California dreamer
Tell me why did you go
I carved your ever fading figure
In to the ever dying snow

I'll be around, I'll be around, I'll be around
Like a teenager in town
Where all the other young lovers are found

And I think I might have heard you on the radio
But the radio waves were like snow

And you were dreaming of Los Angeles
While I was singing songs you wrote
You quietly gave away the winter clothes I made for you
While I made angels in the snow

And I would have left if you'd just asked me to
Or come to me before the preacher
Now you're a survivor

And I just thought I might have heard you on the radio
But the radio waves were like snow
I thought I might have heard you on the radio
But the radio waves were like snow

Do the young stay pretty, do the pretty stay quick?
You know, but you never surrender
The city doesn't belong to you anymore
California dreamer

You dream of seasons that never die
You go to oceans that never touch the ice
You dream of seasons that never die
You go to oceans that never touch the ice
You dream of seasons that never die
You go to oceans that never touch the ice
Surrender the city to splendor
The creatures get younger and younger

And I think I might have heard you on the radio
But the radio waves were like snow
Oh I think I might have heard you on the radio
But the radio waves were like snow

Do the young stay pretty, do the pretty stay quick?
You know, but you never surrender
The city doesn't belong to you anymore
California dreamer

I'll be around, I'll be around, I'll be around
Like a teenager in town
With all the other young lovers their mothers may have found
California dreamer


Lyrics submitted by omegadaxer

California Dreamer song meanings
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    For the sake of making this easier to read, the boy will be the person who is speaking, and the girl will be the one who left, not being sexist just trying to make this easier to understand.

    Anyways the girl left the boy, he was faithful and loved her but she left anyways. Not to be an actress, or even to move to California, I think that Krug is trying to convey the behavior of the girl by using the California state of mind metaphor. She doesn't want to stay with him, maybe she is afraid of commitment and wants to live her life without putting any effort, she wants everything to be easy. The boy was a faithful lover but gets torn apart by the girl because he feels she left him in order to escape the responsibility that comes with being in a serious relationship.

    Also I believe the boy is almost politely vilifying the girl. He's telling her she won't find any true happiness because she left their relationship in a hurtful and dishonest way, and will repeat the same mistakes over and over, living without being honest to herself or future lovers.

    The girl is obsessive over youth and living it up, and uses this to convince herself out of committing herself into a meaningful relationship just because the growing relationship won't always be easy. This really hurts the boy because he realizes that he was practically used in the relationship, a boyfriend when she wanted one, and thrown away when not needed.

    "Do the young stay pretty, do the pretty stay quick? You know, but you never surrender The city doesn't belong to you anymore California dreamer I'll be around, I'll be around, I'll be around Like a teenager in town With all the other young lovers their mothers may have found California dreamer " to me this is the most important part of the song when defining its meaning. The boy is asking questions as a way of stating answers. "You won't always be young, and you won't always have your looks, I was with you for genuine reasons and some day you will realize that. And it will be painful because you threw away our relationship for the idea that you could live out some sense of youth that doesn't truly exist, and if it did...that feeling will have been long gone by the time you realize what you have wasted. So she may think she's in control, but she does not own the city, and the city will eventually break her. The boy knows this, but it doesn't comfort him, that's why he doesn't call her out on it. After all at one point and time they were lovers so he chooses to respect that.

    For me the simple meaning of the song is "I respect the relationship we once had but live your life with the mistakes you have made and I will live mine missing the old you."

    MilkyBreathon July 02, 2008   Link

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