California Man (song)
original song written and composed by Roy Wood
"California Man" is a song by British rock and roll band the Move. It was written by the band's guitarist/vocalist Roy Wood, who has said he wrote it as a pastiche of Little Richard (Wood's favourite musician of the time) and Jerry Lee Lewis (fellow Move member Jeff Lynne's favourite musician at the time). The song was also produced by him, alongside Jeff Lynne, and recorded in 1971 at Philips Studios, based in London. The song became the band's final charting single in the United Kingdom, charting at number 7, and was covered by acts such as Cheap Trick and Cliff Richard.
Release
Though the band's popularity would continue to be milked with bootleg singles throughout the 1970s, this was the Move's last officially released single. It was released in April 1972, bearing "Do Ya" and "Ella James" as a double B-side. A pastiche of Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Larry Williams, the composition is recorded in a high-energy rock and roll style, with lead vocals by both Wood and Jeff Lynne, who were at the time jointly leaders of both the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and the Move. "California Man" reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart in May 1972. Reviewing the single, Record World said "Without a doubt, this is the finest all-around rock & roll record of the year." The ELO issued its first single, "10538 Overture", a month after this track.
In the U.S., "California Man" was issued on the United Artists record label.
The public source identifies “California Man (song)” as original song written and composed by Roy Wood. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around California, song and original.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5020676. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971 and 1972.
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This entry incorporates text from “California Man (song)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.