Knowing California

Posted by R. Berg on January 29, 2003

In Reply to: Feeling Minnesota?? posted by Bruce Kahl on January 29, 2003

: : I know its a movie, and I know that Chris Cornell sings it in the Soundgarden song "Outshined" ("I'm lookin California, but feelin' Minnesota, oh yeah") Can one of you enlightened Americans explain to me what this means. (From the context I would think it means either feeling 'cool' or feeling depressed, but thats just a kiwi point of view!!) Spank you very much

: Just a guess:
: From the lyrics comparing California and Minnesota:
: California and Minnesota are two of 50 US States.
: California is always warm and sunny while Minnesota, especially Northern Minnesota, can be rather harshly cold and snow bound from November thru April.
: The lyrics are contrasting the two states as a metaphor, as you stated, for emotional states.

California is not really always warm and sunny, but people believe it is. In fact, "sunny California" is a cliché. The southern part of the state is sunny much of the time. That's what drew the movie industry there: more available shooting days in a year. I'd say Bruce is correct and the lyrics mean "I look happy, but I feel dismal."

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