The Smiley Smile Message Board

So there is a synagogue somewhere here in Atlanta that is having a Beach Boys cover band that changes all the lyrics to Jewish themes.  I'm not even Jewish but I'm seriously tempted to see this.  They're even doing a song called "Be True To Your Shul".  Just how is that not awesome?!  Don't believe me?  Check it yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hJu9-Ayw6Gg

Very cute!  ;)

Funny!

Dreidel Girls?

Reminds me of a church I regularly attended when I was really young: the church band was a Beatles cover band and they changed the lyrics of Beatles songs to represent Christian values. It ruined the Beatles for me for a couple years.

the backing track fo GV during the chorus was quite impressive!

thanks for posting this.

Musically, I liked everything minus GV - it sounds quite typical. Be True To Your School (Shool?) is fab! Dig the guitars at the beginning. The small bit of Fun Fun Fun with girl vocals is astonishingly good; I'm usually not fond of The BBs covers sung by female artists, aside from very rare exceptions.
Now, I'm not familiar with Jewish language, only know the greeting word "shalom" (?), so I didn't understand the certain words. Which would be fine if this were another group's songs. But since it's The BBs - aka my favorite band ever - it's interesting to compare these with originals, what the subjects are in the former. Additionally I want to note that Jewish sounds kinda cool within the music, notwithstanding it's not English - read "the most beautiful language of all".
Anyhow, it's one funny idea; when I was listening to the "When some loud [Jewish word] tries to..." bit, it sort of cracked me up. Though nothing can beat Tesla Coil performing FFF - the best cover of the song, hands down.

I don't have time to listen to the clip right now, but I will. Yiddish words can sound so funny and some of them are meant to be funny. Not to be racist, but I think that's the reason there have been so many successful Jewish comedians. Humor is part of the culture and it translates well.

I am Jewish and I do speak Hebrew. I can tell you the words they inserted for Surfer Girl are the words to the prayer Lecha Dodi ("Come my Beloved" in English). It's the traditional Jewish prayer sung on Friday Nights by Jews all around the world to welcome in Shabbat (the Sabbath).

Here's a good rendition and translation - http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/265789/jewish/Lcha-Dodi.htm (http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/265789/jewish/Lcha-Dodi.htm). This link is sung and transliterated in Ashkenazi dialect. Modern Hebrew is based on Sefardic dialect, which is what most Jews speak today. Surfer Girl was sung in Modern Hebrew.

Good Vibrations is sung to the words of Mizmor L'David, another Jewish prayer. The words are as follows:  הבו לאדוני בני אלים, הבו לאדוני כבוד ועז ("Havu La'Adonai B'nei Elim, Havu La'Adonai Kavod Va'oz") "Ascribe unto the Lord, O ye sons of might, ascribe unto the Lord glory and strength.​" הבו לאדוני כבוד שמו, השתחוו לאדוני בהדרת קודש (Havu la'Adonai Kavod Sh'mo, Hishtachavu la'Adonai b'Hadrat Kodesh) "Ascribe unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.​"

The English words that follow are referring to the Exodus story - that God shook the wilderness and the nations when he appeared on Mount Sinai.

It is kind of hard to understand what they're saying in Be True to Your Shul. "Shul" is the Yiddish word for Synagogue.

For Fun Fun Fun, they're singing "God is one, so we put it on our doorposts and gates." The words are referring to the ritual of putting up mezuzahs. Mezuzahs are little boxes that are mounted on Jewish homes' doorposts that contain the Shema Prayer from Deuteronomy, where God instructs the Israelites to inscribe the words he's speaking at the moment on their doorposts and gates.

Thank you, great answer! Enjoyed reading it. Special thanks for translating & explaining the Jewish words. Much appreciated.

Great post All Alone! 8)