"California Nights" is a song written by Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Liebling and recorded by

Lesley Gore Lesley Sue Goldstein (May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015), known professionally as Lesley Gore, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At the age of 16, she recorded the pop music, pop hit "It's My Party (Lesley Gore song), I ...

. The song appeared on her 1967 album, ''

California Nights "California Nights" is a song written by Marvin Hamlisch and Howard Liebling and recorded by Lesley Gore. The song appeared on her 1967 album, '' California Nights''. Composition The song was produced by Bob Crewe and arranged by Hutch Davie. T ...

''.

Composition

The song was produced by

Bob Crewe Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Season ...

and arranged by

Hutch Davie Robert Bunyan Davie III (August 4, 1930 – April 7, 2020), professionally known as Hutch Davie, or Bob "Hutch" Davie, and sometimes credited as Bun Davie, Budd McCoy, Clint Harmon or Chuck Harmon, was an American orchestra leader, arranger, pi ...

. The track features guitars and drum set in a 1960s pop fashion. The chorus includes multiples long tones over abnormal chords and the verses are noticeably accompanied by a soft electric piano. The lyrics speak of reminiscing about romantic evenings on the beach with a lover. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' described the song as a "production rhythm ballad with groovy dance beat and strong vocal work has the hit ingredients to put Miss Gore back up the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

Commercial performance

The single peaked at number 16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in March 1967 but stayed on the chart for a then-lengthy 14 weeks, ranking 61 in the year-end Top 100.

Use in media

An edit of the song (removing the second verse and refrain) was lip-synced by Gore on the January 19, 1967 episode of the TV series ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'', "That Darn

Catwoman Catwoman is a fictional character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in ''Batman'' #1 (spring 1940), she ...

". She played Pussycat, the Catwoman's protégé, who also wanted to be a singer.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other versions

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

released an instrumental version of the song on his 1967 album, '' A Day in the Life''. *

Four King Cousins The Four King Cousins are an American girl group, female harmonizing pop singing group. Born into a show business family, the cousins are daughters of the members of the singing group The King Sisters. Sisters Tina Cole & Cathy Cole Green are th ...

released a version of the song on their 1968 album, ''Introducing the Four King Cousins''.Four King Cousins, ''Introducing the Four King Cousins''
Retrieved January 30, 2014

References

1960s ballads 1967 songs 1967 singles 1973 singles Lesley Gore songs Songs written by Marvin Hamlisch Song recordings produced by Bob Crewe Mercury Records singles Songs about California {{1960s-pop-song-stub