A Cork on the Ocean: Beach Boys and Wilson Brothers song-by-song

Be Here in the Morning - The high vocal has never bothered me since it's such a good melody, but it would be better in a lower register. "Korthoff, Parks or Grillo" are the kind of lyrics you get when Mike is out of town, so this is definitely a Brian Wilson personal homey vignette, which he was doing more and more. Using obscure names like that wouldn't have made it more relatable for listeners though (it was years before I learned "Parks" was Jon and not Van Dyke). The highlights for me along with the melody are the gentle little intro and outro with what sounds like a ukelele. 4/5

 

I don’t think this is true at all. When Brian was enthusiastic about his music he believed others would embrace it too. There were naysayers about the commerciality of Good Vibrations yet it became a number one hit. I believe that Brian totally believed the public’s minds would be blown by the Smile/Smiley music and it would be commercially successful. He was in the business of creating the musical trends, not following them. Same for Friends - I think he believed this was the right music for the times and would be a success. That was a delusion unfortunately but Brian was forging his own path irregardless of trends - but he wanted it to be commercially successful. He did care about connecting with their fans - but the numbers were dwindling as The Beach Boys music became increasingly out of step with the times.

 

I don't think it's a coincidence that Brian popped his head back out of the hole after the runaway success of "Endless Summer". Nor that he went back in it after "Love You" didn't reach the top 40.

 

Both sides of the US 45 were dedicated mono mixes… for all the good it did!

 

re: "the lyrics"

Don't Worry Baby is our number one song and it's not because we all love stories about car racing.

 

Brian rarely toured. Thus, he had little notion of a direct connection with BB fans. He wanted to create trends, but removed himself from that direct interaction with fans that would facilitate understanding his fans and musical trends. He replaced understanding and actual connections with fans with his own imagination of what that might be.

 

True, but it's got to be relevant to the conversation that those are some of the most widely detested pieces of material in the entire catalogue!

 

did some beach cleanup today.

saw a cork, not a nice simple one‚— still had other packaging materials and branding on it, ya know, from a wine bottle. Was tempted
to
throw it
onto the Pacific.

but into increasingly heavy big bag'o trash it went.

later then saw a folded up bicycle rider card. Directly deposited into plastic sack o' detritus, mostly plastic too

okay so right before end pushing three hours of this in big brimmed hat and shades and all that— another cork. This one just plain ol' cork. Couldn't help myself, song in mind, had to see it on the ocean. So I placed it on the shore, let the tide come in and take it away, knowing I might be littering, which'd be opposite of what I was there for, once it got carried off. And each time yeah it floated onto and then further off the sand, looked like it'd be outta reach. But after a few goes there was a wave that brought it right just about back to me and I ran out, grabbed it, danced around the foam, dropped it into the trash.

 

Not "Chug-a-Lug"!

 

Well I know you love it, but a 2.8667 isn't exactly covering itself with glory

 

Our votes for "Be Here in the Mornin'"
1-0
2-1
3-5
4-19
5-18
Average: 4.16

 

I don't quite love it, but it isn't exactly reviled. A rounded off 3!

 

Your post could be labeled "Busy Doing Nothing part 2"

 

Today’s song is “When a Man Needs a Woman”, written by Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Steve Korthoff & Jon Parks. Two versions.
Arranged and produced by Brian Wilson (production credited to The Beach Boys.) Engineered by Jim Lockert.

The Beach Boys – When A Man Needs A Woman Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Background:
Clearly inspired by the upcoming birth of Brian and Marilyn’s first child, who Brian apparently just assumed would be a boy. The other co-writers of the song also had small children and/or were expecting new babies themselves. A version of this song ( called “My Son”) had been recorded earlier in the month at ID Sound earlier in the sessions. This above was a remake, with the track recorded at ID Sound on March 18th and the vocals recorded somewhere later on.

Line up: (per Slowinsky, 2018/Sail On podcast 2022)
Brian Wilson: lead vocals, organ, piano, harmony/backing vocals
Carl Wilson: electric guitar(?), harmony/backing vocals
Bruce Johnston & Al Jardine: harmony/backing vocals
With
David Cohen: electric lead guitar
Al Vescovo: acoustic guitar
Lyle Ritz: electric bass guitar
Norm Jeffries: drums

Alternative Versions:

• An “Alternative Version” featuring verse e where the organ solo is here was released on Wake The World: The Friends’ Sessions 1968 in 2018.
• An “early take” was released on Wake The World: The Friends’ Sessions 1968 in 2018.

 

This is "When a Man Needs a Woman [ Alternative Version” ]with the extra verse which was cut out from the final version and replaced with an organ solo. I will count ratings for this one separately.

 

I personally believe that when an artist is a trailblazer and really connects with an audience, that it's mostly luck. Eventually that luck runs out for everyone.

 

Not For Rating:
"When a Man Needs a Woman [Early Take Basic Track]"

This was an early version of the song, played by The Beach Boys themselves. It's quite short; I suppose that Brian was working at this point in the Wild Honey mode of recording a really short section and then planning to duplicate it and tape it all together.
Line Up:
Al Jardine: Banjo, (acoustic guitar?)
Brian Wilson: piano with strings taped down, Stand up bass,
Carl Wilson: acoustic guitar (?)bass guitar
Dennis: castanets, bongos

 

Not one of the best songs on FRIENDS, but it's sweet and maintains the gentle mood. There's not necessarily anything wrong with it, but it just comes up a bit slight compared to what we've heard thus far. I love the background vocals and could have used even more of them. Sweet guitar sound, and I'm a sucker for organs. 4.0 / 5.0

 

I love the laconic, lazy way the track goes there, and Brian's vocal is tops. Lyle Ritz's electric bass is as exquisite as ever, and the organ solo is just so much fun. Brian was full of love when he wrote this song (even though his son was a girl --oops.) I like the tag. A great album track and a great way to follow up the last song. Maybe for me it's all just a tad bit too flowery-sweet, almost flavored like a Bruce ballad, but that doesn't mean I don't love it.

4.1/5

 

Our votes for "Wake The World" [Alternate Version] (I forgot to publish this yesterday)
1-0
2-0
3-1
4-4
5-2
Average: 4.0786

 

Probably is. But a massive and expensive promotional campaign from a record company couldn't hurt. The record business in the US back then was not really democratic though it purported to be and as most users here seem to think it was.

Here's something I learned from Chris Bourke's Something So Strong biography of Crowded House, which I think is relevant.

Split Enz was told that to get a Top Ten hit in the US (with "I Got You") in 1980 they'd need to pay $120,000. Crowded House, 6 years later, were told it would cost $250,000. Split Enz refused to pay and "I Got You" didn't crack the Top 40 despite being a huge hit in every other Western country in the world. (A bit like "Do It Again.")

Crowded House got lucky with "Don't Dream Its Over" in 1987, only because the FBI was cracking down on independent promoters (payola purveyors .) in the mid-eighties and so their manager managed to successfully promote it for only $10,000, out of his own pocket. (Incidently when the FBI was cracking down in 1987, that was the time when Alternative Music broke into the mainstream: the de facto payola system had been keeping them out, in my opinion.)

What happened with The Beach Boys is that, by 1966, and probably much earlier, they had gotten to a point where they didn't need to spend much money or time promoting singles. They just happened because they were hot.

Suddenly they needed a reinvestment.

Capitol, or The Beach Boys themselves, if they had the liquidity (probably didn't as they spent a lot on cars and bought a huge amount of property at this time) should have re-invested in promotion and they would have been hot again, but Capitol was slow on the uptake; or maybe they had it in for The Beach Boys after SMiLE and the lawsuit and so on.

But beyond that, speaking to your point, it's also no coincidence that finding a big audience is something that early twenty-somethings usually do. Because they are basically writing about, as Brian said it, "What turns me on" and what turns them on is what turns other young people on.

At this point what Brian was into was staying home and warm and comfortable with his family and little baby and hanging out with his friends.

In retrospect, the whole home and family thing would have probably connected more in the early seventies. And it also might be a fact that many Beach Boys fans who were Beach Boys age range (19-27) at this point were probably at home with babies themselves because more people had babies at a relatively young age back then; when you have small children, you pay less attention to pop culture for a while and buying records from your favorite groups is no longer a priority.

 

Thread guide.

I've provided a list of "chapters" for our discussion below. Clicking on an entry should bring you to my introductory essay for each album, which typically starts a day before the song-by-song discussion starts. So readers will want want to skip a few pages to get to the first song in most cases.

On rare occasions I've held up songs from the upcoming album ahead of the album: "Surfin' Safari", for example, and some of the Today! singles. or "Good Vibrations", more recently.

If you are searching for discussion of a particular song, just simply search the thread for "Today's song 409", for example, write my name (Lance LaSalle) in the Posted by Member field and it should help you find it.

I'll try to keep this updated, perhaps at weekends. I wish I had done this for my other threads! I've left out the many archival releases that we've taken a day out for (The Big Beat, Live in Sacramento 1964; Keep an Eye On Summer: The Beach Boys Sessions 1964; Live in Chicago 1965), but they can be found after the album they follow chronologically (i.e., not release-order.)

• Surfin' Safari discussion.
• Surfin' U.S.A.
• Surfer Girl
• Little Deuce Coupe + The Big Beat
• Shut Down, Vol. 2
• All Summer Long +Live In Sacramento 1964
• The Beach Boys' Christmas Album
• Beach Boys Concert + Keep An Eye on Summer: The Beach Boys Sessions 1964
• The Beach Boys Today! + Live In Chicago 1965
• Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!)
• Beach Boys' Party! +Beach Boys' Party Uncovered & Unplugged
• Pet Sounds + Graduation Day: Live at the University of Michigan 1966
• The SMiLE Sessions
• Smiley Smile
• Wild Honey
• Friends + Wake the World: the Friends Sessions 1968+Live In London+The Beach Boys On Tour 1968

Upcoming:

• 1968 - Friends (+Wake the World + Live In London +The Beach Boys On Tour 1968)
• 1969 - 20/20 (+I Can Hear Music)
• 1970 - Sunflower
• 1971 - Surf’s Up (+Feel Flows)
• 1972 - Carl and the Passions – “So Tough”
• 1972 - Spring [American Spring]
• 1973 - Holland (+Live at Carnegie Hall+ Sail On Sailor)
• 1973 In Concert
• 1976 - 15 Big Ones
• 1977 - The Beach Boys Love You
• 1977 (Adult Child)
• 1977 - Pacific Ocean Blue [Dennis Wilson]
• 1978 - M.I.U. Album
• 1979 - L.A. (Light Album)
• 1980 - Keepin’ the Summer Alive
• 1980 -Good Timin': Live at Knebworth, England 1980
• 1981 - Carl Wilson
• 1983 - Youngblood
• 1985 - The Beach Boys
• 1988 - Brian Wilson
• 1989 - Still Cruisin’
• 1990- Sweet Insanity
• 1992 - Summer in Paradise
• 1995 - I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times
• 1995 - Orange Crate Art
• 1996 - Stars and Stripes Vol. 1
• (Paley Sessions)
• 1998 - Imagination
• 2000 - Like a Brother (Carl-sung or written songs only)
• 2004 - Gettin’ In over My Head
• 2004 - Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE
• 2005 - What I Really Want for Christmas
• 2005 Songs from Here & Back
• 2008 - That Lucky Old Sun
• 2009 - Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin
• 2011 - In the Key of Disney
• 2012 - That’s Why God Made the Radio
• 2015 - No Pier Pressure
• 2021 - At My Piano
• 2021 - Long Promised Road Soundtrack

 

4/5

 

4/5

 

As for the "Alternate Version" of "When a Man Needs a Woman."...

I do like the lyric of verse that got cut out, but Brian's performance obviously needed another take. I don't miss it when it's gone, and I enjoy the kind of fruity organ solo there more, I think. Good call, Bri.

3.9/5