We’re Adding New Songs to Our California Soundtrack
California, I’m coming home is sung in the timeless song by Joni Mitchell. Or the popular song by Otis Redding that was influenced by the San Francisco Bay’s rippling tides as heard from a houseboat in Sausalito. Maybe “California Love,” Tupac Shakur’s classic homage to the West Coast.
What musical compositions best capture California, this huge, perplexing wonderland, and the millions of us who call it home? We are attempting to determine that.
This newsletter’s project, The California Soundtrack, aims to illustrate the complexity and diversity of the Golden State through music. We’ve been adding music to our playlist about everything California for months, mostly based on your suggestions.
Today, I have about 20 additional tracks for your listening pleasure. Among the most requested this round were “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan (1995), “California Child” by Jesse Colin Young (1974) and “El Cerrito” by Cracker (2014).
The most recent additions are highlighted on the complete list of California songs here, where you may also listen to them.
The California Soundtrack is still a work in progress, as usual. Send an email to CAToday@nytimes.com with your song selection and a few sentences explaining why you believe it should be featured. Provide your name and the location of where you live.
These are some of your thoughts on these tracks that you shared:
Richard A. Whiting’s “Hooray for Hollywood” (1937)
Growing up in the Midwest during the 1960s, I was exposed to the song through Warner Bros. cartoons, the Oscars, and Jack Benny’s radio program. I simply always connected the song to Hollywood and show business. Very unusual things