“California Day”

“California Day” is a non-LP song, released as a single in 1970 by Strawberry Alarm Clock. The track featured the band’s last lead singer, Paul Marshall, who had replaced Jim Pitman.

“California Day” is a pleasant and perky ode to driving around sunny California’s open highways (and by extension to the state itself). There is some interesting drumming and a busy guitar figure that pulses rhythmically throughout the verses. A tasteful string section sands down any rough edges on the chorus.

The feel and sentiment of “California Day” are indebted to the 1969 movie Easy Rider, and particularly to The Byrds’ title song. This is underscored not just by the similar musical structure but by the lyrics. They evoke the new utopian wonders promised by a sunny day and an open road.

The road is even named in the lyrics of “California Day”. It’s about Highway 99, in the Golden State’s Central Valley region. The road leads out of California… but, inevitably, back in:

“Well we can move on down the highway and start a new life
We could be out of state by nightfall, that’s for sure
But the day would come, I know it
We couldn’t stay away
We’d head back down ol’ Highway 99 on a
California day”

Paul Marshall’s vocals quiver enigmatically; his heartfelt tenor fits the song very well. If you wonder what “Ballad Of Easy Rider” would sound like if performed by a post-psych pop band in its last throes, well here you go.

“California Day” is a forgotten Strawberry Alarm Clock now, but it’s groovy enough that it should be covered by a new band who could put its own twist on it.

“California Day” appears on…

“California Day” b/w “Three” (1970)
Good Morning Starshine (1969) [Japanese bonus-track version]

13 thoughts on ““California Day””

  2. Further comment : “Dear Joy”  sounding backing vocals and the  professional ” I climbed the mountain”[?] string section further enhance the song. Nice ending makes this one of SAC top 20 badly needing further availability.

  3. Further comment : I climbed the mountain ? professional string section used to much better effect here also giving one of sac most memorable endings. Has great “dear Joy” backing vocals. Overall brilliant playing and singing puts this in a sac top 20, deserving to be more widely known and available.

  5. Essential sac song, nice string section and Gene Gunnels easily heard at last, no bad thing. The chief star here is Paul Marshall who puts his heart and soul into every word of the vocal, even without music the song would still greatly impress. Sadly one of the hardest to obtain, hopefully this will soon be rectified, thank you to the person who put it on U-Tube.

  6. That is so true man, and i wish they could’ve reissued Incense And Peppermints on CD as well as the other 3 albums. And 2010 is almost up, so hopefully 2011 will be the year for the new album!!!

  7. Thanks, it’s good to hear it. Sorry it took you so long to track down! SAC music can be really hard to find and it’s unconscionable. They deserve a full line of easily-available CDs and MP3s with b-sides and things like that. Will 2010 pass again without it? 2011? When will this happen finally???

  8. I added it to this page from YouTube — it will be there as long as it lasts on YT (hopefully it will stay up).

    Otherwise you can own the full-quality version by finding a copy of the CD, the Japanese version that adds most of the band’s last singles as bonus tracks including this one.

    Listening to it now… it really is a cool song!

  12. Thanks for the comment, Paul, nice to hear from you!

    This is probably my favorite of the songs from your time with the band. I’m from the East Coast, but I’ve driven around Bakersfield and Death Valley and little through the Central Valley, and this song really has the feel of those areas for me.

    Hope you enjoy the site!

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