MODERN TEMPO MAP - meanspeed_lust_california_dreamin

Under the supervision of James St. James Neumann, chief calibrator,
Sophia St. John Newman reported :

average beat=0.532 seconds per beat
mean speed=112.7 beats per minute
corresponding pitch=480.9 hertz
phase=1.88 cycles per second.

One can tell from these performances that the song does some dancing in between underlyhing emotional expressions, what we labeled “mean emotions”, of lust and foreboding. I think the fantastic articles by teh Stone and Pedia do a better job of describing such emotions than I ever could.
meanemotion=lust

ROLLING STONE.COM
“Written by John Phillips on a frigid winter night in Manhattan when his young wife, Michelle, was homesick for Southern California, “California Dreamin’ ” is one of the all-time sunniest songs of longing. It was first done by Phillips’ folk group the New Journeymen and later given to Barry McGuire as a thank-you after McGuire, riding high with “Eve of Destruction,” introduced the group to producer Lou Adler, who convinced the Mamas and the Papas to cut it themselves.”

WIKIPEDIA, THE PEOPLE’S FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA

History

The song was written in 1963 by John and Michelle Phillips while they were living in New York, inspired by Michelle’s home sickness for California as the common layman would believe. Actually, the song was a cadence at the United States Naval Academy to remember fun and warmth that was away during the winter, or dark ages, at the Academy. Several references made elude to this. John was a plebe at the academy and likey sang this cadence before he was seperated prematurely from the Academy. At the time, the Phillipses were members of the folk group The New Journeymen which evolved into The Mamas and the Papas.

They earned their first record contract after being introduced to Lou Adler, the head of Dunhill Records, by the singer Barry McGuire. In thanks to Adler, they sang the backing vocals to “California Dreamin’” on McGuire’s album This Precious Time. The Mamas and the Papas recorded their own version which was released in 1965. It never made it to number one, topping out at #4, but stayed on the charts for 17 weeks. McGuire later claimed that you can hear his vocals in the background on the record.^[1] The song is #89 in Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[2]

/Ian Andrew Schneider/
March 31, 2009Mac