California (song)

Lana Del Rey
Writer(s)	Lana Del Rey Zach Dawes
Producer(s)	Zach Dawes Jack Antonoff Lana Del Rey
Recorded	2017
Length	5:05
From
Single(s)	"Mariners Apartment Complex" "Venice Bitch" "Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have – but I Have It" "Doin' Time" "The Greatest" / "Fuck It I Love You"
Norman Fucking Rockwell! track listing
"How to Disappear"
"The Next Best American Record"

"California" is a song by Lana Del Rey from her sixth studio album Norman Fucking Rockwell!.

Background

Del Rey posted a snippet of the song on Instagram on April 3, 2019. On July 30, 2019, fans discovered the official title was "California" after using Shazam to identify the snippet from Instagram.

It was rumored that the track belonged to a scrapped album with The Last Shadow Puppets along with the song "Thunder".

A homemade video for the song was filmed, but was never officially released. A still from the music video was leaked on August 3, 2020.

Cross-references

• California is directly referred in a lot of her songs including Fuck It I Love You, Freak, How to Disappear, Angels Forever, Forever Angels, and Shades of Cool.
• Trying to be stronger is also a topic in "Venice Bitch".
• The phrase "I'll catch you on the flipside" is a direct reference to "Flipside".
• The lyric "Your favorite liquor off the top-shelf" is similar to "'Cause her liquor's top shelf" in "Carmen".
• Del Rey also counts "One, two, three, four" in "Summertime Sadness" and "Push Me Down".
• The phrase "I'll pick you up" also appears in "Happiness Is a Butterfly".

Lyrics

(One, two, three, four)

You don't ever have to
Be stronger than you really are
When you're lying in my arms
Baby, you don't ever have to
Go faster than your fastest pace
Or faster than my fastest cars

I shouldn't have done it but I read it in your letter
You said to a friend that you wish you were doing better
I wanted to reach out but I never said a thing
I shouldn't have done it but I read it in your letter
You said to a friend that you wish you were doing better
I wanted to call you but I didn't say a thing
(Two, three, four)

Oh, I'll pick you up
If you come back to America
Just hit me up
'Cause this is crazy love
I'll catch you on the flipside
If you come back to California
You should just hit me up

We'll do whatever you want
Travel wherever, have fun
We'll hit up all the old places
We'll have a party, we'll dance till dawn

I'll pick up all of your folks
And all of your Rolling Stones
Your favorite liquor off the top-shelf
I'll throw a party, all night long

You don't ever have to
Be stronger than you really are
When you're lying in my arms
And honey, you don't ever have to
Act cooler than you think you should
You're brighter than the brightest stars

You're scared to win, scared to lose
I've heard the war was over if you really choose
The one in and around you
You hate the heat, you got the blues
You're changing like the weather, oh, that's so like you
The same wind that moves you
(Two, three, four)

Oh, I'll pick you up
If you come back to America
Just hit me up
'Cause this is crazy love
I'll catch you on the flipside
If you come back to California
You should just hit me up

We'll do whatever you want
Travel wherever, have fun
We'll hit up all the old places
We'll have a party, we'll dance till dawn

I'll pick up all of your folks
And all of your Rolling Stones
Your favorite liquor off the top-shelf
I'll throw a party, all night long

Oh, I'll pick you up
If you come back to America,
Just hit me up
'Cause this is crazy love
I'll catch you on the flipside
If you come back to California
You should just hit me up

Credits

Personnel

• Lana Del Rey — songwriting, additional production, vocals, programming, synthesizer, horns
• Zachary Dawes — songwriting, production, piano
• Jack Antonoff — production, engineering, mixing
• Laura Sisk — engineering, mixing
• Jonathan Sher — assistant engineering
• John Rooney — assistant engineering
• John Congleton — engineering
• Dean Reid — engineering, mixing, bass guitar
• Kieron Menzies — engineering, mixing, synthesizer, mellotron
• Nicolas Jodoin — assistant engineering
• Travis Pavur — assistant engineering
• Loren Humphrey — drums
• Darren Weiss — drums
• Mike Riddleberger — drums
• Sean Hutchinson — drums
• Evan Weiss — guitar
• Benji Lysaght — guitar
• Tyler Parkford — hammond B3
• Woozy Biff — harp
• Mikey Freedom Hart — mellotron, piano
• Adam Ayan — mastering
• Chris Gehringer — mastering
• Will Quinnell — assistant mastering

Technical

• Mastered at Sterling Sound
• Recorded at Valentine Recording Studios, Los Angeles, United States / Hampstead Studios, London, United Kingdom / Conway Recording Studios, Los Angeles, United States / Electric Lady Studios, New York, United States
• Mixed at Conway Recording Studios, Los Angeles, United States