American beaches are hot, hazy places, as well as woozy states of mind, especially if you’re dreaming about the west coast around LA and San Diego, or the sun-baked strip of Miami. Music can provide handy shortcuts in sound to these locations, too. A wobble of surf guitar – wham – you’re in a Pacific picture postcard. A swagger of slow, southern rap – you’re cruising down Ocean Drive. Alongside the tons of sun-spun US classics, there are lesser-known scorchers too, so let’s wind down the windows for all of them, and let the speakers run hot.
Let’s begin with the “king of the surf guitar” himself, Dick Dale, who was born in the entirely inappropriate northern outpost of Boston, Massachusetts. Misirlou began life as a slow, Arabic song from the Mediterranean, first released in the US by Turkish singer Theodotos “Tetos” Demetriades in 1927. Dale sped up the track like a Cadillac bombing down an ocean highway. Next up are the Beach Boys – of course – introducing us to the Californian dreams that they made in pop’s early days. Instead of Surfin’ USA and Surfer Girl, enjoy this gorgeous 1963 album track, which summons up the magical aura of American beach life: “Smell the warm and salty air / See a wave reflect a beam ... Make it real your summer dream.”
Then let’s have Marlena Shaw, and the west coast’s own surfside creation myth. “And if you listen carefully / The winds that ride / On the high tide / Whistle a melody,” Shaw explains. “So the people started to sing / And that’s how the surf gave birth untold / To California soul.” A dubious theory, Marlena, but when you’re wearing sunglasses, it’s totally convincing. After that euphoric rush, let’s go for full American heat with Jan Hammer’s Miami Vice Theme, guitars forcing balmy winds through your lustrous 80s hair, and hot, shiny synths rolling up your jacket sleeves.
Catch your breath with the Thrills – whose Deckchairs and Cigarettes is an ode to the slowed-down loveliness of San Diego and the soft glow of youth – and the beauty of Through My Sails from Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Zuma. Named after LA’s long, sandy beach, the album ends on this beautiful, seaside song: “I’m standing on the shoreline / It’s so fine out there,” they sing. We hear more of these feelings in Miley Cyrus’s Malibu, from her latest album Younger Now, where peace comes from the ocean, literally and metaphorically: “Next to you / The sky is so blue / In Malibu.”
But let’s put the hazy romanticism away for a moment – don’t forget California also “knows how to party”. Even though 2Pac’s California Love is a paean to the whole golden state, beach life swelters in this mix (“It’s all good”, Shakur drawls, “from Diego to the Bay”). The same is true of Will Smith’s ode to Miami – South Beach is “bringin’ the heat” from the song’s opening seconds. As the fantastic sample from 1980 soul classic And the Beat Goes on by the Whispers slinks along, we’re reminded that this is the place where people “come to let go”, where “every day [is] like a Mardi Gras”.
Now it’s time to wind down as the sun slowly sets. Before we do, let’s remember that the biggest summer hit of recent years was made in Miami. The earwormy Spanish guitars and sweet nothings of Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s Despacito took it to No 1 for a record-breaking 16 weeks in the US. Then we fade out with two more beachside classics, all about the memories and promises the golden shores of America give us: Don Henley’s the Boys of Summer and the Mamas and Papas’ California Dreamin’. Even when the sun goes down, we’ll be safe and warm with these songs. Our love for them will still be strong.
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