California Kids

"California Kids"
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
	Apple Music
Professional reviews
Teenage Victory Songs (Mixed)
Weezer (The White Album) track listing
"California Kids" (1) "Wind in Our Sail" (2)

"カリフォルニア"
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
"Homely Girl" (2013) "California" (2014) "Doo Wop" (2016)

"カリフォルニア サンシャイン"
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
Status	officially released
Stream	Spotify
ニマイメ track listing
"Fun In The Sun feat. PES (RIP SLYME)" (3) "カリフォルニア サンシャイン" (4) "風吹けば" (5)

"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.

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, 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.

Known recordings

about this table

Performer(s)	Title	Filename	Date of recording	Recording location	Length	Appeared on	Notes
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	Infrasonic Sound, Los Angeles, CA The Lair, Los Angeles, CA Studio X, Sonoma, CA United Recording, Los Angeles, CA The Village, Los Angeles, CA	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		?	The Lair Recording, Los Angeles, CA Radio Moscow Harmony Music Studios 4th Street Recording Crush Studios studio studio Den Den Maruni Studio prime sound studio form Sony Music Studios Tokyo Sound Arts Patrick Lounge Doris Land Studios	3:13	Nimaime

Video/Audio

The music video was directed by SCANTRON and Jade Ehlers and premiered on YouTube on March 9, 2016.

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

California Kids 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/California Sunshine Japanese 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

English translation Translation courtesy of AllThingsWeezer user Swede 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

See also

• List of Weezer songs
• List of Rivers Cuomo songs
• Scott & Rivers