The Smiley Smile Message Board

Why did The Beach Boys cover this for all of 1971? I know the hippies kind of inherited the song ironically, but, well, The Beach Boys weren't hippies nor did they have much country influence until Ricky and Blondie showed up with their pedal steel.

Someone (not Mike) also says into the mic before the Syracuse 1971 show that they hate the song. Was Mike actually doing it ironically? Or did he insist on doing it as a bit of an 'eff you' to the hippie culture and his own bandmates who had gotten into drugs? Were the rest of the guys doing it ironically?

I like the cover and all, but it's such a weird song for The Beach Boys to include in their set for an entire year.

Don't forget Mike and Bruce doing it THIS YEAR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzCq3wj1z3k&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=FLpGYkIQ6HS9UcvaKoF_Cd3Q (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzCq3wj1z3k&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=FLpGYkIQ6HS9UcvaKoF_Cd3Q)

Yeah, that's actually the most bizarre part. I'd also like to know how much irony is involved these days too. Does Mike just like the song? The lyrics are so out there, it seems like an odd song to cover purely because it's enjoyable (it is a good song).

Back in 1971 it was Bruce who said he didn't like the song..

The hippies didn't  inherit this song.. This song was disliked by the counter culture.. But Haggard wrote this song as a joke or so he said..  The straights of the time adopted this song  ..  They felt this  was what was wrong with the youth culture at the time.. Meanwhile it didn't bother hippie musicians of the time.. They loved HAG and recorded lots of his tunes.. Grateful Dead .. Flying Burrito Bros  ..Gram Parsons.. Dillards.. New Riders Of the Purple Sage.. and a bunch of others at the time also..  Merle Haggard was considered REAL county as opposed to the other stuff riding the country charts..  Why did the BB do it..?? NO IDEA.!

The Beach Boys' image at that time was that they were like rock's version of Okies - total squares, surfing Doris Days.  Yet here they were, long hair and all,  looking totally hip, as if to say "screw you" to everyone who doesn't get that they were finally cool.

Country Luhv is still bad luv! But real nice pickn' by Scott!

Their doing the song was completely an "ironic" move to wink wink with the stoner counterculture.  Condescending too you might say.  But along with a lot of other gimmicks around that time (playing with the Dead, "an album offering," "Student Demonstration Time" etc.) along with Jack Rieley at the helm they began their resurgence from commercial irrelevance.  That and being a crackerjack live band.

I love Hag btw and I'm petty sure he did "smoke Marijuana in Muskogee."  I also remember a pretty funny parody by the Youngbloods called "Hippie from Olema" (we don't throw our beer cans on the highway....)

I figured. It's just odd that half the band at the time was pretty straight laced, despite looking like they weren't.

Well, for better or worse, Mike never had any issue with sucking up to the audience.  If that meant acting "super stoned" or making pot references then so be it.

My Okie grandmother was born in Muskogee.

And what made them play Long Tall Texan?

Mr. Wilson, you may be my new favorite poster here. You bring so much knowledge to this board, all varied - be it The BBs-related, ELO, The Hollies or general stuff. Enjoyed your concert stories too. Keep it like that!

I'll second that!

Thank you RangeRoverA1 + ORR.. Im humbled by your comments. Just remember the reason I have any knowledge is because im OLD..! LOL.  I actually grew up with the BB.. They are ten years older than me. So I was right in the middle of their glory years .. And living in  southern California helped also.. I  lurk here all the time + post on occasion. I guess im on a role lately.. There are MANY fine posters here and most of the time they articulate what I wanna say so I don't post..  JEEZ I go back to the SMILE SHOP board  in 2000. Under another name.. Like the rest of you im Obsessed with the BB..my friends + musicians make fun of me on this point on a regular basis.. Thanks again for your Good Vibes...Paul

I'd be interested in knowing what was behind them covering R&R Woman.  Odd choice, although I think Carl nailed it.

The only comment I make on your question is Springfield used to open show"s  for BB. And they became friends still to this day..Any other info out there ?

For me, watching the "Okie" footage in "An American Band" was one of the key moments that contributed to me becoming a hardcore fan. Same with the "Time to Get Alone" home-studio footage, by the way. That stuff sparked something that went way beyond the appreciation of Pet Sounds and Smile.

I always figured that the band performed Okie From Muskogee as a 'middle finger' to the people who had slagged them as unhip.

I think this is one of the cleverest covers they did in the sense of using a cover to convey a message - in this instance a sly acknowledgement of their perceived squareness and how they'd outgrown that old image.

Is the first instance of them covering this song at the Grateful Dead gig? Who's idea was it to cover the song - theirs or the Dead's? If it was theirs, was it a Rieley suggestion?

Peter Ames Carlin (p157) gives the impression that the BB had played it before then:

"But the Beach Boys stuck it out [the heckllng], and ... the two bands came together in a way that was both unexpected and yet entirely right. The moment began with the first notes of 'Okie From Muskogee', which the Beach Boys had taken to using as a subtle commentary on their own retro image and, implicitly, the far more decadent reality beneath it."   

They definitely played "Okie" at their famous Carnegie Hall show on 2/24/71, and probably four days earlier in Santa Monica as well. The famous Grateful Dead show at Fillmore was on 4/27/71.

Thanks for the info fellas. I wonder if this was a Rieley idea, or one of the band's suggestions? Certainly an inspired cover.

I often think the Beach Boys could have done one hell of a country album in the early 70s. Shame they never recorded a studio version of Okie From Muskogee.

(http://i62.tinypic.com/fz1bvk.jpg)

M&B doing this song today takes on a whole different meaning. Interesting...

I think it would've been nice if they'd opened up Carl and the Passions with this song. That would've worked both as a nod to the counter culture (in an ironic fashion) and as an introduction to their then new rootsy sound.

I don't know about a country-album but I certainly would love if they had shown more country influences, even if only in instrumentation. The great pedal steels in "We got love" and "Hold on dear brother" come to mind. Probably no coincidence that these were Blondie/Ricky songs.


I'll never get tired (I'm sorry!) of mentioning how cool a Stars&Stripes project could have been if they really would have cared about the product and not just about the money.

Try to imagine this just for the fun (and frustration) of it:

Merle Haggard - California saga/Part III (as I understand Al's accoustic demo was done for Hag to record the song for S&S)
Johnny Cash - Let the wind blow
George Jones - God only knows
Kris Kristofferson - Forever
Jerry Lee Lewis - Got to know the woman
Rodney Crowell - Sail on sailor
Tammy Wynette - In my room
Jerry Reed - Shut down
Willie Nelson - Warmth of the sun
Lorrie Morgan - Don't worry baby
Junior Brown - 409
Hank Williams jr. - Back home
Waylon Jennings - Marcella
Bobby Bare - Honkin' down the highway (or maybe Cherry, Cherry Coupe)
Ray Price - Let's put our hearts together

Maybe "We got love" would fit somebody too....

well as far as a country album how about this
1. Okie From Muskogee
2.Hold on dear brother
3.Barnyard
4. Marcella
5. looking for tomorrow
6. Cotton fields
 7. Cabin essence
8. Big sur
9. The beaks of eagles
10. California
11. Leaving this town

 

as far as why they did Okie? the same reason they did Rap music in the late 80's early 90's, the same reason they did an album of 80's pop, the same reason they did a disco song, and the same reason they showed up on full house and allowed Stamos to sing on "Forever." to stay "Hip" and "with the times."

Man, that gets me excited just looking at that list. Would've been nice to have Glen Campbell in there somewhere, too. I never could figure out what Timothy B. and Kathy Troccoli were doing on S&S anyway - good tracks, but hardly country.

Thank you! It shows you what could've been if someone was involved who actually cared about country music and the Beach Boys and a little thought was put into this. Of course it's a different question if they would've gotten all these people to record. Jerry Lee Lewis just recorded an album in '95 with Andy Paley (and Mark Linett IIRC) so maybe there would've been a chance. I believe Hank jr.'s name was tossed around in an article about the album.
I actually can hear most of the above mentioned artists singing the respective song. Cash doing "Let the wind blow" should be a given. Same for George Jones and GOK. "Got to know the woman" already sounds like the Killer in it's Beach Boys recording.