5 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
California Lyrics
I'm all chalked out on the ground by the curtain call.
All of the sharp observations are a paper trail forty stories tall,
Where any conclusions might slip through my fingers.
As I'm listening to the story she's telling now...
It's a beautiful life,
It's a beautiful lie.
When it's late she's still talking about California.
Where the distance from the myth has never been greater.
From the sea to the boulevard stretching her arms to the desert.
It's a beautiful life,
Such a beautiful lie...
It's a beautiful life,
But she's leading me one step behind
With a promise one day we'll arrive
And if she ever runs out of California,
She's always got, she's always got last summer
In a state of mind with occasional tremors
It's a beautiful life
Under restless and fluroescent skies
She's all coloured all into the lines, lines, lines, lines, lines...
It's a beautiful life
And she's leading me one step behind
With a promise one day we'll arrive, one day we'll arrive, one day we'll arrive...
When I get there I...
When I get there I...
I'm always one step behind...
All of the sharp observations are a paper trail forty stories tall,
Where any conclusions might slip through my fingers.
As I'm listening to the story she's telling now...
It's a beautiful lie.
Where the distance from the myth has never been greater.
From the sea to the boulevard stretching her arms to the desert.
Such a beautiful lie...
It's a beautiful life,
But she's leading me one step behind
With a promise one day we'll arrive
She's always got, she's always got last summer
In a state of mind with occasional tremors
Under restless and fluroescent skies
She's all coloured all into the lines, lines, lines, lines, lines...
And she's leading me one step behind
With a promise one day we'll arrive, one day we'll arrive, one day we'll arrive...
When I get there I...
I'm always one step behind...
Song Info
Submitted by
nickfox On Mar 15, 2007
More Something For Kate
Monsters
Déjà Vu
Pinstripe (acoustic)
Captain, (Million Miles An Hour)
Say Something
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
what an awesome song!!!!
this song is fantastic -- paul is a great songwriter. i don't really know what it means, though... i think "california" could be this girl's naive fantasy/ideal, "the story she's telling",, a state of mind, "a beautiful lie". and she's trying to convince him that "one day they'll arrive" - that they'll see this dream realised, it'll happen, it's not all in her head. but if she stops dreaming ("runs out of california"), he's saying that she'll always have that fantasy/belief to look back upon. "she's all coloured into the lines" : that line always hits me, but i don't know why. maybe he's saying that she's really firm in this belief, she's not giving up on it - or dropping it, as the case may be. or maybe it's from his perspective: 'i don't believe in this, she can't convince me, it's way past that.' she (or her ideal) is a memory, it's been "coloured into the lines".
..i don't know. that's just what i thought.
In an interview, Paul said that this song was about the fantasy that surrounds Cailfornia/LA/Hollywood. About how when everyone thinks of there, they think it makes dreams. Everyone who goes there gets famous, but it's about the other side. All the people who go there & have their dreams crushed, & never make it.
lines lines lines lines. Too much coke in California.
'And she's leading me one step behind'
She thinks he just doesn't have her vision, he's one step ahead of her and sees the frailty of the utopian fantasy she's created for herself.
'When I get there I... I'm always one step behind...'
He just doesn't get her, or want to anymore.
'And if she ever runs out of California,''
If she ever runs out of coke,
'She's always got, she's always got last summer'
She's always got the memories of the good times.
'In a state of mind with occasional tremors' With a few ghosts of things that happend she'd rather forget.