3 Eternal Classic Rock Songs About California That Will Make You Want To Visit the Golden State

There is something romantic about the state of California. It has to do with heading out west, leaving the Atlantic Ocean and the East Coast behind for a new, sunshine-filled world. There’s a reason there have been so many songs written about the area, even by some artists who are not even from the United States.

Here below, we wanted to explore three such examples. A trio of tracks that romanticize the state and put it on a pedestal, making any listener want to travel across the country and find cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco or others. Indeed, these are three eternal classic rock songs about California that will make you want to go there.

[RELATED: 3 Songs for People Who Say They Don’t Like Led Zeppelin]

“Going to California” by Led Zeppelin from Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

The British-born band Led Zeppelin perfected the sound that would one day be called classic rock. And while they’re known for big buzzy sounds, it’s this acoustic track about California that has also captured hearts. On it, Robert Plant sings about wanting to make a new start after a bad relationship. So, where does he want to go? The golden hills of California. Indeed, on this lovely track, he sings,

Spent my days with a woman unkind
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine
Made up my mind to make a new start
Going to California with an aching in my heart
Someone told me there’s a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair

“California Girls” by The Beach Boys from Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (1965)

Perhaps no band from the 1960s (or beyond) knew the healing and effervescent powers of California like the harmony-singing group known as The Beach Boys. Led by Brian Wilson, the group sung about beaches, summer nights, and the women of the region in an idyllic way that has since helped define the great state of California. And on this track, that is especially evident. Wilson sings about the virtues of the fairer sex. But he sings of those from California most glowingly, offering,

Well, East Coast girls are hip
I really dig those styles they wear
And the Southern girls with the way they talk
They knock me out when I’m down there
The Midwest farmer’s daughters really make you feel alright
And the Northern girls with the way they kiss
They keep their boyfriends warm at night

I wish they all could be California girls
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girls

“Hotel California” by the Eagles from Hotel California (1976)

While many sing of the virtues and beauties of California, it’s important to note the state is not perfect. In fact, there are dangers in them there hills! And that is the subject of this song from the Los Angeles-born band the Eagles. The group on their iconic track “Hotel California” sing of temptation and the potential for downfall that all the glitz and glamour offers,

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway, I heard the mission bell
And I was thinkin’ to myself, “This could be heaven or this could be hell”
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say

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