Thank Him For Our Love

[Pet Sounder]

Found this on youtube and love it...did Brian write this?  What's the story behind this one?

[Shane]

I  second this request... I want to know more about this mysterious and amazing song.  Are the vocals an overdubbed duet by Brian, or does someone else (Bob Norberg?) sing on this as well? 

[ohthosegirls]

Sounds all Brian to me...

[SG7]

Someone tried selling the recording of it on ebay a couple of years ago. I believe BRI has the recording of this now.

[Chris Brown]

There have been a few threads on this one in the past.  The basic gist is that it's a Brian and Bob Norberg composition and recording although I'd say quite confidently that the vocals are all Brian. 

It's a crying shame that this was never given a "proper" studio recording.  It would have been a stone-cold classic.

[superunison]

Needs to be on a new archival release......... To hear this with some fidelity would be a dream come true. Love this song. What are the odds this could be on one of the new archival releases?

[Quzi]

This song is absolutely gorgeous and it's astonishing that is has avoided recognition for so long. I hope Capitol can do something really special with that reclaimed master they acquired a few years back when they put out the archival release!

[37!ws]

Here's what I can tell you...

Probably about fifteen years ago, some dude e-mailed me saying that he had an acetate of what he thought was a demo with Brian and Carl. He told me he'd send me a copy of it but I'd owe him "big time." He sent me a cassette tape that had the song on it twice. It was new to me. I don't know how many other people he sent it to...he MUST have sent it to others because so many other people eventually heard it, and I certainly wasn't the source...

I e-mailed Lauri Klobas (who at the time was president of Brian's fan club, and she did a wonderful job, as far as I'm concerned) to ask if I could send it to her to have Brian try to identify it. She said sure, as long as I promise that the tape would be nothing BUT that song, because she doesn't want fans to attempt to send Brian their band demos, etc. So I sent her the tape.

A couple of weeks later she wrote back, saying that Brian had stopped by her office, so she played the tape for him (and had it added to his personal archive). He said he remembered it. he said that he was singing with Carl -- Carl singing the lower harmony and playing guitar, Brian on bass. He said they were at someone's house where there was a tape recorder and a microphone rigged up. Brian said he wrote it but didn't remember if it had a 1) title or 2) collaborator. Says it was circa 1963; Lauri chimed in saying that it might have been from around the same time as that "Little Surfer Girl" recording that was on the box set. She said Brian was thrilled to hear a "blast from the past."

Meanwhile, I sent a copy to Brad Elliott as well. He told me he played it over the phone to Bob Norberg, who insisted HE was the one on the recording, not Carl.

As for the guy who sent me the tape who said I'd owe him big time? Well...for the longest time I never heard from him. Years later he e-mailed me again and said, "Remember that tape I sent you? Well, I found a better-sounding source; want a copy?" I forgot to reply and ergo never got a better-sounding copy! And to this day he has yet to ask for whatever I owe him!

[Pet Sounder]

Here's what I can tell you...

Probably about fifteen years ago, some dude e-mailed me saying that he had an acetate of what he thought was a demo with Brian and Carl. He told me he'd send me a copy of it but I'd owe him "big time." He sent me a cassette tape that had the song on it twice. It was new to me. I don't know how many other people he sent it to...he MUST have sent it to others because so many other people eventually heard it, and I certainly wasn't the source...

I e-mailed Lauri Klobas (who at the time was president of Brian's fan club, and she did a wonderful job, as far as I'm concerned) to ask if I could send it to her to have Brian try to identify it. She said sure, as long as I promise that the tape would be nothing BUT that song, because she doesn't want fans to attempt to send Brian their band demos, etc. So I sent her the tape.

A couple of weeks later she wrote back, saying that Brian had stopped by her office, so she played the tape for him (and had it added to his personal archive). He said he remembered it. he said that he was singing with Carl -- Carl singing the lower harmony and playing guitar, Brian on bass. He said they were at someone's house where there was a tape recorder and a microphone rigged up. Brian said he wrote it but didn't remember if it had a 1) title or 2) collaborator. Says it was circa 1963; Lauri chimed in saying that it might have been from around the same time as that "Happy Birthday Freshmen" recording that was on the box set. She said Brian was thrilled to hear a "blast from the past."

Meanwhile, I sent a copy to Brad Elliott as well. He told me he played it over the phone to Bob Norberg, who insisted HE was the one on the recording, not Carl.

As for the guy who sent me the tape who said I'd owe him big time? Well...for the longest time I never heard from him. Years later he e-mailed me again and said, "Remember that tape I sent you? Well, I found a better-sounding source; want a copy?" I forgot to reply and ergo never got a better-sounding copy! And to this day he has yet to ask for whatever I owe him!

Thanks for the info!  Does anyone know the exact lyrics?  I had a hard time making them out when listening to
 the youtube recording.

[37!ws]

Oops...just remembered she said "Little Surfer Girl," not "Happy Birthday Freshmen" -- I made the correction in my first reply.

The lyrics are pretty easy to make out, but darned if I can remember the last verse. (Not near my copy now, nor can I get sound on YouTube at work...)

[adamghost]

Neat!  Sure sounds like Carl on the bottom harmony to me.

[Chris Brown]

Very cool story!  I always thought it was Brian, but I can buy Carl singing the lower part. 

Hearing a better sounding copy would be amazing, one can only hope that the powers that be stumble on this thread and give it some consideration for a future archive release.

[grillo]

I think It's just Brian and Bob, who were roomates at the time, and Bob had a lot of recording gear. Didn't they write Summer/Surfer Moon together, as well? Similar sounding song (at least vibe-wise). Anyway, that's what I always thought...

[Shane]

Many thanks for the info everybody... I've known frustratingly little about this gem.


One other question I've always wondered... do these recordings come from the Bob Norberg/Brian apartment demo tapes as well?

1.  Little Surfer Girl
2.  In My Room Demo
3.  Surfin USA piano demo

(all on the GV boxed set)

[lance]

When I first heard it I didn't know anything about it and thought it was Brian and Carl for sure. Then I read it was Norberg. i don't know what his voice sounds like, but I can accept it.

[William Bowe]

I had no inkling of this song whatsoever when I downloaded Get The Boot a few years ago, and when I heard it I could not believe how brilliant it was. I include it now on compilations to convert skeptics to Brian. I remember coming across this on Hoffman's board, which may be of interest:

From an interview with Rich Alarian of the Survivors in the Summer 1983 issue of Add Some Music magazine (interview conducted by Brad Elliott):

"There were so many songs that Brian came up with when we were together that were never recorded. There was a thing called 'Thank Him': (singing) 'Thank him for a beauty so rare, Thank him for our lo-o-o-o-ove.' And we did a whole thing on that, a chorus. It was beautiful. It was done on the Wollensak recorder. He went to Radio Recorders and we put that thing on a disc and it went on a shelf. There were so many things like that. And it was a beautiful song. It was like going down to the ocean and the shells... It was a love song, it was a beautiful love song."

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-61084.html

[LeeDempsey]

I had no inkling of this song whatsoever when I downloaded Get The Boot a few years ago, and when I heard it I could not believe how brilliant it was. I include it now on compilations to convert skeptics to Brian. I remember coming across this on Hoffman's board, which may be of interest:

From an interview with Rich Alarian of the Survivors in the Summer 1983 issue of Add Some Music magazine (interview conducted by Brad Elliott):

"There were so many songs that Brian came up with when we were together that were never recorded. There was a thing called 'Thank Him': (singing) 'Thank him for a beauty so rare, Thank him for our lo-o-o-o-ove.' And we did a whole thing on that, a chorus. It was beautiful. It was done on the Wollensak recorder. He went to Radio Recorders and we put that thing on a disc and it went on a shelf. There were so many things like that. And it was a beautiful song. It was like going down to the ocean and the shells... It was a love song, it was a beautiful love song."

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/index.php/t-61084.html

That would have been my post to the Hoffman board! 

When I interviewed Vickie Kocher (friend of Brian's and Bob Norberg's; now known as Victoria Hale) for ESQ about her version of "The Summer Moon" that was posted on YouTube, I played her "Thank Him," "Rabbit's Foot," and what had previously been referred to as "Little Surfer Girl."  She didn't recall ever hearing "Thank Him," however she did recall the latter two.  She remembers some of the lyrics to "Rabbit's Foot," but she remembers the full lyrics and melody to "Little Surfer Girl," and provided the correct title: "Teach Me to Surf!"

Lee