Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
See them on their big bright screen
tan and blonde and seventeen
Eating nonfood keeps them mean
but they're young forever
If they must grow up
they marry dukes and earls
I hate California girls
They ain't broke, so they put on airs,
the faux folks sans derrières
They breathe coke and have affairs
with each passing rock star
They come on like squares
then get off like squirrels
I hate California girls
Looking down their perfect noses
at me and my kind
do they think we won't
well, never mind
Laughing through their perfect teeth
at everyone I know
do they think we wont
Get up an go?
So
I have planned my grand attacks
I will stand behind their backs
with my brand-new battle ax
Then they will they taste my wrath
They will hear me say
as the pavement whirls
"I hate California girls..."
tan and blonde and seventeen
Eating nonfood keeps them mean
but they're young forever
If they must grow up
they marry dukes and earls
I hate California girls
They ain't broke, so they put on airs,
the faux folks sans derrières
They breathe coke and have affairs
with each passing rock star
They come on like squares
then get off like squirrels
I hate California girls
Looking down their perfect noses
at me and my kind
do they think we won't
well, never mind
Laughing through their perfect teeth
at everyone I know
do they think we wont
Get up an go?
So
I have planned my grand attacks
I will stand behind their backs
with my brand-new battle ax
Then they will they taste my wrath
They will hear me say
as the pavement whirls
"I hate California girls..."
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This song is a satire in its entirety with a completely sarcastic, mocking tone; the Narrator does NOT literally want to chop the "california girls" to pieces. come on people. Plus, when sung by a woman, it becomes much easier to see the very obvious feminist tone of the song: the california girls are complete and total frauds, and by using hyperbole (the image of the cali girl being chopped up on a sidewalk) and irony (the cali girls "ain't broke so they put on airs, faux folks sans derrieres"), the narrator provides his reason and means to eliminate the illusion presented about these girls in the media. Again, no one is literally going to take a battle axe to the cali girls; this image represents his feeling that this cultural idea of "beauty" needs to be killed. in addition, the cali girls have plenty of money, but want to appear as though they are just like everyone else, just "gifted" with natural talent and beauty. "faux folks sans derrieres." they are skinny supermodel frauds that the media portrays as being just like everyone else ("square"), when in reality they "breath coke for air" and bang every rapper that walks on by. its quite hilarious actually.
Actually, I think it's quite literal. Obviously, it's songwriting, and thus a fiction; that doesn't mean it necessarily has to be "sarcastic." Stephin Merritt describes the song as coming from the viewpoint of a dowdy, deranged Midwestern woman.
@FireEatersWife 100% agree with what you have said! well done.