"California Saga: California" is a song written by Al Jardine

Al Jardine

Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...

 for the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

. It was released on their 1973 album Holland

Holland (album)

Holland is the nineteenth studio album by the American rock group The Beach Boys, released in January 1973. It was famously recorded in Baambrugge, Netherlands over the summer of 1972 using a reconstructed studio sent from home, and with two Brian Wilson tracks rush-recorded in Los Angeles and...

.

Issued internationally as a single in early 1973, and performed in the same loping country-shuffle beat, it garnered great reviews likening it to classic "California Girls" status. The song reached #84 in Billboard, but performed better in the UK (#37) and New Zealand (#15).

The version released as a single, called "California Saga (On My Way to Sunny Californ-i-a)" is a different mix than the album track.

Personnel

• Brian Wilson
  Brian Wilson
  Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
  
  : lead vocals (on the intro)
• Mike Love
  Mike Love
  Michael Edward "Mike" Love is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He was a founding member of the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine, and continues to perform with the band to the present day...
  
  : lead vocals
• Carl Wilson
  Carl Wilson
  Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...
  
  : backup vocals, guitar, piano
• Dennis Wilson
  Dennis Wilson
  Dennis Carl Wilson was an American rock and roll musician best known as a founding member and the drummer of The Beach Boys. He was a member of the group from its formation until his death in 1983...
  
  : backup vocals
• Alan Jardine: backup vocals, guitar
• Blondie Chaplin
  Blondie Chaplin
  Terence William 'Blondie' Chaplin is a musician from Durban, South Africa who first became known to international audiences through his brief stint in the early 1970s as a singer and guitarist for The Beach Boys...
  
  : backup vocals, bass guitar
• Ricky Fataar
  Ricky Fataar
  Ricky Fataar is a South African multi-instrumentalist of Malay descent, who has performed as both a drummer, and a guitarist. He gained fame as an actor in the comedic television movie, The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash, a spoof on the actual history of The Beatles, and for his performance as a...
  
  : drums, percussion
• Daryl Dragon
  Daryl Dragon
  Daryl Frank Dragon is a keyboardist, known as Captain in the successful 1970s pop musical duo Captain & Tennille, with his wife, Toni Tennille....
  
  : Moog bass
• Bruce Johnston
  Bruce Johnston
  Bruce Arthur Johnston is a member of The Beach Boys and a songwriter, remembered especially for composing "I Write the Songs". Johnston was not one of the original members of the band...
  
  : backup vocals
• unknown horns