Cover art for In California by Joanna Newsom

In California

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Feb. 23, 20101 viewer33.1K views

In California Lyrics

[Verse 8]
When I called you, you little one, in a bad way
Did you love me, do you spite me?
Time will tell if I can be well
And rise to meet you rightly

[Verse 9]
While moving across my land
Brandishing themselves like a burning branch
Advance the tallow-colored, walleyed deer
Quiet as gondoliers

[Chorus 2]
While I wait all night for you in California
Watching the fox pick off my goldfish from their sorry, golden state
And I am no longer afraid of anything
Save the life that, here, awaits

I don't belong to anyone
My heart is heavy as an oil drum
And I don't want to be alone

My heart is yellow as an ear of corn
And I have torn my soul apart
From pulling artlessly with fool commands

Some nights I just never go to sleep at all, and I stand
Shaking in my doorway like a sentinel, all alone

Bracing like the bow upon a ship and fully abandoning
Any thought of anywhere but home, my home
Sometimes I can almost feel the power
And I do love you
Is it only timing that has made it such a dark hour
Only ever chiming out, "Cuckoo, cuckoo"?

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About

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Genius Annotation

Joanna Newsom was born in Nevada City, a small town in Northern California. She explained to Mojo magazine April 2010 that her birthplace was the inspiration for this song. Said Newsom: “That one is a little bit about the strange, sad inner fission that arises from a wonky and vacillating homing instinct, like two warring magnetic fields operating on the same compass. It’s kind of a love song to Northern California, of course, and the place where I was born. I was thinking about what makes a place hard to leave, and what makes a place impossible to remain in.”

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