone, there are no bad versions of this song.

    Light My Fire is a funny one because there were to huge hit versions that were very different and all the covers are based on one or the other hit versions.

    3 hit versions of IHITTGV. The non hit cover I like is Earl Klugh, I kid you not.

    Crinky, can you name one bad version of California Dreaming? I think I like them all.


  • One song that I cannot stand in ANY FORM is "Windmills Of Your Mind." Hate pretty much every version I have ever heard.



    waaaay too show-tuney

    Wow, I'm totally the opposite. I'll take a second look at a not so promising LP if that song's on it. Then again, I feel like the Ray Coniff version smokes the Ashby one, so...
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