I Was Made To Love Her question...

[TheLazenby]

"The Complete Guide to the Music of..." notes under the entry for I Was Made To Love Her that, 'contrary to a popular BB myth, the phrase 'son of a bitch' is not sung.'  But.... there's nothing in that song that sounds remotely like 'son of a bitch'... unless I missed something?

Speaking of Wild Honey, how'd the Beach Boys' quality control slip enough to let a badly glitched recording of "Country Air" slip through??

[Ebb and Flow]

I remember playing Wild Honey in the car once, and someone commented on hearing "son of a bitch" in that song, and I thought they were crazy.  Listening to it, I guess it might be the line "knee high to a chicken" that does it, but I still can't hear anything remotely like SOB.

The noise in Country Air that buzzes is part of the track, and was intentional in some way, or enough to leave in the final mixdown.  I have no idea what it is, though it sounds like feedback maybe from the organ.   

[c-man]

I remember playing Wild Honey in the car once, and someone commented on hearing "son of a bitch" in that song, and I thought they were crazy.  Listening to it, I guess it might be the line "knee high to a chicken" that does it, but I still can't hear anything remotely like SOB.

The noise in Country Air that buzzes is part of the track, and was intentional in some way, or enough to leave in the final mixdown.  I have no idea what it is, though it sounds like feedback maybe from the organ.   

I believe it IS a distorted organ speaker rattling away, but I always thought it sounded close enough to a trumpet to think it IS a trumpet.  Doesn't really bother me either way.

[Custom Machine]

Shortly after the Wild Honey album was released, a friend of mine bought the eight track, and a few days later told me that he was playing the tape of the album for the first time while changing a car transmission.  He said he was dropping the tranny down just when I Was Made to Love Her came on and the Beach Boys kept singing, "Hey, hey, hey, you son of a bitch!"  He said he started laughing so hard he almost let go of the transmission and it nearly fell on top of him.  He was quite surprised when I told him I had never heard such lyrics in the song.  When I got home I gave the album a listen and realized that the line, "Hey, hey, hey, yes I was made to love her" does sound like "Hey, hey, hey, you son of a bitch!"  Over the years there have been numerous reports of people hearing the lyrics as "You son of a bitch!" and, I frequently sing it to myself that why when listening to the song!  It definitely adds an element of fun and humor to the listening experience.

[TheLazenby]

Not as fun as my reaction to hearing the end of "I'd Like Just Once To See You" for the first time yesterday... 

[Andrew G. Doe]

... or the end of "Wild Situation". 

[TheLazenby]

Yeah, that's a faulty organ according to the booklet.  (Notice that the problematic note is one of the ones being held in the background.)

As for "Wild Situation", what happens at the end?

[Jeff Mason]

Let's just say I won't play that song with my four year old around to hear those lyrics at the end.....

[c-man]

As for "Wild Situation", what happens at the end?

Now, bear in mind, Dennis sings this line AFTER the point that the song probably was supposed to be faded out...but he sings "She got it hard, and now it's a big...."...well, it rhymes with "election".  But he's not singing about voting, so use your imagination...

[TheLazenby]

Ahh, so they called him "The Wood" for a reason! 

Shame, I thought Weird Al invented the fade-out gag.  (Every now and then, Al slips something naughty at the very end of a fade - there's "oh sh*t" in Dead Car Battery Blues, "you're just a pain in the ass" in Phony Calls, and "you cheap bastard" in Don't Download This Song.)

[MBE]

I still think it was Son of a Bi==h

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Now, bear in mind, Dennis sings this line AFTER the point that the song probably was supposed to be faded out...but he sings "She got it hard, and now it's a big...."...well, it rhymes with "election".  But he's not singing about voting, so use your imagination...

Until my old computer died, I had a version on my hard drive where somebody had spliced in the closing part of All I want to Do immediately after.

[Roger Ryan]

I have no idea how the Beach Boys made "hey, hey, yes I was made to love her" sound like "hey, hey, you son-of-a-bitch", but that's the way I heard it as well after buying the Reprise vinyl two-fer of "Wild Honey" and "20/20" back in the mid-70s! After that mistaken first impression, I have to remind myself what the real lyrics are every time I play the song. None of my friends could hear what I was getting at all those years ago, so it's funny to hear it mentioned on this board.