"Shores of California" is the third single by

The Dresden Dolls The Dresden Dolls are an American musical duo from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 2000, the group consists of Amanda Palmer (lead vocals and piano; additional: keyboards, harmonica, ukulele) and Brian Viglione (drums and backing vocals; ad ...

duo, taken from the second studio album '' Yes, Virginia...''. The

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

noted ''The brand new "Shores of California" displayed Palmer's knack for writing bona fide pop tunes with its infectious sing-along chorus and familiar melody.''

Personnel

Amanda Palmer Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

Brian Viglione Brian Viglione (born May 16, 1979, in Greenville, New Hampshire) is an American drummer best known for his work with The Dresden Dolls and Violent Femmes. He was also a prominent member of New York City's cabaret punk orchestra The World/Inferno F ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Lyrical references

The song's lyrics include the lines "''that's the way Aristophanes and Homer / wrote 'the iliad' and 'lysistrata'.''" Despite the ordering of the lyrics, it was Aristophanes who wrote '' Lysistrata'', and Homer who wrote '' The Iliad''. The Dresden Dolls' official lyrics page notes this by adding to the line in the lyrics: "''that's the way Aristophanes and Homer / wrote 'the iliad' and 'lysistrata' (not in that order...)''".

Music video

The music video for this single parodies the video for

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

's version of " California Girls". It featured

Kelly Kelly may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kelly (Kelly Price album) * Kelly (Andrea Faustini album) * ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap * "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland * ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...

David J David John Haskins (born 24 April 1957, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England), better known as David J, is a British alternative rock musician, producer, and writer. He is the bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus and for Love and Rock ...

(an original member of the band

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

), Margaret Cho,

Jason Webley Jason Webley is an American musician known for his sincere fusion of folk, experimental, and alternative music. Webley plays the guitar and accordion, sometimes providing percussion by stomping or shaking a plastic vodka bottle filled with coins. ...

, as well as the Dresden Dolls's Dirty Business Brigade and other fans that had been encouraged to take part in a band newsletter that was released prior to production. The music video was directed by Andrew Bennett of Shoe String Concert VideosShoestring concert videos, Los Angeles, US
/ref> and produced by Frank Caridi. On the official video on YouTube, it is noted that Brian was not available on the day of filming, which explains his absence from the video.

Notes

External links

Watch "Shores of California" on YouTube

Watch "Shores of California": The Making of on YouTube
* Video Static'

including lyrics and downloads {{The Dresden Dolls 2006 songs The Dresden Dolls songs Songs written by Amanda Palmer 2007 singles Roadrunner Records singles