The Smiley Smile Message Board

Though I rarely see it getting any praise around here, I've lately grown fond of 'Amusement Parks USA' for some reason. I can't stop listening to it. It's just so darn catchy and quirky in a typical Brian Wilson kind of way. Every time they sing the chorus ("let's take your car and mess around at the park all day!") you can hear the excitement and jubilation in their voices, even though they're basically singing about amusement parks and nothing more. That's great to me. What do you folks think?

Three thumbs up !

Gave it a thumbs up. It's one of the BB's more underrated early songs!

A big thumbs up from me. A fun song and it brings back many happy memories riding those bumper cars at Jersey's Steel Pier, as they are no more.

Love "Amusement Parks U.S.A.". It's hard to play it just once, you have to repeat it a couple of times. While it's the kind of song Brian could probably write in a couple of minutes in those days, there's so much going on. So intense!

Thumbs Up! Great theme, they later returned to for another favorite of mine.  Was so happy they picked Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) for the HDCD mono/stereo releases in 2012.

Thumbs up ! A really good, fun Beach Boys number !

Thumbs up.

And the MIC version proves how far ahead they were of The Beatles with Magical Mystery Tour.


 No smiley req.

Two thumbs up.   :thumbsup :thumbsup     One for each version.   I've always liked it!

One time on another board, I gave a little history on each amusement park in the song. It was fun investigating the history and details of each one - most of which are no longer with us. It was like a report on all the surfing spots in the song Surfin' U.S.A.

 :listening Its good.

While the lyrics are cheerful sounding the organ notes are minor key and lend a sinister tone like evil clowns are watching you.

A good study in opposites.  :3d

Can you repeat the history for the new kids in town?

Thumbs way down.

^

I love it! Also throw in The Girl from New York City as another underrated gem. To me, Summer Days is to Today, what SMiLE would have been to Pet Sounds in terms of the music and production. More up beat and happy compared to a serious and emotional Today and Pet Sounds.

Neutral. I love the backing track but the words are a massive turn off. The themes in the song had been explored much better in earlier songs.

Agreed. The piano part that comes in near the end is perfect. Very bouncy and the right musical idea for the right moment. But I can't help but cringe at the 'rollie coster' bit

A thumbs up from me as well

Always loved this song with it's crazy organ and funhouse feel.  I could see them making a great promo film for it had they taken the time back then.  Plus they mention the parachute ride at Riverview Park here in Chicago!  (Long since torn down)

I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it, but it's certainly an interesting curiosity. The backing track kinda has a proto-psychedelic feel; it doesn't surprise me that it was recorded after Brian had experimented LSD. That said, even though it strongly points toward Brian's subsequent experimenting with new tonal palettes and textures, I just don't find it works as a song. While I'm usually quite forgiving towards bad lyrics, these are awful for 1965 and are married to a subpar vocal melody to boot.

Love it. Very different number, a pre-psychedelic piece as others have noted, and while the lyrics are silly, that's part of their charm. Only one band in the world could have written and recorded this tune.

I'd like it more if it was just a b side. It's space on Summer Days would have been much better served with a full finished BBs version of Guess I'm Dumb or Sherry She Needs Me.

The Beach Boys didn't really do exclusive b-sides though, did they? (Yes, I know, there are exceptions like "The Lord's Prayer" and "You're Welcome")

As to the song, It's just OK to me. I'm looking forward to hearing it mashed up with Heroes and Villains in the Smiley Smilers collaborative covers project. That will still happen, right?

Not to mention Luau  ;D

When I first heard SDSN album in 1968 I nearly got RSI flipping between this song and California Girls. All these years later I think the intro is what got me hooked into being a BB devotee. So yea it's special & I'll forgive any poor lyrics on the album when you consider the wonderful backing tracks Brian had throughout the LP

Up.

I like it,too me it sounds like Brian is trying to sound like Jan and Dean, that's not a bad thing since I like Jan and Dean.

I love love love love LOVE the music you get at carnivals and funfairs. Those organ sounds - bliss! Amusement Parks USA accurately reflects that and I'll never forget how blow away I was the first time I heard it. Great song!

It has grown on me throughout the years. I LOVE the instrumental from SOT, and the MiC version is perfect (without the laughing sound effects).

Thumbs up from me.

Exactly. I don't even like Amusement Parks that much, and I don't hail from the U.S.A. - This song was never gonna work on me!

I like the music, but the lyrics just sound so forced... because... they are.  It's like somebody said, "HEY! Write a song about a squirrel!" so somebody writes a song about a squirrel. 

I love amusement parks, though.  Palisades Park is awesome.  Amusement Parks U.S.A. just doesn't hit the mark for me. 

Yeah... I think that's it.  I know a lot of people are saying they like the chorus, but to me the melody isn't right.  it's kind of shouty, too.  Just doesn't flow right.

Why does not hailing from the USA affect your enjoyment of Amusement Parks USA? I'm from Yorkshire in England and I bloody love it! I don't not like it because it isn't called Amusement Parks Yorkshire. Do you not like Surfin' USA either? "Urgh, they're singing about places I've never been - what a turn off!"

Well, perhaps that was the intention as they'd want their voices to be heard over the noise at amusement parks ;D

If this wasn't a Beach Boys forum I think it would get almost all "thumbs downs"

haha it's not a super piece but it sure fits on SD&SN!

This track grew on me so much, I used to hate it. I don't even necessarily like it all too much but compared to a lot of the other early tracks this one is thumbs up.

Ha, yeah... that might be it.  I like "The Girl From New York City" and they're shoutin' all over that... but when you start the song with the "LETS TAKE YOUR CAR!!!!" it's just jarring and doesn't flow good.  What the HELL do I know though, i'm sure he had his reasons for making it sound like that. 

On the contrary, if I stumbled across this track on youtube and it was by a different band, I'd immediately want to seek out the rest of their catalogue. I genuinely think it's a fantastic (and fantastic sounding) song and I'd no inclination at all that other BB fans felt differently until I joined this board.

Amusement Parks USA is an atrocity.  Like someone said on the Summer Days review page, it's not only a bad song but "an assault on the senses." It's shocking that it was released the same year (and on the same album) as well produced and written songs like Let Him Run Wild and Help Me Rhonda.

If Mike Love had written the lyrics for SMiLE, we might get songs like this along with Good Vibrations of course. But that would have been fine by me. Although, I love Van Dyke's lyrics as well, I do sympathize with Mike in that he was a Beach Boy after all. They had enough talent to keep song writing in band.  Mike showed on Today, he could do what Tony Asher did. On GV, he could be poetic, yet more commercial than Parks. But don't get me wrong, I love the acid alliteration! But I also think lyrics for Amusement Parks and Custom Machine are highly underrated IMO.

It's a good one. :)

An atrocity? I've no idea what you're talking about. To my ears, it sounds fantastic - largely because it is.

I like it cuz it's crazy.

It's quite psychedelic without being overtly psychedelic, because we all understand there's "manic" fun for kids -- going all crazy on the rides -- at an Amusement Park.  But, it's a clever aspect to focus on - the manic thing, I mean.  And they nail it.  Brilliantly using this as an obvious introduction into the hall o' mirrors world of psychedelic music that was to come, without anybody taking too much notice.

This song along with Back of Mind from Today, are the first real indications (I think) where Brian Wilson was going some place new, yet again.  Yes complex, but also dark and churning and very aware and all encompassing with regards to the human psyche.

Am I over analyzing this song?  Exactly... but it's still very much the case.

I really like the crazed frenetic energy of this song.  A bit psychodelic too..  great fun to my ears.

I know ,I was just trying to justify my point.

I love it, great melody and arrangement and I'm from Scotland.

They liked it in Japan too, where it was released in November '65 as a 45 b/w "The Rocking Surfer" and according to BJL (in the first link) reached #3:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?action=printpage;topic=10091.0

http://yokono.co.uk/collection/beachboys/single/single2.html

My apologies if this is all old news...