The Smiley Smile Message Board

The general direction of this board lately seems to put Mike up there with the best lyricists. Well, I'm not convinced. Please post what you think are examples of Mike's best work. I guess I just keep coming back to "spring vacation, good vibrations" and the like.

The Warmth of the Sun, Fun Fun Fun, I Get Around, All Summer Long, California Girls, Good Vibrations, Wild Honey, A Thing or Two, Darlin', Let the Wind Blow, Do It Again, All I Wanna Do, Big Sur, Getcha Back, You're Looking Better, I Don't Wanna Know, Starbaby, Almost Summer, How's About A Little Bit, She's Just Out To Get You...great Michael Love lyrics in all of those.

Mike Love was no John Lennon but without him we would have been stuck with a 60's Four Freshman tribute band ...

All This Is That.

This thread=
a) Discussion from 475 other threads
b) Sh¡t stir
c) going nowhere
d) all of the above

I'm actually looking for examples of lyrics--great lines from songs.... I guess I don't consider "Do It Again" to be all that great. It's just a bunch of what had by then become BBs cliches. I'll give you "Warmth of the Sun": "What good is the dawn that grows into day; the sunset at night or living this way." That's great. It's arguable whether he actually wrote I Get Around. Same with California Girls. And I don't think either of those are brilliant anyway. (Brian's not usually a great lyricist either.) I don't know. I think for the type of thing they were going for, Chuck Berry was much better.

Not trying to stir anything up. I just don't understand the brilliant lyricist thing. It's like when people say Paul McCartney is a brilliant musician. Umm...he's pretty good. He's not the greatest rock instrumentalist I've heard or anything. And I'm a fan.

Remember that the Beach Boys wouldn't be the same without Mike's lyrics on those early songs. I Get Around doesn't have lyrics like The Warmth of the Sun, but they are perfect for what the Beach Boys were all about on their singles in that period.

I think we have an issue now because it's 45 years later from those early hits, and it's no longer convincing (IMO) for them to have new songs about beaches in mind and cruising the town.

Okay, you have a point. Maybe I'm just resentful that he wasn't able to grow as a lyricist. Again, not trying to start something. I think we should be able to express opinions on this board. I do recognize Mike's place in the band, especially as a frontman.

No, you're fine, no one's attacking you for having an opinion.
Mike has written some "mature" lyrics (didn't he write Big Sur?), but I'd say it's more of an issue with commercialism rather than he wasn't able to grow. Mike is all about the money and selling to as many people as he can. If he feels that Kokomo-esque lyrics are going to sell to a larger audience than Brian's melancholy "ego music" (his words, not mine!), well, guess which kind of lyric he's gonna keep on writing?

Tell me tell me mama
Will you ever go again to Sumahama
Perhaps you'll find love there
Somewhere between the Earth the sky and water
There at Sumahama

I like Pitter Patter. You can draw a relationship between those lyrics and California Saga. In an 'eco' kinda way.

A rain swept plain
Soon after springtime rains blow over
Will sprout new grain
And miles of fresh green fields of clover

Winter and its cold
soon will lose its hold
With the changes spring will bring
Sun comes pourin' down
warmin' up the ground
Bringin' new life with the spring

Troll alert. 

Good Vibrations and Wild Honey LP are full of great Mike lyrics. He may have realised that times were changing. But because of the failures of Wild Honey and Friends, that the best thing for the Beach Boys was to go back to the formula. The success of Do It Again, followed by Endless Summer, were the reasons that he wanted to go back to that style of lyric writing.

Please Let Me Wonder and I'm Waiting for the Day are pretty great...not sure how much of those Mike is responsible for.

Our tastes and opinions may not agree but I think the fact that Mike's lyrics are part of some of the greatest Pop songs so far makes him one of Pops' greatest lyricists so far. Fair?

Oh, please.   ::)

Myke wrote the lyrics he is best noted for when we were all tweeners. Most of us have either grown up, moved on, or sadly still wallow in layers of his Clearasil world. Listen to BIM or DOTO-the man is clearly stuck in the muck of 62-65 and can't get out. Kind of an insult to the listeners as well.

Internet humor.  But all these threads top-posting with Mike stuff gets redundant.  Also, when you say you don't believe Mike wrote the lyrics to "I Get Around" or "California Girls," it sounds a little biased.  Brian Wilson himself said in interviews that Mike wrote the lyrics specifically to "California Girls" and a few other songs he didn't get credited with, and that was before the lawsuit was filed.  The court believed Mike and Brian didn't appeal.  Carl Wilson, David Marks, and Al Jardine also gave depositions that were favorable to Mike's side. 

Okay, well, I don't think those lyrics are that great anyway, as I said. But I will say I like the examples posted elsewhere in this thread. So I'm getting convinced. I think it's perfectly valid to post this thread. People have certainly debated about Brian's best work, etc. That's one of the purposes of this board. So repeated posts about Mike, particularly after a new album with some of his work, make sense to me.

"Big Sur" is definitely a great lyric!

Mike has definitely written a lot of good-to-great lyrics over the years.  I'm not too fond of his lyrics on the new album (definitely the weakest aspect of the album overall IMHO), but if he could get over the attachment to heavy-handed nostalgia, I wouldn't be surprised if he could turn out some excellent stuff again. 

"She makes the Indy 500 look like the Roman chariot race now"

Classic.

As I sit and close my eyes, there's peace in my mind
And I'm hoping that you'll find it too

And these feelings in my heart...
I know...
Are meant for you.....

While I don't doubt Mike wrote some decent lyrics, I think his lyrical work on those songs is debatable.  Weren't his only contributions "Round, round, get around..." and "Remember when you spilled coke all over your blouse"?  Otherwise, I thought those were all Brian.

Mike Love is a conceptual genius. An innate improver of other people's ideas. He'll take a good song and make it relatable.

Ideally, at least.

IMO the lyrics on TLOS could have easily been written by Mike. Especially Southern California. Except the narrative might have been above him. I also think Mike had shown he could write lyrics like on Pet Sounds when he wrote for TODAY. Only the Van Dyke and Reiley lyrics were out of his league. Maybe Kalinich, but he showed on Good Vibrations, Let the Wind Blow and Big Sur that he could be poetic in that way. I also think its unfair to say that the only things people remember about Mike are the surf and car lyrics. Well, you could say that the general public also only knows Brian for his music on surf and car songs. Ok, Pet Sounds as well. But doesn't Good Vibrations count for something? He claims to have written all the lyrics on it. IMO, it is better then anything lyrically on Pet Sounds.

I can see that opinion. I'm not crazy about the nostalgic refs but I can also see that Mike has been witnessing the multi-generational audiences for decades and he is rightfully proud about it. If he is trying to appeal to a multi-generational audience I don't hold it against him even if I personally am lukewarm to it. I can also see how a bunch of melancholy old man sentiment might not go down with all of a multi-generational audience either.

Mike wrote the lyrical verses of  "I Get Around," Brian only wrote the chorus about being a real cool head and making a lot of bread.  The "round, round get around" part was brought up as a separate issue in the songwriting case because it was an example of Mike writing music as well as words in some instance.  I wonder if Mike gets a little extra for the HoverRound commercials, since his melodic contribution is the part that's used in that ad?  I doubt it, but every time I see that commercial, it makes me think of Mike.

I disagree with your point. California Girls lyrics are not good at all IMO, but the music is fantastic. But I think that Mike was at least a bit poetic on songs like Warmth of the Sun, Good Vibrations and the WH and Sunflower albums. Babarann is a very popular song, but is neither good musically or lyrically. :)

The Warmth of the Sun was the first BB song that I ever heard, and it is still one of my favorites to this day.

I think we might have to widen our criteria, our personal opinions of being "poetic" or this or that is not going to be the only measure of "greatest" or even "good". Poetic does not always fit the song etc.. I mean California Saga's lyrics are crap to me but California Girls are great. Anyway....what do I know, I not a big poetry fan.  I thought Webb's lyrics for McArthur Park were a joke the first time I heard it. Maybe it was Harris' over the top delivery. It still makes me laugh when I hear it.

A good poem does not make a good lyric.

"Isn't It Time?"

"Daybreak Over The Ocean"

etc.

I think "I'm Waiting For The Day" is some of Mike's greatest lyrics. Some the greatest lyrics on one of the greatest Pop albums....come on....this is a tough room.

Are you shitting me. The lyrics make it. What else could you put to that track?

How can a Beach Boys fan NOT like the California Girls lyrics..

Unless you write for pitchfork

Barbara Ann wasn't written by either Brian or Mike. It was a Regents cover.

I don't like 'em. Kinda sleazy to me... the music is so majestic and the words just make me think of Mike traveling around doing the equivalent of checking horses' teeth. I prefer the Pet Sounds lyrics or the more awkward, pathetic luv lyrics.

Paul Williams didn't like the lyrics either, didn't he write about it? There's a reprint in "How Deep Is the Ocean?"  I think it's safe to say he was a Beach Boys fan and a damn fanatical one who's crazily enthusiastic writing puts pitchfork to shame.

"Please Let Me Wonder" - Those lyrics are something divine. I wonder if Mike wrote them all, though.

"Let Us Go On This Way" - Maybe trying a little too hard with the lyrics but still a killer.

"Sumahama" - Weird Asian vibe but beautiful nonetheless.

Well, we don't have to agree on what is artistic/poetic. I was just saying that just because its a hit, doesn't make it artistic/poetic. I will give Mike credit for writing lyrics that are catchy and people like to sing. But personally, I think in Today, he showed he could be as good as Tony Asher. Good Vibrations and Wild Honey he could be as good as umm the Turtles lyrically. Help Me Rhonda lyrics were up to par with the Beatles of 65, but California Girls lyrics was 62 or 63 level IMO.