Soulful Old Man Sunshine

[Mr. Cohen]

As far as the finished product sounding more Rick Henn, it's likely that Henn came to Brian with the genesis of the song and Brian fleshed it out (think "Sweet Mountain"). On top of that, Brian was supposed to produce and arrange the song, too, but didn't show up at the studio session. As a result, Henn had to guess what Brian would've wanted. I think one of the great what-ifs of the late '60s for the BBs is what would've happened if Brian had shown up....

[Myk Luhv]

I think Brian's demo of the song is great but the completed version is only okay. Just think of the song done Wild Honey style -- I think that sort of white-boy R&B thing is where Brian might've taken it based on his more interesting phrasing.

[kwan_dk]

I LOVE this song but like others here, I'm not so sure it could have been a big hit, had it been released. Apparently, Rick Henn thinks the same. Here's what he had to say about the song in an interview with Stephen McParland during the 80s. (Excerpt from Stephen's 'California Music' fanzine, issue 74, 1988)

Brian and I wrote the song at his house in Bellagio Road and then he seemed to lose interest.

At the same time I also wrote a song called 'Holiday' for the Honeys and so we took both tunes into the studio to cut the tracks. Brian didn't show up for the sessions; in fact, no Beach Boys were at any of the sessions.

So what we did was hire a bunch of studio dogs to come in and cut the tracks and because most of the guys in the late sixties were, you know, jazz guys - jazz oriented - the tracks ended up with a quasi-swing feel, very Las Vegas..... What I wanted was a tight rock shuffle, but what came out was more of a swing oriented track and I think that was what turned it sour.

The tracks were stiff, but if Brian had been there and if we'd had the right players, we would have had a lot better chance of getting a better final product together.

Then about the vocal date with the Beach Boys:

I remember we took the finished tracks over to Brian's studio on Bellagio and then proceeded to put the vocals on. Carl sang the lead but he continually got cramped doing it. Everytime he tried to sing it, he'd just fall down, cracking up. You know, he'd flip his collar up and act like Sonny James and the Checkmates at the lounge at Ceasars, so it never happened. We never did get a finished vocal on it.

(...) It was probably one of the busiest arrangements I've ever written in my whole life. We sat around the piano and I taught the parts to them and it was a real struggle because they weren't used to working with me. They were used to a more relaxed type of situation with Brian. The parts were also a little more difficult than what they were used to singing. ... They fought me the whole time. I was really trying to stretch my wings, to rise to the occasion... Heck, I was working with the Beach Boys!

(...) The best part was the background vocals. They did an admirable job because nobody sings as well as the Beach Boys. It's just sad that we could never get a lead down that anybody could identify with, but those backing vocals.... they were superb.

For the record, I think Rick Henn (and the Sunrays output) is vastly underrated & unjustly dismissed by many a Beach Boys fan as mere copycat clones. Personally, I think a lot of their songs were quite cool and with a great use of brass that give their songs a lot of drive, - not that different from the feel of Soulful Old Man Sunshine. Rick was a great singer - I love the snarl in his voice on 'Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously'- his vocal during the verses is almost more punk than pop.

[hypehat]

Every time I read about how this song stiffed because The Beach Boys couldn't give a f*** breaks my heart. IT'S SO GOOD. We're really lucky it survives in the form it does, all credit to Boyd & Linett.

[TV Forces]

I just cranked this song up recently and I thought "Why on earth didn't they work on this and release this as a single?!"

It's such a good song and with proper promotion could have full well have hit number 1 somewhere.

I love Soulful Old Man Sunshine (or should I say Shunshine), any reasons why they scrapped this?

I agree.  Love the song.  What a find!

[LostArt]

So what we did was hire a bunch of studio dogs to come in and cut the tracks and because most of the guys in the late sixties were, you know, jazz guys - jazz oriented - the tracks ended up with a quasi-swing feel, very Las Vegas..... What I wanted was a tight rock shuffle, but what came out was more of a swing oriented track and I think that was what turned it sour.

Thanks for the quote, kwan_dk.  This is exactly the reason why I'm not so keen on the song.  Too swingy...and yeah, very Vegas.  I'm not surprised that Carl didn't like the track.  A better track would've done the song wonders.

[EgoHanger1966]

I think it could have been a hit, agree with the Spiral Staircase comparison somewhere above. However, I don't think it would have been the single they were really looking for....it would have been a hit in the sense that "Do It Again" was. A catchy pop song that teens and record buyers connected with, but nothing to really solidify The Beach Boys as a more serious/substantial entity.

Maybe they should have just aimed for making catchy pop songs at this pint - they were so good at it!

[Aegir]

If the track didn't turn out the way Rick wanted it to, it's not because of the session musicians. It's because he couldn't assert himself as a producer.

[Cabinessenceking]

If the track didn't turn out the way Rick wanted it to, it's not because of the session musicians. It's because he couldn't assert himself as a producer.

I agree. Unlike Brian who knew how to extract what he wanted from each musician it seems Rick gave out the sheet music and they played. Perhaps he said it wasn't quite what he wanted but didn't have the ability to tell them what to do differently.

[Paulos]

If the track didn't turn out the way Rick wanted it to, it's not because of the session musicians. It's because he couldn't assert himself as a producer.

I agree. Unlike Brian who knew how to extract what he wanted from each musician it seems Rick gave out the sheet music and they played. Perhaps he said it wasn't quite what he wanted but didn't have the ability to tell them what to do differently.

How hard was it for Rick to say to the studio players 'guys, I want a tight rock shuffle for this track'?

[AM Radio]

Today, it would be fairly easy to digitally fix the 'shunshine' mistake.  Just for the heck of it, I was able to make a pretty good repair by borrowing an 's' sound from another section of Carl's vocal along with a slight extension of the boys' background harmony patched in to replace the 'sh' sound.  It's just slightly noticeable but if this was done with the multi-track masters, it would be seamless.

[hypehat]

If the track didn't turn out the way Rick wanted it to, it's not because of the session musicians. It's because he couldn't assert himself as a producer.

While you're right, I wouldn't have the track any other way, as its utterly amazing.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Every time I read about how this song stiffed because The Beach Boys couldn't give a f*** breaks my heart. IT'S SO GOOD. We're really lucky it survives in the form it does, all credit to Boyd & Linett.

And Dennis Dragon - he edited the instrumental track together from many takes. Someone who's seen that master told me it looks like a pedestrian crossing, he used so many splices.

[MBE]

My favorite Beach Boys/Brian era by far.

[filledeplage]

Today, it would be fairly easy to digitally fix the 'shunshine' mistake.  Just for the heck of it, I was able to make a pretty good repair by borrowing an 's' sound from another section of Carl's vocal along with a slight extension of the boys' background harmony patched in to replace the 'sh' sound.  It's just slightly noticeable but if this was done with the multi-track masters, it would be seamless.

That it - "shun-shine"might be "repairable" was always my thought.  I think it would be very cool to have almost anything with Carl's vocals, such as Soul Searchin', Don't Fight the Sea, and Soulful Ole Man Sunshine on a new release.  Or, stuff that Dennis might have had recorded that might not have been released or "alternative version" of what has already been released.  Or, even a "live" version of You Are So Beautiful.  The live stuff is among my favorite, warts and all. 

[Shady]

Such an incredible song. It's an explosion of joy.

[filledeplage]

Such an incredible song.

 It's an explosion of joy.

Yes, yes, yes, it is!   

[kwan_dk]

If the track didn't turn out the way Rick wanted it to, it's not because of the session musicians. It's because he couldn't assert himself as a producer.

True.

Oddly, in one of his comments throughout the interview with Rick Henn that I quoted from above, Stephen McParland specifically lists Murry as the producer on the session and Rick serving as merely the arranger. Later on, Stephen again mentions Soulful Old Man Sunshine as a 'Murry & Rick production.'

In Andrew's & John Tobler's Complete Guide Beach Boys book only Rick is listed as the producer - and right now I don't have the Endless Harmony booklet handy. Is Rick listed as the producer there as well?

No matter what, I wonder which input Murry had - if any...

[Bicyclerider]

I got a question.  Could it be that the version we've heard, wasn't ever completed back in the day?  For instance, maybe they never mixed it properly or something, so the boys never heard it in the beautiful unbelievable oh my f***ing god I can't believe they never released this version that we all know and love?  I know about the Carl vox mistake, but hell anybody could have touched that up, they could have even deleted that whole line if they couldn't have taped either a new line or just spliced in something from the other 100 times he says "Sun" in the song.  

IIRC, Brian and Rick Henn wrote the tune, but Rick did the track session - Brian then took it to the group, who weren't very enthusiastic (the fools!) so after some initial work they junked it. It was in bits and pieces in the vault (like, nothing approaching a finished mix of any of the elements). They assembled it (which apparently wasn't easy) for the 93 box, Carl wasn't happy with his vocal from back then - the flub, mostly - so it waited until Endless Harmony.

Carl's 'shunshine' flub was the reason that Carl didn't want the song on the '93 box, but I think he had issues with the song when it was recorded, which is why they never finished it in the first place.  I may be one of a very few here who thinks the song is just okay.  I like the big group harmony part, but I'm not fond of the 'feel' of the track.
 

Carl felt the song sounded corny like a Vegas lounge act (the singer could be snapping his fingers as he sings the verses) and supposedly had trouble singing the song because he kept laughing.  I see where he could get that from the music and the verse melody, but the vocals really transform the song into a Beach Boys jazz pop classic IMO.  If Brian had stepped up to produce the track it would have been even better.

Remember this is also around the time they worked with terry Jacks on Seasons in the Sun - an execrable song and totally wrong for the Beach Boys, but it would likely have been a hit as the subsequent version certainly was.

[filledeplage]

I got a question.  Could it be that the version we've heard, wasn't ever completed back in the day?  For instance, maybe they never mixed it properly or something, so the boys never heard it in the beautiful unbelievable oh my f***ing god I can't believe they never released this version that we all know and love?  I know about the Carl vox mistake, but hell anybody could have touched that up, they could have even deleted that whole line if they couldn't have taped either a new line or just spliced in something from the other 100 times he says "Sun" in the song.  

IIRC, Brian and Rick Henn wrote the tune, but Rick did the track session - Brian then took it to the group, who weren't very enthusiastic (the fools!) so after some initial work they junked it. It was in bits and pieces in the vault (like, nothing approaching a finished mix of any of the elements). They assembled it (which apparently wasn't easy) for the 93 box, Carl wasn't happy with his vocal from back then - the flub, mostly - so it waited until Endless Harmony.

Carl's 'shunshine' flub was the reason that Carl didn't want the song on the '93 box, but I think he had issues with the song when it was recorded, which is why they never finished it in the first place.  I may be one of a very few here who thinks the song is just okay.  I like the big group harmony part, but I'm not fond of the 'feel' of the track. 

Carl felt the song sounded corny like a Vegas lounge act (the singer could be snapping his fingers as he sings the verses) and supposedly had trouble singing the song because he kept laughing.  I see where he could get that from the music and the verse melody, but the vocals really transform the song into a Beach Boys jazz pop classic IMO.  If Brian had stepped up to produce the track it would have been even better.

Remember this is also around the time they worked with terry Jacks on Seasons in the Sun - an execrable song and totally wrong for the Beach Boys, but it would likely have been a hit as the subsequent version certainly was.

Some songs just have that effect of inspiring a giggle...there were songs I would sing with some of my classes, and, we would invariably just "burst into laughter."  Alan did such great work with "Don't Fight the Sea," really painstaking with his Postcard album, that I think this song might deserve the same review, of course with Brian et al. 

It would seem that there's not an endless catalogue of Carl's vocals.  Sometimes we just get goofy over a song.  The fans just embraced Carl's and Dennis' vocals during C50.  Maybe it is time to take a second look at whatever tracks might be available to rework it.  Just a thought...

[Mr. Cohen]

The finished product does have some cheese to it, but so does a lot of the stuff on the radio. You have to wonder if it could've been an oddball hit. It wouldn't have done anything for the Beach Boys reputation, except maybe to remind people of their basic mastery of pop music.

[Shady]

I don't find it cheesy at all

[Gertie J.]

i do find it so. 

[filledeplage]

The finished product does have some cheese to it, but so does a lot of the stuff on the radio. You have to wonder if it could've been an oddball hit. It wouldn't have done anything for the Beach Boys reputation, except maybe to remind people of their basic mastery of pop music.

Yes, you do "have to wonder if it could've been an oddball hit!" Bravo! 

[Shady]

"Cheesy" and "Oddball"  , I don't get these descriptions.

We're not talking about Kokomo are we?