Los Angeles is not for weenies. People come from all around to experience its fun and sun. The Beach Boys even wished all girls could be California girls. However, being a California girl is not for everyone. A prime example of one girl that found all that Beach Boys hype to be nothing more than fool's gold is the main character in X's "Los Angeles."

Ray Manzarek, formerly the keyboardist for another famed Los Angeles band, The Doors, produced X's early albums - including the album Los Angeles, where "Los Angeles" first appeared. Manzarek did not just help X create groundbreaking punk rock, he also provided a direct link between two noteworthy acts that unapologetically wrote warts-and-all Los Angeles songs. The Doors gave us "L.A. Woman," and years later, X recorded "Los Angeles," about yet another L.A. woman.

The song begins with this woman's hasty departure. "She had to leave/Los Angeles." She left Los Angeles because she simply did not fit in. This melting pot known as Southern California likely incorporates too many widely varying ingredients for some, and ultimately left a bitter taste in this willfully former resident's mouth. Much like Randy Newman had done years earlier with his songs about ugly Southerners, X's singers, John Doe and Exene Cervenka, got inside the twisted head of their main character. First, she blames empty materialism and unfulfilling sex for her sudden exit. "All her toys wore out," we learn, "and her boys had, too." Then she takes a simplistic approach and blames her unhappiness on minorities. No one, it seems, is safe from her wrath.

Thousands of people daily cross the border from Mexico into the United States, many of whom end up in Los Angeles, which is also famous for its poorer Black communities, such as Watts. A lot of times, when the going gets tough, many white people - poorer white people, in particular - have a tendency to (senselessly) blame minorities for their own troubles. The woman in "Los Angeles" is a prime example of this. But she didn't blame just minorities; she also blamed homosexuals. She pointed a finger at Jews. She even put down the idle rich. In other words, it was everybody's fault but hers – and her "kind," whatever it is.

The song ends with our woman on the run buying a clock on "Hollywood Boulevard the day she left." This purchase was likely a kitschy timepiece, from a battered old store, one that also sold cheap radios and cheesy postcards. Although tourists hold Hollywood Boulevard in high regard, it was a run-down place at the time X released this song in 1980. Back in its prime, Hollywood Boulevard was an iconic Hollywood landmark. In 1946, for instance, Gene Autry rode his horse down that very street during the Hollywood Christmas parade. After hearing children shouting, "Here comes Santa Claus! Here comes Santa Claus!" he was inspired to write the enduring tune, "Here Comes Santa Claus," now a Christmas favorite. While Hollywood Boulevard still hosts the Hollywood Christmas parade, the street itself is sadly past its prime. By 1980 there was probably more homelessness and drug dealing than celebrity-spotting. However, the building of the Kodak Theatre in 2001, host to the Academy Awards, has done much to revitalize the area.

Perhaps the most telling lines in the song are, "The days change to night/Change in an instant." These words suggest Los Angeles is a city with wide-swinging emotions. It switches from sunny and bright to dark and scary in seconds flat. It may be a warm day at the park one moment, but a frightening horror film walk along on 6th Street the next. This unpredictable trait may be what ultimately drove the woman in the song away. After all, she never knew what her city would do to her next, so she escaped to somewhere (hopefully) more consistent.

The song's main character high-tailed it out of there, but the band X remained. After all, they are the ones chronicling this crazy city. They probably hated elements of Los Angeles just as much as their traveler does. However, the craziness that drives good people out of such a town is the same uniqueness that fuels artistic creativity. She had to leave Los Angeles, but let's all be thankful X decided to stick around a while longer.

Dan MacIntosh
May 21, 2013 Los Angeles Songfacts
Browse all Songplaces

Comments: 1

• Marcm from Los AngelesX is still playing today with their original line up. They still are a great band to see live, which I did many times in the 1980's.

see more comments