California (Phantom Planet song)

"California"
Single by Phantom Planet
from the album The Guest
Released	2002
Recorded	2001
Genre	Rock
Length	3:14 (album version) 3:17 (demo version)
Label	Epic
Songwriter(s)	Alex Greenwald Jason Schwartzman Joseph Meyer B.G. De Sylva
Producer(s)	Mitchell Froom Tchad Blake
Phantom Planet singles chronology
"Hey Now Girl" (2001) "California" (2002) "Always on My Mind" (2002)

"California" is a song by American rock band Phantom Planet. It was released as a single from their second album The Guest in 2002.

The song was first heard on television in episode 8 of the television show Fastlane. Both the song and the band received major attention when it became the theme song on the Fox television show The O.C. It was also previously in the soundtrack to the film Orange County and featured in the episode "Milhouse of Sand and Fog" of The Simpsons.

The song is about driving on U.S. Route 101, traveling to see a concert.^[1] The song became a top ten hit in Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, reaching numbers 3, 2, 9, and 10 in the respective countries.