Berkeley Forever – a Cal Day playlist

If there’s ever a time that a day seems infinite, that time would be either Cal Day (or the middle of finals week). Filled with eight straight hours of on campus events, the day is filled with that everlasting twinge of nostalgia for a school you currently go to. For some of us it’s our first; for others, they are veterans to the mass of people coming from all over the world to set foot on the Number 1 Public University in the World (or 2, depending on who you ask). So in honor of Cal Day 2019, we’ve put together a little set of songs that remind us of the wonders of Berkeley, and everything it’s ever had to offer us. We hope that feeling of nostalgia for a campus you might not totally know yet never leaves you.

“A song that reminds me of Berkeley is ‘About a Quarter to Nine’ by The Electric Prunes. First of all, it’s a psychedelic cover of an old ’40s song, and Berkeley is the heart of the psychedelic scene. But, more importantly, I used to listen to this song every time I would walk home late from the library. It’s the nicest song to listen to while you’re walking at night; the first lines of the song are ‘the stars are gonna twinkle and shine/this evening about a quarter to nine.’ It’s really the sweetest and most haunting song.” — Sophie Turovsky, Staff Writer

“My Cal day song has gotta be ‘There is Something on Your Mind’ by Big Jay McNeely, mostly cause I listened to it a ton walking around last semester. Now whenever I hear it I get reminded of Berkeley a little bit.” — Kieran Zimmer, Staff Writer

“Bob Dylan’s ‘Tombstone Blues’ gives me the same excitement as when I walk back onto campus after a break and feel the vintage Berkeley energy. References to communism, pretentious literature, and absurd hallucinations litter the lyrics, and the raw, electric sound of the song just makes your eyes widen and your heart pound harder and you really feel empowered.  It’s like wild mercury.” — Josh Hauser, Staff Writer

“A song that reminds me of Berkeley? Literally any Tame Impala song. Preferably ‘‘Cause I’m a Man.’” — Vivian Chen, Editor-in-Chief

“Definitely any song by Berkeley legends The Cataracs — probably ‘Marshawn Lynch.’ It’s honestly not even that great of a song, but all I can think about is Berkeley when I listen to it.” — Leka Gopal, Managing Editor

Check out the whole playlist — including some other hits that remind us of Berkeley — below. And it wouldn’t be a Berkeley playlist if we didn’t include Lil B.

Article by Leka Gopal