The Smiley Smile Message Board

One of the unreleased songs that’s been at the top of my release wish list for years has been “Back Home” from 1963. The only known session for the song was on June 14, 1963 at Gold Star.* I don’t know how many takes of the song were recorded that day, but since the rest of The Beach Boys were on the road in Hawaii, Brian presumably booked Hal Blaine, Greg Douglas, a bass player (Ray Pohlman?) a piano player (or he played piano himself), in addition to a guitar player or two for the session. Anybody have the AFM sheet for this one?

Is there a consensus that the song was finished, or is it considered a demo? Did Brian consider bringing The Boys back in to do any background vocals or was that it? Some people call it a "Surfer Girl" album outtake, like it was finished and considered for the album. It could even have been a Survivors song. Would it have fit on a Beach Boys album or did Brian make the right decision to leave it off and resurrect it in some form later??

Here’s what’s known to exist on tape:

1. Backing track
2. Vocal overdub (take 4)
3. Master take

Well I’m going back this Summer to Ohio
To seek out all my friends I’ve always known
I’m going back to that farm that I remember
Well I’m gonna spend this Summer back home
I’m gonna get up every mornin’ ‘fore the roosters
I’ll run downstairs fix my breakfast all alone
I’ll milk those cows, feed the chickens, and the horses
Well I’m gonna spend this Summer back home
Well I miss bein’ here with y’all but I won’t regret it
Well I’ll be workin’ with Pa ‘till we hear that “Come and get it”.
I’ll eat everything that Ma puts on the table
When I get back you won’t believe how I’ve grown
I’ll hit the sack early every night thinkin’ ‘bout tomorrow
Well I’m gonna spend this Summer back home
Well I’m gonna spend this Summer back home
Well I’m gonna spend this Summer back home

I didn’t expect this one to ever see the light of day because of its inferior sound quality. For its eventual release on the MIC box, it will be interesting to see if a better tape source was found or if they used the same master that the booted track was taken from. Maybe Mark employed the vocal extraction technique or just brought Brian's vocal up in the mix and took some of the hiss out of it to provide a higher quality releasable song. Let’s wait and see what the liners can add to the first inception/recording of the song. 

And then there’s the 1970 version of the song with Al and Brian which I’ll get into later…..

* Same day Run-around Lover by Sharon Marie was recorded.

Uh isn't it going to be on MIC?

Here you go:


The Beach Boys: Made In California
 
CD 1
----
1.    Home Recordings / "Surfin'" Rehearsal Highlights (2012 Edit - Mono)
2.    Surfin' (with Session Intro - Mono)
3.    Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring (Demo - Mono)
4.    Surfin' Safari (Original Mono Long Version)
5.    409 (Original Mono Long Version)
6.    Lonely Sea (Original Mono Mix)
7.    Surfin' U.S.A.
8.    Shut Down (2003 Stereo Mix)
9.    Surfer Girl
10.   Little Deuce Coupe
11.   Catch A Wave
12.   Our Car Club
13.   Surfers Rule (with Session Intro)
14.   In My Room
15.   Back Home

Uh, go back and read my post a little closer. See where I say "its eventual release on the MIC box"? I'm fully aware it's going to be released on the Made In California box in August. Same with the 1970 version.

Really enjoy this song and looking forward to the inclusion of both songs on the box; but my favourite version is the 15BOs version; for me, it just rocks, with a real mom n' pop warmth; like Brian's genuinely relishing being back on the simple ol' farm (go figure!).

Yes, there's an AFM sheet for it.  Who's Greg Douglas?  Do you mean Steve Douglas?  :)  The other saxophonist is Jay Miglori.  Carol Kaye's on there, playing guitar.  The bassist is David Gates, later of Bread fame.  Yes, the drums are Hal and the piano is Brian.

THAT'S what we needed, C-man to come out to clarify stuff!

Yeah, I meant Steve Douglas. Too many beers. Greg Douglas is an aquaintance of mine - played guitar for Steve Miller, Greg Kihn, Eddie Money, Van Morrison, Tom Johnston, Hot Tuna, Country Joe, etc.

So Steve played sax on that, like he did other '63 dates for Brian. And there's two sax's - Migliori's the second one? No wonder the song is so sax heavy. And a mid-'63 Carol Kaye on guitar. Maybe this is the one she confuses with playing guitar on Surfin' U.S.A.!

All of the Beach Boys played and sang on the 1976 version. No sax.

Checkmate.  It's weird how sometimes on message boards lines seem to blur together. 

Beers (plural) at 11:30 in the morning, Mikie?  I know it's always 5 o'clock somewhere, but sheesh!  :lol

Apart from this being on MIC, is there any evidence that the 1963 version was a Beach Boys track?

Edited. Is the 1970 version have Al on lead vocals?

 I love the 63 version, a song ahead of it's time.

OK, you got me, Craig.  I lied.  The truth is, I didn't go back and preafrood what I wrote!  :-D


When Spector decided to record on the West Coast he asked Douglas to assemble a super band of session players. “I called all the hot guys in town,” Douglas says, “the ones I’d been working with - Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, Hal Blaine. The first record we cut was “He’s a Rebel.” That was a number one hit. After that, everybody wanted this bunch of guys.”

Douglas, who played on every Beach Boys album from “Surfin’ U.S.A.” through “Pet Sounds,” as well as several later recordings, was awed by Brian Wilson’s musical ingenuity. “He would hear the entire song. We would spend a couple of hours getting it out of his head, onto tape. He’d hear unusual voicings. Sometimes the musicians would argue, ‘Brian, that’s not going to work - this chord against that chord.’ He’d say, ‘Just do it.’ Later on, after he’d add strings, things would mesh. “There was friction in the beginning. The guys were bummed out about not playing on their own records. But as soon as they heard what Brian was doing and saw the royalty checks coming in, there wasn’t too much squawking.”

It's something that Brian recognized that Spector sound so fast and started recruiting Spector's musicians in early - mid '63 to get that sound effectively with that combination of guitar, piano, bass, sax, and drums. Sometimes doubling the instruments and using that Gold Star echo.

That's the question of the day. It could have been a Survivor's track and nobody would have known the difference. The instrumental track could easily have been created for The Survivors or The Honeys. In addition to the lead vocal, I'm assuming Brian recorded the countering "Back home" background vocals too. I think only Brian knows what/who he ultimately intended for the song to be for. Co-writer for "Back Home" was Bob Norberg, who was one of the Survivors (and Brian's roommate at the time this song was recorded).

The story behind the recording and eventual release of Back Home has always intrigued me. I would love to know the full story of how it began way back in 1963, but somehow didn't get released until 1976. Except for a brief middle eight(I think that's the correct term?), the exact same lyrics from the 15 Big Ones version existed way back in 1963. Then there is the 1970 recording, which is very different from the 1963 and 1976 versions. The lyrics are even different on the "demo" of the 1970 "remake", or whatever you wish to refer to it as.  ;D It isn't until you here Al sing "well I'm gonna spend my summer back home" at the end of the 1970 version that you can really make any kind of connection to the other versions.

The '63 version definitely was NOT intended as a Beach Boys track...the session was paid for by Gold Star Record Co., and the authorized signature was David Gold's.

Speaking of lyrical differences, has anyone here heard the live version from '76 as sung by Al (at the shows for which Brian was not present)?  It's hilarious in that Al changed part of it to reflect a summer in the inner city, stealing hubcaps and such.  Been a few years since I heard it last, so I can't quote him verbatim without going downstairs and digging out the old cassettes, but it's really funny.

Can you by chance give a specific example? I mean, date or location? I'll have to see if I might have a version like that.

I have to say, I don't know of any band that has songs that literally go through generations before being released. I mean, look at the saga of Sandy / Sherry / Terri / She Says That She Needs Me. That's something like 33 years from first version to last. Smile Era improv / Thankful We Are to Little Children / Saturday Morning in the City 88 / Saturday Morning in the City 95 / Saturday Morning in the City 04 -- some 35 years from first to last. And even the band's last album has a Mike song that was 34 years old on it!

Likely one or all of these:
The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA, 8/11/76 (no Brian)
Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ, 8/28/76 (no Brian)
Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale/Long Island, NY, 9/1/76 (no Brian)
Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN, 1/12/77 (no Brian)

This makes sense. But it's still going on MIC as a Beach Boys track. Maybe they shoulda included Pamela Jean too!


Never heard it nor heard of it.  Sounds good if you can find it!

Um, with all due respect mr Mikie sir -

does it happen more often that you don't proofread your stuff? Or did I myself fall for some practical joke here?

Um, I think you 'fell for a joke', Hearty Don.  Irony, eh?  It's rampant on this bored.  Alot. 

Can you go into a little bit more of the history of "Saturday Morning In The City" particularly it's links to SMiLE and "Thankful We Are Children"?  Not sure I've heard these stories before.

Anyone else think this is just an 'okay' song. I'm kind of amazed they returned to it so many times. It's not exactly 'Sherry She Needs Me'. Simple boogie, contrived lyrics...

Anyone else think that BergenWhitesMoustache is just an 'okay' poster on this board?  I'm amazed he returns here so many times.   :)

It was always worth completing and releasing, to me. I mean it's not the best thing they ever came up with, but I enjoy it just fine which is all that matters to me. The lyrics coupled with the performance have a lot of charm, I don't hear anything contrived in them. I'm glad the '76 version ultimately came to be, though. Brian's vocal is great, the chorus is worlds stronger than earlier versions.

Also, maybe my memory is failing me completely, but I swore Mike (not Brian) did the lead on the 1963 version?

Edit: Nop, it's Brian. His delivery of "Ohio" is very Mike-esque and that's about all I could remember of it off-hand.

Whereas you are basically, a horrible old turd.

  I have never heard the '63 take of "Back Home." Nice inclusion for MIC. 

   The 1970 cut would have been preferable on SUNFLOWER over one of Bruce's tunes. Which one? God Only Knows. 

   Yeah, you'd have to conclude the guys enjoyed doing this one.

 For heaven's sake, I think Mikie was joking.

The 1963 version of this song is so-so in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with it but it's a tad dull.

The 1970 version is the best vocally and lyrically I would say. But it lacks the chorus unfortunately.

Come on now!  There's no joking with the BBs, or crying in baseball... 

Who does the chorus falsetto on the final version?

For the 15BO version? That's Brian.

I'm thinking Carl.

Not Al, then?

What about Bubba Sparxxx?