POV: You’re Walking Through Laurel Canyon
My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a 12-song playlist around some theme. This week, Alejandra Gonzalez takes us on an aural journey to ‘60s-’70s Laurel Canyon. The playlist is at the top to listen to and you can see Alejandra’s thoughts for each track.
For a long time, I had a hard time categorizing what I knew was one of my favorite styles of music; music that blends folk influences and bluesy instrumentals, striking vocal harmonies, and a hint of the countercultural attitudes of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. It was only recently when I learned of Alison Ellwood’s two-part documentary, LAUREL CANYON, that I was able to put a name to the scene I have come to love so much.
The documentary explains that Laurel Canyon was a notable geographical location in Los Angeles where legendary artists lived and wrote. But it extends and can also be regarded as a broader musical culture, similar to the Seattle grunge music scene of the ‘90s. My affection for the time, style, and music of the ‘60s and ‘70s makes me wish I could have experienced the height of Laurel Canyon firsthand—so I made a playlist that might help imagine what that would have been like.
1. “California” by Joni Mitchell
“I wouldn't want to stay here
It's too old and cold and settled in its ways here
Oh but California”
Highly regarded as one of the most famous artists to inhabit Laurel Canyon, there was no shortage of Joni Mitchell songs to choose from. She even paid homage to her beloved neighborhood on her album Ladies of the Canyon. Still, I believe that “California” is the single song by Mitchell that best captures the artistic and spiritual climate of Los Angeles at the time. Mitchell wrote the song while in Paris but longed for the open minds and sunny attitudes of the people back home. With guitar work by James Taylor (another famous inhabitant of Laurel Canyon), the song is incredibly uplifting, free-spirited, and one of my very favorites off Blue.
2. “Snowqueen of Texas” by The Mamas & The Papas
“She's mending a fairy tale---
Reading her heart”
The Mamas & The Papas are one of the most brilliant vocal groups of all time. I don’t know any person who may refute that...and I wouldn’t want to. Though they have a long catalogue of rich, robust harmonies, “Snowqueen of Texas” is the first song of theirs that comes to mind when I think of their lighter and more vivid feeling tunes, making it one of my favorites. The lyrics invoke a pretty charming atmosphere and, despite referencing Texas, its mention of cool green farmhouses and mending fairytales remind me so much of the laid back, unattached nature associated with Los Angeles.
3. “Our House” by Crosby, Stills & Nash
“Staring at the fire
For hours and hours while I listen to you
Play your love songs all night long for me
Only for me”
One of my favorite stories in music is the relationship between Laurel Canyon legends Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash. More specifically, how this song played a major role in their separation. The house alluded to in the song refers to Mitchell’s home on Lookout Mountain. “Our House” is a mesmerizing ode to a beautiful life between partners where “everything is easy” because of the love shared. Though I’m not sure it has been confirmed by Mitchell herself, the narrative is that Mitchell felt a lot of pressure from the song. Telling the world through his lyrics that he wanted her to play her songs “only for him” was too much for him to ask of Mitchell. According to JoniMitchell.com, the artist sent a telegram to Nash from the Mediterranean stating that “if you hold sand too tightly in your hand, it will run through your fingers.” Mitchell later released one of her most tragic songs, “Blue”, in which she sings “here is your song from me”, where it is assumed she is addressing Nash. God, I love this story.
4. “California Earthquake” by Cass Elliot
“They tell me the fault line runs right through here
Atlantis will rise, Sunset Boulevard will fall”
Probably the only member of The Mamas & The Papas that achieved a notable solo career, Cass Elliot was and continues to be one of music’s greatest vocal powerhouses. She lived in the Canyon where her home famously hosted some of the scene’s most star-studded parties and is also thought to be where Crosby, Stills & Nash became a band. Though aurally joyful, the song explores some sort of impending downfall and in retrospect becomes an ominous foreshadowing to Elliot’s own fate. The song proves that despite the Canyon’s display of free spirits, what made the scene so influential was the moments of extreme vulnerability present through some of their work.
5. “Always See Your Face” by Love
“Won't somebody please help me with my memories?
Can somebody see, yeah, what this world has done to me?”
You would think that with their somewhat distant association to Charles Manson, Love would be more frequently talked about today. Unfortunately, I don’t hear much about the psychedelic rock band, which is worth noting as one of the only rock groups of their scene featuring people of color and the first rock act signed to Elektra Records. Guitarist Johnny Echols was a major part of the Laurel Canyon scene, and even helped get The Doors signed to the same label. “Always See Your Face” is featured on Four Sail, which was less popular than Love’s previous albums such as Forever Changes. However, this is absolutely my favorite song from the band and one of my favorite songs from the Laurel Canyon scene in general.
6. “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” by Neil Young
“I gotta get away
from this day to day runnin'
around, everybody knows this is nowhere”
It wasn’t until a few years ago that, despite listening to him for most of my life, I became aware that Neil Young is one of my most listened to artists of all time. There is a sort of sullen ambience to Young, and I think his profound influence on later grunge bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam prove that. That’s not to criticize him for his broodiness—there is a lot of raw vulnerability in his music, particularly with songs like “My My, Hey Hey.” Similarly, “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” is a glimpse into how Young really feels concerning that Los Angeles music scene. The song is brimming with disillusionment and a yearning for the quiet lifestyle he maintained “back home.” It seems this sentiment is shared among several Laurel Canyon legends, which is easy to understand. Often, the promise of fame and success can be wrapped in a pretty bow, but something much more sinister may lie underneath.
7. “These Days” by Nico
“And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
It's just that I've been losing so long”
Another major figure of the scene, Jackson Browne is the original writer of “These Days” which was later given to Nico. I first heard the song in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, which is apt because much like the movie, the song is incredibly depressing to me. It is a total sense of giving up we find in the song, but there seems to be peace made with the regrets from a previous life. I promise the playlist gets less bleak after this song, but I think it speaks to similar sentiments expressed in Cass Elliot’s “California Earthquake” and Neil Young’s “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere”. These songs reflect on the dark sides of rising and falling in Los Angeles, regardless of the exhilaration that comes with the lifestyle of a rock legend.
8. “Almost Cut My Hair” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
“But I didn't and I wonder why
I feel like letting my freak flag fly”
Probably my favorite song on this playlist, “Almost Cut My Hair” explores a desire to be true to oneself without the obligation to conform. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, many affiliated with counterculture wore their hair long and sometimes unkempt as a way to express their free-spirited philosophies. Obviously, the song is about much more than hair, but it is a suitable symbol for rebellion against social norms. It’s a good representation of the kinds of political ideals held by most of the artists of Laurel Canyon, and has in fact been called Crosby’s most important political song. Of course, the band has several other political songs (such as “Ohio” and “Teach Your Children”), and CSNY is not the only group of its type to express social commentary through their work. Songs like “Almost Cut My Hair” imply that the Laurel Canyon scene was not only a musical movement, but part of a larger sociopolitical one as well.
9. “Little Green” by Joni Mitchell
“He went to California
Hearing that everything's warmer there”
Another song from Blue, “Little Green” is inspired by the real-life story of Mitchell’s own daughter, who she gave up for adoption while she was still in Toronto. The song is very special to me (my moon happens to be in Cancer, just like the song says), but even feels slightly prophetic in Joni’s case having been written in 1966 before her move to California. A departed father dreams of going to California because “everything’s warmer there”, which makes one wonder if those were beliefs she held herself. The song is rather melancholic; it’s clear that Mitchell holds much affection for her “little green”, but felt she had to pursue the siren song cast by Los Angeles
10. “Helpless Hoping” by Crosby, Stills & Nash
“Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams, he worries
Did he hear a goodbye?”
I just really love this song. That’s all.
11. “California Dreamin’” by Jose Feliciano
“I'd be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.
California dreaming”
I first heard Feliciano’s cover of “California Dreamin’” in ONCE UPON A TIME...IN HOLLYWOOD, previously only knowing the tune as performed by The Mamas & The Papas. While I love the original song, Feliciano brings a fiery, raw passion to his version,, so it makes sense that it was featured in Tarantino’s ode to the city. There is no song that better captures the intense adoration and yearning that many feel to be and succeed in the City Of Angels. It is the most beautiful confession of love for Los Angeles I can imagine, and the magic the song emulates cannot be denied.
12. “Going to California” by Led Zeppelin
“Made up my mind, make a new start
Goin' to California with an achin' in my heart”
We’ve finally come to the playlist’s last song: Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California”.
Despite not living in the Canyon itself, Led Zeppelin is said to have spent a lot of time there, and I think their attachment to and familiarity with the scene is evident through this song. The band makes tons of references to Laurel Canyon throughout the song. Their mention of a girl with “love in her eyes and flowers in her hair” is famously about Joni Mitchell, and the line "The Mountains and the canyons start to tremble and shake/the children of the sun begin to awake" is clearly alluding to the artistic community and Lookout Mountain (which is the exact location of Mitchell’s home). Besides the clear references, the song understands the endless fountain of promise and fulfilled dreams L.A has to offer and compares the journey there to a new start. Proven by previous songs on this playlist, sometimes the potential ends in a broken heart and total disillusionment. However, the song perfectly represents my own admiration for Laurel Canyon, and the similar sentiments of countless others.
YouTube Playlist version of Alejandra’s Laurel Canyon Mixtape
