California Sunshine, California Sunshine...
On our iron horse we could steal away to a gold-rush ghost town on the hill
Where Sheriff Greenhorn rides the range by sun and moon
Road and rail blaze a happy trail from the Mad Mile to the Beeches
Past the last-chance fare-stage coach house bar/saloon
Take the red bus to my dreamland – “Record Rendezvous”
Painting time with groovy music springs the wood anew...
California Sunshine, California Sunshine
Flooding through the chambers of my heart
Pegging cards on my push bike wheels to make a noise like “Easy Rider”
Not quite Chop Shop, more like “Swap Shop”, such a drag!
New school shorts standing side-by-side, bulging pockets stuffed with conkers
Shutting down every sidewalk serf was not my bag
Take the skateboard to the speedway round the dead-man’s curve
Rocking, rolling, riding ‘til I crashed and lost my nerve
California Sunshine, California Sunshine
Flooding through the chambers of my heart
Winter Wanderlust is cruel
Forty days of wonder then you’re back at school
Take a walk as blossom blizzards from the Hawthorn tree
New life wakes the earth and flowers break their necks to see
California Sunshine, California Sunshine
Flooding through the chambers of my heart
(Flooding through the chambers of my heart)
Flooding through the chambers of my heart
(You’re orange and hot and you’re all I’ve got)
Flooding through the chambers of my heart...
Musicians:
- David Fisher – Vocals, Drums, Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Vocoder
- Tim Bradshaw – Lap Steel Guitar, Electric Guitar
- Peter Watts – 12 and 6-String Electric Guitars, Mando Guitar, Backing Vocals
- Tiv – Bass Martin Gregory – Tambourine
- Vicki Workman – Backing Vocals
- Matt Byrne – Backing Vocals
- Chris Watts – Backing Vocals
Production:
Produced by David Fisher at Summerisle in Carshalton Beeches, UKNotes:
"California Sunshine" is about my local village of Belmont in Surrey (famously referred to in an episode of Monty Python and notoriously featured in Antonioni's 1953 Movie "I Vinti".) Up to about 100 years ago Belmont was called "California" after a local man struck lucky in the Californian Gold Rush and came home to build a large pub called "The Californian" by the railway. It's a dreamy mix of springtime images drawing parallels between my schoolboy's view of "California", Surrey and the not dissimilar backstreets of Palo Alto, USA where I worked on the lyrics.
The song was co-written with Dr Peter Watts.