The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hey all.
I haven't listened to the early BB stuff in decades (my first albums as a kid were BB's), having gone on to Jazz, progressive rock, whatever.  (notice i didn't say "progressed" :)  All music has its place.)  So reading this board about different topics  i pulled out Summer days and Summer nights.  Yes, California Girls is on it, but I forgot how I loved The girl from NYC...not to be confused with the other song by that name. :)
Anywho,  That Girl Don't Tell Me is fantastic.  I get it that they were copying the Beatles ect.  Does anyone have any details on this?  I am guessing since the Beatles were successful,  they thought they would try it.
No session people, except the bells player i think, which is interesting for that time.  Did that song chart? It sure as hell should of!

The song was "inspired" by Ticket To Ride. It was a B-Side, it didn't chart.

thats too bad.  In *my* opinion.   ( probably would have confused the public)

It didn't chart, but it was the B side to Barbara Ann, so I'm sure a lot of people heard it in their homes.

It was also on Endless Summer, which everyone had a copy of in the 70's. Almost as ubiquitous back then as Rumours or Frampton Comes Alive!

Isn't the story that Brian wrote it for the Beatles but they turned it down?

Story was he wrote it for them, but he either never submitted it or he never actually wrote it for them to begin with. Either way, pretty thankful it ended up being a Beach Boys song and Carl ended up singing it.

No session people period. Brian - bass, Dennis - drums, Carl - guitars, Bruce - celeste...that's it.

I love this song.  Its one of the early ones that I listen to the most.

i thought Brian played celeste on this one.

the similiarity to Ticket To Ride isn't immediately apparent but glaringly obvious when discovered.

A great listen but also a great one to play - fantastic chord progressions and key shifts - a fun workout for strummers the world over.

It's an enjoyable song, but it sounds unfinished to me. The instrumental track sounds like it still needs a few overdubs, it could've used some backing vocals, and it's pretty atypical for the group to just repeat a verse. Maybe Brian realized that it sounded a bit too much like 'Ticket to Ride' and decided to not put too much work in it?

Not at all.  Brian's minimal production approach and instrumentation for "Girl Don't Tell Me" owes something to Buddy Holly's "Everyday." He was right on the money.

I've often thought that too.

Also it's a nice breather between the heavier productions of the era, for Brian and the listener.

"Ticket to Ride" was the Beatles' latest radio hit when the Beach Boys went into the studio to record this one. At Brian's most recent Toronto show he introduced it by saying "Here's a song I wrote for John Lennon."

In my experience it's one of those Beach Boys song  that everybody likes when they hear it

Such a great song  ;D

So Brian does it live. thats great. 
Its one of those damned songs once i hear it, it's stuck in my head for a week.  ( but thats a good thing!)   

There are a couple noticeable similarities between the two songs, but there's nothing "glaring" about imo. Certainly an influence on the song, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. "Girl Don't Tell Me" is very much its own song and above all, beats the pants off of "Ticket To Ride".

I agree 100%. Definitely shows an influence while still being completely its own song. This is one of my absolute favorites by The Beach Boys overall.

I received the Barbara Ann / Girl Don't Tell Me 45 as a gift for Christmas when I was 9 tears old.  I don't know why, really.  I was not really a Beach Boys fan at the time, but I loved The Beatles.  I do remember hearing Barbara Ann on the radio, so maybe my Mom heard me singing along and decided to buy the newly released 45 for me.  Anyway, I ended up playing Girl Don't Tell Me much more than the flip side because to my 9 year old ears, it sounded more like The Beatles.

On another thread people are saying Carl sings "stay with my Gran"?   Is it???!!!   I always sing stay with my friend   :-\

I was never sure if I heard "gram" or "gran", they're both versions of the same thing.

When I was in Boston in '97 someone played me a cover version which was, I believe, a semi-popular local single at that time I had just moved back there: It was a local band named Fuzzy covering "Girl Don't Tell Me". I'd recommend seeking it out for a listen, although it is pretty hard to find and because of this thread I checked YouTube and no one has posted it. An interesting part of this cover song was the fact that it didn't stray too far from the original arrangement, and by that I mean they weren't running Fender Mustangs through Big Muff fuzz pedals to get the "indie" sound and speeding it up with a loud drummer...a practice which was somewhat standard among Boston indie bands covering oldies in 1997... ;D

And the fact that a girl is singing the lyrics verbatim. It put an interesting twist on a good tune.

Honestly I haven't heard that since leaving Boston years ago, and maybe my motives in recommending a listen are in hopes someone has it and will make it available..."Fuzzy" doing Girl Don't Tell Me...Boston area circa 96-97.

Whether Gram or Gran, either way he is referring to his Grandmother, with whom he is staying with for the summer.

Definitely. If the song were written in 1980, the word gram would take on another meaning entirely. :-D

Is that a gram? ~ American Psycho

Yeah. why is that weird, Wild-Honey?


also, guitarfool's description of what the cover could've been immediately made me think of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNaIJzDel1o

I always figured Carl was saying "Gram", because that was the nickname I called my grandmother. I wonder, were pushers selling drugs by the gram or by the ounce back in the mid-60s? ;)

Always fond of this cover myself - kickin' vocal arrangement! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8RbAYT6dIw

Another one here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNaIJzDel1o

check your pm   :)

Interesting note: Fuzzy's version sings the line "stay with my friends" rather than gram/gran, just as a previous poster had heard that line. And it's a girl singing it, yet she sings "I'm the guy who left you..."

Neat version. I'll remember it too from Boston because it was very cool to hear a band covering that particular song, not one you would immediately assume would be covered.

The cover emphasizes the observation that the chorus, especially the chords, very much has a 1963-64 Beatles songwriting vibe about it.

:lol Awesome.

Do you like Huey Lewis and the news? ;D

Not weird..  though I do think friends fits better :p  I just can't hear Gran.  Think i've just thought it was friend and can't unhear it now. 

The Boston band heard it as "friends" as well, but I always heard it as "gram". Others hear "gran".

Go figure! :)

"Gran", totally. Makes the most sense, too. I think. Never heard anything else there.

Was there a clip or something of the Boston band singing it??

Aside from the guitar soundalikes *and* the "Girl don't tell me you'll wri-i-ite" and "She's got a ticket to ri-i-ide" lines being almost identical *and* both songs repeating a verse rather than come up with a new third verse *and* the general melodic shape of the first two lines of the verse being similar they're totally different ;)

There are clear differences of course -- Girl Don't Tell Me's verses are twice as long, and there are two of them before the chorus, making the chorus into the middle eight in effect, Girl Don't Tell Me has slightly more harmonic movement (though very simple chords), and Ticket To Ride has a separate fade -- but they're very, very closely related songs.

I recently noticed that "Girl Don't Tell Me", "You're So Good To Me", and "California Girls" all have a little break where everything drops out except one instrument, which continues playing the main groove for a bar. Then, everything jumps back in. It's a cool effect, but Brian was almost overusing it.

big fan of the Souvenir version on the 'Caroline Now' tribute album. something very sexy about a Spanish girl singing in French.

can't find the studio version, but here's a sweet LIVE ONE. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzGvpYx5HoY)