California
Sitting in a park in Paris, France
Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They won't give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had
Still a lot of land to see
But I wouldn't stay here
It's too old and cold and settled in its ways here.
Oh, but California
California, I'm coming home
I'm going to see the folks I dig
I'll even kiss a sunset pig
California, I'm coming home.
I met a redneck on a Grecian isle
Who did the goat dance very well
He gave me back my smile
But he kept my camera to sell
Oh the rogue, the red red rogue
He cooked good omelets and stews
And I might have stayed on with him there
But my heart cried out for you, California
Oh California, I'm coming home
Oh make me feel good rock'n roll band
I'm your biggest fan
California, I'm coming home
Oh it gets so lonely
When you're walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
Just gives you the blues
Just gives you the blues
So I bought me a ticket
I got on a plane to Spain
Went to a party down a red dirt road
There were lots of pretty people there
Reading Rolling Stone, reading Vogue
They said, How long can you hang around?
I said a week, maybe two
Just until my skin turns brown
Then I'm going home to California
California, I'm coming home
Oh will you take me as I am
Strung out on another man
California, I'm coming home
Oh it gets so lonely
When you're walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
More about the war
And the bloody changes
Oh will you take me as I am?
Will you take me as I am?
Will you?
Will you take me as I am?
Take me as I am
- Joni Mitchell
California
Now it's gettin' so I'm mad
when someone says your name
'Cause I've had to say good-bye to friends
who couldn't stay away
And sometimes it felt so wrong
to never want to lean on you
You may stand tall,
but I've got two feet too
Now we talked of you in bars
around a quiet beer
Tell their tales of mine-gone stones
where no one else can hear
And later on outside,
they say they're gettin' on a plane
To fly away, leavin' you again
California, my friends all call you home
And if you take away another,
I'll be that much more alone
Is it my fault that my kind
are always drawn toward the sun
Like a child to home
whenever darkness comes
Now in a few more years,
I won't remember what it was to play
The music of old friends
who need to live so far away
But can I once taste more than waters,
then forsake them for the South
To feel California's ashes in my mouth
- Stan Rogers