Daisy Jane

This simple love song is about a man in an uneasy romance with a girl named Daisy Jane. The song was written and sung by Gerry Beckley of America, and like "Sister Golden Hair," it was not about a specific girl, but was a composite of different women he encountered.

Recorded at The Record Plant in Sausalito, California, "Daisy Jane" had a big-name producer: George Martin, famous for his work with The Beatles (his longtime associate Geoff Emerick was the engineer). Martin produced the America albums Holiday and Hearts.

The heartbeat that starts this song isn't an actual human heart. David Dickey, who played bass on the track, created the sounds by hitting muted strings on his guitar. In our interview with Gerry Beckley, he explained: "Every fourth one, we heard this little kind of pumped heartbeat, and said, 'David, how are you doing that?' And he said, 'I'm not doing anything!' It took a while to solo all the tracks to realize that little extra 'ca-clump' was my foot coming off the sustain pedal on the piano. You have to listen closely, but those are the funny little things that happen, so we kept it in. It made an interesting little bit for all the headphone fanatics."