“Going Back to California” tells both the story of a death and the story of a survivor.

Track: “Going Back to California”
Album: Unreleased

First things first: John Darnielle put out a version of “Going Back to California” with a call to support a pro-choice charity in 2016 here, on Tumblr, so if you do not already do so, please do so. The situation is certainly no better here in 2024 than it was in 2016, so now, more than ever. This is not the only song released to support a worthy cause, but I call it out especially because of the path from there to here. Additionally, it’s worth reading Darnielle’s original post to see his forecast of the Ozzy Osbourne material he’d recently written that would not see the light of day soon. It didn’t turn out that way, but who could have known that, then?

“Going Back to California” is about a fatal plane crash. Rather, I suppose, it’s about the reaction to the plane crash that took Randy Rhoads’ life as well as their makeup artist and the pilot, who had done cocaine and talked people into joining him for stunt flights over the band’s tour bus. The song tells us Ozzy’s reaction to Rhoads’ death and the fear it creates for the coming days. It’s a fairly direct song that even includes the anecdote that Rhoads told Ozzy that he was going to drink himself to death if he didn’t slow down. This is more than a recounting of events with that final verse, where we go inside the teller and imagine the apprehension of going on. There is a tomorrow for you, even when there isn’t for those around you.