California Feelin'

The song was written by Brian Wilson and Stephen Kalinich for Wilson's American Spring side project.[2] Kalinich considered the song white gospel and added "I think it frightened him a little to let his defenses down and give the vocal all he had."[3] It was first tracked as a demo in November 1974 by Brian Wilson in a session that was engineered by Chuck Britz.[4] Wilson, unhappy with his performance, instructed the engineer to scrap the tape,[4][5] but this was not heeded.[5] By the Beach Boys' next album, 1976's 15 Big Ones, Wilson's voice was drastically different due to drug and tobacco use.

It was recorded again in 1978 by the Beach Boys.[5] The song lent its name to California Feeling, an early version of what would become M.I.U. Album later in the year. Despite the album title, Brian insisted that the song be left off from its track listing.[6] The Beach Boys' 1974 and 1978 versions of "California Feelin'" were eventually released for the 2013 compilation Made in California.[5] Compiler Alan Boyd explained:

That was one of the first songs recorded for the L.A. (Light Album) in 1978 at Criteria, the Bee Gees studio, in Miami. A rough mix has been circulating for many years but we did a little track editing and pulled some things out on it. I’ve always loved the song and there are multiple versions of it out there. There’s a version by The Honeys, Brian (Wilson) has recorded it. But we’re finally getting the Beach Boys master out. It features a beautiful vocal by Carl. The song almost has a gospel tinge to it. We even used part of Brian’s original first attempt at a lead vocal on it too, which no one has heard.[5]