ALL THE LEAVES ARE BROWN… CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’S EVERGREEN CHARM

The Autumn Anthem For The Sunshine State Enchants (& Haunts)

Here they are in 1966, still fresh faced and engaged. Who would have imagined this quartet would come to signify both California’s dreams and nightmares?

“All the leaves are brown…” I only need type those five words on a social media site and, instinctively, almost everyone who reads it will understand the reference. To autumn. And to a song. And to a US state (and “state of mind”). Actually, for me, autumn starts both when the leaves change colour and I hear a version of California Dreamin’. While there are plenty of songs celebrating summer – and almost as many employing winter as a metaphor for death/disappointment/isolation/inflated heating bills (I wish...) – there’s not many that spring to mind regarding autumn.

Actually, outside of California Dreamin’, its only The Kinks’ Autumn Almanac – which I referenced on my last Yak post (regarding movies rather than music) – that I consider something of a gem when it comes to capturing this most plaintive of seasons. A quick DuckDuck Go search for “autumn songs” returns with lists featuring well known songs by Van Morrison (Moondance), U2 (October), Led Zeppelin (Ramble On) and others that reference the season where light fades and the night draws in. But none come even close to matching California Dreamin’s evocative lyricism and mood.

Jose proved a master interpreter of California pop songs, making both the M&P’s song and Light My Fire his own.

Actually, reconsidering the song’s first verse – “All the leaves are brown/ and the sky is grey/ I’ve been for a walk/ on a winter’s day” – I realise I’m getting my seasons wrong: California Dreamin’ is a winter tune. But the leaves turn brown in autumn (trees are bare in winter) so maybe John Phillips – who wrote the majority of the song – was employing poetic license? Not that it matters: he and his wife Michelle, came up with a pop lyric that’s as evocative as Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. Which is quite an achievement. And Frost never had the likes of George Benson and Diana Krall performing his poem – while the Phillips’ found the aforementioned artists (and many more) doing so.

I don’t remember the first time I heard California Dreamin’. What I do recall is, having heard it (as a child), I was immediately enchanted. All these years on and I still am. Obviously, I’m discussing the Mamas & the Papas’ original 1965 version. Which, to my mind, stands amongst the finest pop songs of the 1960s. Everything about California Dreamin’ works: the opening guitar motif, the descending chord structure’s mournful intensity, a wistful melody perfectly suited to lyrics which convey great yearning for a place you dream of returning to but, for some reason, can’t. The Mamas & the Papas’ voices rise together and harmonise as one, while Denny Doherty’s gorgeous tenor conveys an agitation that bites. A perfect record? Something like that.

Bobby Womack was a triple threat: singer, songwriter and guitarist. Here he tears California Dreamin’ apart - what a voice and what a raging interpretation.