“California Sun” is a song written and originally recorded by Henry Glover and Morris Levy and performed by Joe Jones. The most successful version of the song was released by the Rivieras in 1964 and became the group’s biggest hit in their short career. The song entered the charts on January 25, 1964 and reached No. 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, staying on the chart for 10 weeks. The song was further hailed as the last American rock and roll hit before the British Invasion. The song was used in the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam, as well as on its soundtrack album. (More from Wikipedia)
Later I picked up the Pebbles, Volume 4 LP (subtitled “Summer Means Fun”). There are songs by Lloyd Thaxton, a piano-playing DJ from LA whose show ran on TV in the afternoon when I was growing up; two songs by the immortal Trashmen (the flip side to their big hit “Surfin’ Bird”, “King of the Surf”, plus “New Generation” that features a hydrogen bomb blast); “Masked Grandma” by the California Suns, an answer song to the Jan & Dean hit “Little Old Lady from Pasadena”; “California Sun ’65” by the Rivieras (a remake by this Michigan surf band of their own well-known hit, “California Sun”); “Anywhere the Girls Are” by the Fantastic Baggys (composed of P. F. Sloan, author of “Eve of Destruction” among many other songs, and Steve Barri); a version of “Hot Rod High” by the Knights; and a paean to the California capital city “Sacramento” by Gary Usher. A bonus track is a radio jingle for Coca-Cola by Jan & Dean.
(December 2014)
