Song of the Day: 1-9-2025
John Craigie (Feat. Gregory Alan Isakov): "I am California"
One of my favorite scenes of Mad Men comes in season 2 in an episode titled, “The Mountain Man.” At the conclusion of the episode, Don Draper walks into the Pacific Ocean as George Jones’ “Cup of Loneliness” plays. Jones sings,
I say Christian pilgrim so redeemed from sin,
Hauled out of darkness a new life to begin.
Were you ever in the valley where the way is dark and dim?
Did you ever drink the cup of loneliness with him?
The scene came to mind the other day when I was reading a story about a surgeon who saved his home from the fires in Los Angeles. Battling the raging inferno for three days after what must have felt like impossible odds, Dr. Chester Griffiths explained, Our exit strategy was paddle boards out into the ocean. We knew that if it really came to s---... we could just take them out. There was no time to be scared.
I imagine Griffiths walking out into the ocean after those three days, out there on the edge of America. I can picture the water washing over him and the mixed feelings of relief and sorrow—that death and rebirth of baptism by fire and water.
I was born in California—my own baptism into the world. Though I have not returned in over 20 years, it is always with me in one way or another. California is always in the dreams of America because it is looming out in the West beneath every sunset. It is always promising the impossible. Like the dream of America, it is both horrific and beautiful.
I can think of no song that captures my feelings about California better than John Craigie’s “I am California” as I watch the catastrophic images in Los Angeles parade across the screen. I think of Don Draper; I think of Dr. Griffiths; I think of the California of my youth and walking into the Pacific; I think of baptism by fire and water . . .
I am California, can’t you see?
Wherever you roam, you’ll always want me
You’ll always want me
“I am California”
You try to drown your sorrows, shouldn’t taught them how to swim
And now you are right back where you began
Winter skies approaching, all alone in the wasteland
Alone is the only way that they let you in
So drink all my wine, cut all my trees
Make love on my beaches, smoke all my weed
I am California, can’t you see?
Wherever you roam, you’ll always want me
We struggle with our lovers, we don’t know what to let in
'Cause the new ones pay for the old ones sins
Blinded by your shadows, faded on your love
You don’t know how deep you are till you get pulled back up
So drink all my wine, cut all my trees
Make love on my beaches, smoke all my weed
I am California, can’t you see?
Wherever you roam, you’ll always want me
So drink all my wine, cut all my trees
Make love on my beaches, smoke all my weed
I am California, can’t you see?
Wherever you roam, you’ll always want me
Yeah, dig all my gold, soak in my springs
Conquer my mountains if that’s what you need
I am California, can’t you see?
Wherever you roam, you’ll always want me
You’ll always want me
You’ll always want me
You’ll always want me
You’ll always want me
You’ll always want me
You’ll always want me
Yeah, you’ll always want me
You’ll always want me
You’ll always want
Want me
About the Song of the Day:
Another form of my favorite form of cycles are song-cycles—song-cycles of great albums, and of course song-cycles of mixes. I have made cycles of mixes for friends for years—Mix-tapes in high-school and college—Mix-cds in grad-school and beyond. Now that cds have lost a bit of their shine in the wake of streaming services, I’ve struggled to find my footing with sharing mixes with friends. My goal here is to share songs that culminate in mixes—one song a day until a mix is completed. I will then post the complete mix and then begin a new cycle.