California Girls [Summer Days
(and Summer Nights), 1965] – Brian Wilson cites this as his favorite Beach
Boys song. Allegedly the music came to Brian
Wilson after taking his first acid trip.
The Wrecking Crew is all over this one.
This is where Brian Wilson starts to rely more and more on the Wrecking
Crew to make Beach Boys records while the rest of the band was on tour.
Do It Again [20/20, 1969]
– After years of not singing about girls/cars/surfing/etc, here’s a back-to-basics
blast of nostalgia. Check out the funky
echo delay on the drums at the beginning.
Brian Wilson said in the 20/20 liner notes that he wanted his falsetto
to imitate the sound of a trumpet. The
Beach Boys’ career as a nostalgia act begins here.
Don’t Worry Baby [Shut Down
Volume 2, 1964] – Here Brian Wilson channels Phil Spector’s production Be My Baby.
Please Let Me Wonder [The
Beach Boys Today! 1965] – Harmonies galore! This song just sounds great with the fat bass
sound and the guitar-organ interplay.
The Warmth of the Sun [Shut
Down Volume 2, 1964] – Several years ago Capitol Records released a Beach
Boys compilation with the imaginative title of Beach Boys Classics, but these classics were selected by Brian
Wilson himself. Most of the tracks he
selected are well-known, others not so well-known. In the liner note for this album, he wrote
that he came up with this song the night JFK was assassinated.
The Little Girl I Once Knew [Single, 1965] - I want to get Carol
Kaye’s bass sound that I hear on this song.
Production on this song is the link between what started on Summer Days (and Summer Nights) and the
quantum leap in production of Pet Sounds. My only gripe about this song is Mike Love’s
incessant bow-bow-bow-bow background
vocals.
Wild Honey [Wild Honey,
1967] – After the über-productions
of Heroes & Villains and Good Vibrations, Wild Honey sounds like a demo in comparison. Carl Wilson sounds like he’s having a blast
singing this. I think they recorded this
one in Brian Wilson’s pool.
Sail On, Sailor [Holland,
1973] – Blondie Chaplin has the lead vocal here. Dennis Wilson had the first go at it, then
Carl. Carl wasn’t satisfied with either
attempt and suggested Blondie give it a try.
It worked rather well. Once the
hook gets in your head, it’s hard to get rid of it.
Cabin Essence [SMiLE Sessions,
2011 and 20/20, 1969] – For the Beach
Boys, this song written in Brian Wilson’s sandbox is as weird as it gets. Van Dyke Parks wrote the words, and he has no
idea what they mean. No wonder Mike Love
was so confused about their meaning.
There are three distinct parts – “Home on the Range”, “Who Ran the Iron
Horse”, and “The Grand Coulee Dam.”
Apparently the Iron Horse bit was about the Chinese guys who worked to
build the Transcontinental Railroad.
Done as a waltz, the Beach Boys chant “who ran the Iron Horse” over and
over with a six-string bass played with very fuzzy tones for accompaniment.
Surf’s Up [SMiLE Sessions,
2011, & Surf’s Up, 1971] – Van
Dyke Parks wrote the words for the music that was supposed to become SMiLE. These particular lyrics are impenetrable.
When Mike Love asked Parks what they meant, Parks couldn’t tell him because he
claimed he was stoned when he wrote them.
It’s all stream-of-consciousness stuff.
But, in this song the phrase “Surf’s Up” is a double entendre. Not only did it mean what it usually means
[the surf is up, time to go surfing!], it also meant the era of the Beach Boys
singing about surfing are over. Brian
Wilson is in full Vienna Boys Choir mode in some parts. Soon Mike Love and the rest of the Beach Boys
not named Brian Wilson lost their patience, and Brian Wilson lost his
mind.
‘Til I Die [Surf’s Up,
1971] – Brian Wilson is in a very downer mood here. Here he meditates on his insignificance on
the planet. He’s “a cork on the ocean…a
rock in a landslide…a leaf on a windy day.”
One lyric caught me by surprise with its brutal honesty – “it kills my soul” and how “I lost my way.” For a guy with mental illness problems, these
are very lucid, self-aware statements to make.
Heroes & Villains [Smiley
Smile, 1967] – After all these years, I still have no idea what this one is
about. Who are the villains – the
government who wanted to draft baby brother Carl to go fight in Vietnam, the
record company, or the voices in Brian Wilson’s head? All I know is the vocal bits [between the
verses] over the harpsichord are very trippy.
The vocal harmonies are stunning, despite Jimi Hendrix think the group
was a “psychedelic barbershop quartet.”
God Only Knows [Pet Sounds,
1966] – Carl Wilson’s finest vocal.
Brian called it a great love song, just not one sung to a person. The multiple voices at the end of the song
singing “God only knows what I’d be without you” over and over again can’t help
but make one smile.
Sloop John B [Pet Sounds,
1966] – As the Beach Boys’ resident folkie, Al Jardine suggested to Brian
Wilson the idea of recording this folk song.
He liked the Kingston Trio’s take on this 1927 West Indies tune and
thought the Beach Boys should have a crack at it. This has another great bass part from Carol
Kaye.
Wouldn’t It Be Nice [Pet
Sounds, 1966] – The opening salvo from Pet
Sounds [Hal Blaine’s drums sound like a cannon shot], this has always been
in my Top 5 of favorite Beach Boys songs.
Good Vibrations [Single, 1966] – Their best – ‘nuff said.
Girl Don’t Tell Me [Summer
Days (and Summer Nights), 1965] – Carl Wilson’s first lead vocal, and it’s
a good one. Not only is it his vocal,
he’s singing solo. The Beach Boys, and
not The Wrecking Crew, play on this track.
Listen closely and you’ll hear similarities to The Beatles’ Ticket to Ride.
Let Him Run Wild [Summer Days
(and Summer Nights), 1965] - The Wrecking Crew is all over this one, too. Phenomenal harmonies abound here.
I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times [Pet Sounds, 1966] – Brian Wilson laments that he is a misfit. Sometimes
I feel very sad…where can I turn when my fair-weather friends cop out…
I Know There’s An Answer [Pet
Sounds, 1966] – But what is the question?
It began life as Hang On To Your Ego, a song with the same
verses, but a different chorus.
Caroline, No [Pet Sounds,
1966] – Brian Wilson sings solo about a sweet girl who turned bitchy. It’s so
hard to watch a sweet thing die…
Strange World [That’s Why God
Made the Radio, 2012] – The best material from the final Beach Boys album
comes in the last four songs, of which this one is the first. Here, Brian marvels at the “uninvited people
who’ve lost their way” while at the Santa Monica Pier, and sings to someone
[presumably his wife] about how he can’t imagine life without her. Sunday morning/Skies so blue/Yo te amo/Means I love you… This would not be out of place if it was
on Brian’s Lucky Old Sun album. LA is a strange world indeed.
From There To Back Again [That’s
Why God Made the Radio, 2012] – Al Jardine and Brian Wilson split lead
vocal duties. The closing suite about
loneliness and aging begins here.
Pacific Coast Highway [That’s
Why God Made the Radio, 2012] – As Brian Wilson drives down the PCH, he
opines “Sunlight’s fading and there’s not much left to say/ My life, I’m better off
alone.”
Summer’s Gone [That’s Why God
Made the Radio, 2012] – Carl and Dennis Wilson are still dead – “Old friends have gone, they’ve gone
their separate ways. Summer’s gone – it’s finally sinking in.” A reminder of Pet Sounds…
Sail On, Sailor [Live] [Live
– The 50th Anniversary Tour, 2013] – I saw a YouTube clip of
this song with Brian Wilson taking the lead vocal. I liked it very much, hence its inclusion
here. When it was first recorded in 1972
for Holland, Brian didn’t think he
could do it. Maybe he couldn’t then, but
he sounds fine here. Still hard to get rid of the hook…
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