(Simultaneously Posted at "Pitchpull".)
I'll bet many of you reading my title finished that sentence, didn't you?
I bet also that you finished it by singing it to yourself!
"4-0-9".....
Not one of my favorite Beach Boys tunes.
It was catchy and fun.
You still hear it now and then,
not because it was a great song, but because it was done by a great group.
"The Beach Boys" were, and are, one of my favorite groups.
I think they're underrated by many.........
Not the Beatles, who were motivated to produce "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" after hearing "Pet Sounds" by the Beach Boys.
During turbulent times growing up, the Beach Boys took what was in my head and put it on the radio.
Brian Wilson, Beach Boy #1, was a genius.
The harmonies he molded, using his brothers, a cousin, and a friend, were fabulous. Combined with a simple but well written verse, you've got music that will stand up for years.
Go back now and listen to "In My Room".
What a great song:
"In this world I lock out all my worries and my fears,
In my room."
Did your room ever feel like sanctuary when you were growing up?
Mine sure did. And the harmonies on the song are breathtaking. Brian put my thoughts to simple, wonderful, words and music.
A couple posts ago, (at "Pitchpull"), I wrote about the "Oldies" DJ I used to listen to on Monday nights. One of the love songs I used to request and dedicate to Sara Jean was "God Only Knows":
"If you should ever leave me,
My life would still go on, believe me.
The world could show nothing to me,
So what good would living do me?
God only knows what I'd be without you!"
Wow.
All my adult life I've envied Brian Wilson's ability to not only write those words, but put them to music that brings tears to my eyes.
On a more upbeat note, musically, there's
"Wouldn't it be nice?"
I think these words illustrate the huge change that has taken place in our attitude towards sex, marriage, and relationships:
"Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through?"
A catchy, upbeat tune........ but as a young man with hormones beginning to rage, I could easily identify with the accompanying words!
Part of my attraction to the song is the fact that it sprang in what seemed to be a simpler, more structured time, when there were unwritten rules about what was, (AND WAS NOT) supposed to happen when "Boy meets Girl."
Music from the mid-60's through the mid-70's tells much of the story and mood of our time. I think some of it is truly classic, and will still be getting airtime when many of us are motivating from point A to point B on our "hover-rounds".
Late 60's Beach Boys stuff, when Brian began to experiment with drugs, confuses me. No longer simple, the music is strange....more complex, and doesn't stay in my head. But the early stuff, when he was still thinking like a teenager and writing for them/us, is unforgettable!
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4 comments:
Gee Greybeard, I not only thought "409" I can hear that engine roaring too. What a great song that is.
I identified with "Fun, Fun, Fun" because of the many trips to the "library" I made in our '63 Chevy!
"She Loves You” and "I want to Hold Your Hand" were two of my faves.
The music was SO good then, I think we were spoiled without knowing it. I'm not much of a music person but I truly haven't heard anything since 1969ish, that even approaches the quality that was common then.
I remember listening to that guy on WIBC in the mornings, the one who always said "today's skee - dooly is ..." Bill Barker??
Of course, if I stayed at my Grandparents house, we listened to Harry Martin's Farm Report while we dressed for school. Always good to know the going price of beef before the school day.
PT - Was it "Bouncin Bill Baker"? I listened to Harry Martin too and got the farm report...hog bellies, corn, & beans; all the information we needed before Mrs. Callahan's Lit class first period each morning.
I listened to WIBC faithfully every day sometimes I called in requests. I think Flygirl and I drove them crazy requesting "Come on Down to My Boat Baby"!
But the Beach Boys and the Beatles were the greatest and still are today. I am completely ignorant of any music since 1974! I try to listen but UGH! it's just not good is it? Oh yeah, I know one song from working at the high school, it is "Smokin' in the Boys Room". Can you believe those kids had a juke box? WOW! What fun we would have had with that.
Here is another "classic" from back in the day....
Does your chewing gum loose its flavor on the bedpost overnight? When your mother says don't chew it do you swallow it in spite? Can you leave it on your tonsils, can you heave it left and right? Does your chewing gum loose its flavor on the bedpost overnight.
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