The Smiley Smile Message Board

I'm not a 'Mike basher'...just like Nixon wasn't 'a crook'....but wouldn't it be nice to see new lyrics for some of the great BB songs? I know this idea borders on sacrelige , but I feel that in some cases great songs suffer from lame lyrics. Sure, Mike had his groovy moments (Warmth of the Sun, Calif. Girls, GV, etc.) where he totally nails the spirit of the song, but I say it's time to stir up the copyrights and create some new/old classics. It takes a bit of de-programming to even consider alternatives to something you've heard a gazillion times, but I would like to know if anyone feels the same about any of the songs? My first inspiration for new treatment would be a non-Mike lyric, DWB, an awesome song about true love: between man and car. This is Brian at his best and he pulls it off despite the insipid words...imagine if the lyrics were equally inspired. Any other suggestions?

Been done already, back in the early seventies.

DWB is not about the love between a man and his car...
As BB songs go I think DWB is a very fine example of solid, suitable lyrics.

MIU could have some rewriting though ^^

The original lyrics are all totally inspired and timeless with only very few exceptions before 1978. Personally I can't relate to most of the car stuff (and I don't mean DWB) but that's just me.

Yep, Don't Worry Baby is pretty much a perfect song. I don't think it's about cars at all.

Yeah, Don't Worry Baby is great. It's a love song that just happens to have a drag race as the setting. Now, if someone wanted to write new lyrics to "Be True To Your School," I wouldn't object.

Agreed. In Catch A Wave, Carlin describes DWB as being more about Brian's own state of mind rather than about a drag race. He explains that it's more about Brian's fears, Brian's lack of control, etc.

Yeah, nobody cares about cars or surfing anymore.  Let's update all those moldy old tunes!   ::)

Don't Worry Baby about a man's love for a car? Sorry if I sound rude, but have you ever paid attention to the song?

It's about an insecure guy filled with anxieties who's girl is able to bring him confidence and peace of mind. That's is what DWB is about. Wouldn't change a single lyric.

Ballad of Ol' Betsy is about the love between a guy and his first car. I don't find those lyrics insipid either.

Who's Tab Lloyd?

I've got precisely zero problem with any of the lyrics to their surf or car songs, and I say this as someone who has no interest whatsoever in either surfing or cars. Who cares about the words when they're sung so brilliantly and set to such timeless, perfect melodies? Some fans are never bloody pleased... :)

I can think of only three Beach Boys tunes which lyrics I'd change/erase anyday: Be True to Your School (entire song), The Little Girl I Once Knew and Endless Harmony (entire song).

"
We met when she was younger
Then I had no eyes for her
A few years went by and I saw her
Now I'm gonna try for her

Look out babe
"
Ugh...

Cherry Cherry Coupe is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs - yet I have no fucking clue what is being talked about in the song. This is why Brian Wilson is a genius: He made the words "Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system" sound like a prayer.

If anything, meaningful lyrics would actually distract me too much from those harmonies ;D

Suggest you check the composer credits for "Cherry Cherry Coupe"...

A person of little to no importance...

Like all of us here.

‍

I was talking about the melody Brian wrote for the words - not the words themselves.

.

I've always disliked that song too  :P. o well

I've always felt the drag racing element of Don't Worry Baby is absolutely sincere and moving. Anyone who grew up in the 60's/70's and was heavily involved in the hot rod/muscle car culture will know that street racing/drag racing was a very scary and dangerous part of the lifestyle. Many people, including several of my close friends, died racing their cars, some came away with serious and lifelong injuries. It was an intense and frightening (and exhilarating) part of our lives, and i think the race scene in American Graffiti might be one of the best at showing what it was really like. Emotion and bravado often drove these challenges to a point where the individuals really were putting their lives at risk by accepting the challenge. In Don't Worry Baby I've always felt that the lyric absolutely nails that scenario where your mouth and your machismo ends up putting you in a scary situation. Brian (or Roger Christian) relates this so poignantly in Don't Worry Baby, and the guy who will be risking his life reveals his fear to his lover, this is intimacy in the most heartfelt way...admitting fear. And the girl, knowing the guy cannot back down, cannot bail on the race, because in that culture if you did "chicken out" it would result in a fate that was in a way worse than risking your life. So we showed up, and we drove our cars 100 mph, and sometimes they rolled, and sometimes they spun out and slammed into a tree, and people died, and sometimes lived and came away crippled. I lived this. I got lucky and came away unscathed, but as i said several friends did not. To me that is what Don't Worry Baby is about. It's about blustering your way into a challenge, accepting it even though way down inside you're scared shitless, and then sharing that SECRET fear with someone who loves you, and who comforts you, and is probably just as scared as you are...but knows you need her love...so you can take it along with you as you tempt fate, even against your better judgment, because that is the world you live in. God I love that song so much.

Terrific post, Jon. Being a teenager and living in Arizona, that racing culture is just as you say. :)

You know, I have always wondered why people have such a hard time with the surfing and car songs. These were real elements of youth culture at the time, and writing about them wasn't just a matter of shallowness.  Even when I was growing up in the 70's, cruising the drive in was a popular past time for American teens in small towns. It was a part of the core of the teenage social landscape, and the car was the means to youthful independence and freedom. I realize that this might not be as personally relevant to people growing up in metropolitan areas, and may not resonate at all with European fans who had different rites of passage. But I think it's wrong to dismiss those early songs as trivial, when they were  really an insight into American youth culture in the 50's and 60's, and even to some extent, beyond. Those early songs recall the fears and joys of our youth. There was plenty of time to become serious and cynical.

I've made no secret of the fact that I love the sun and surf songs just as much as I love the serious, artsy ones. You don't have to be a teenaged surfer to feel the exhilaration of a day at the beach as expressed in "Surfin' USA". And, as much as I love Pet Sounds, SMiLE and everything that came after, when I drop the top on the convertible on a perfect summer day, it's "Fun, Fun, Fun," blaring from my stereo, not "Til I Die."

I understand what the song is about, I just find the lyrics dull and stupid. When I hear the fifth millionth time "SHE'S NOT THE LITTLE GIRL I ONCE KNEW!", I'd like to shout back: OH, REALLY? I kinda figured that out already. Anyway, I find the composition amazing and it's just so wrong that the bad lyrics destroy the whole song. Well actually not the whole song, the instrumental break is awesome.

Who's got a hard time with the surfing * and car songs, especially back in the early 60's?  I can't remember ever having met someone who didn't like those songs. That's really what The Beach Boys are known for.

* With exception to Mackenzie Phillips

What do we know about the early 70s attempted lyric revisions to older songs? How far did this go? I remember reading a brief blurb about that in passing at some point, but not much details were given. I'm guessing this was right around the aborted name change idea to "Beach"?

Mikey, that was Paul LeMat who didn't like that Surfin' sh*t. Mackenzie thought the Beach Boys were boss! ;)

Oh yeah.  Well, who gives a sh*t about Paul LeMat?

I only wanna change "If Everybody had an ocean" to

If everybody had a Notion. (actually believed that was right for years.  ^-^)

Well, I don't know anyone that has that problem, either. People I know love the surf and car tunes and think the Beach Boys were/are cool. That's why it puzzles me to read here about all the board members who feel the need to justify the band to their friends by proving that they're more than a surfing band who sing like girls.

Yeah, good question: who is Tab Lloyd (AKA the yogi from Muskogkee)? And WTF am I doing in these here parts? Well, as the Legendary One so well put, I’m def. no one special, although I probably have the distinction of being the only poster living in India! (No, I’m not on a Mike Love pilgrimage either). Be that as it may, I was only a superficial BB fan who got pulled in by the hoopla surrounding the re-emergence of Brian during the PS tour in the early part of this century. I’m a Til I Die kind of guy, deeply moved at times by Brian’s (only later did I connect to the power of the group) music and voice. There’s really nothing that compares. Sorry to bore you with my background. Anyway I stumbled on to this site after seeing  a reference to it on Brian’s site and have been really impressed by the knowledge, passion, and diversity of opinion here. You guys are really funny! A nice antidote to a long meditation! Cheers.

Actually it's one of Brian's very finest pre-Pet Sounds works, but each to their own i guess...

at first i thought that was a cheesy pun on 'tabloid'. now im confused..

I agree with you, the music is, like I said, amazing. But in the other hand the lyrics are bad and way too repetitive and the song suffers from that.

You don't really agree with me then because I don't think the lyrics are remotely an issue and I don't think the song is repetitive at all, or at least certainly not in any negative way. In fact, so gorgeous is the way they sing 'She's not the little girl I once knew' that I wish the fade lasted for another 20-30 seconds or so, it's all over so quick. But then Brian almost always knew to leave the listener wanting more... LGIKN is, to my ears, a genius piece of work.

I agree with the bolded part you wrote  ;)

Bolded?

By the way, here's the rendition of DWB by The Tokens with "improved" lyrics from 1970:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50sdk7df27s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50sdk7df27s)

Beautiful singing but the new lyrics seem kind of dull and random.

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/47470/is-bolded-a-word

Sorry if my English isn't always grammatically correct, but it shouldn't be too hard to understand what I meant.

ps. I still agree with you, LGIKN? is one of Brian's pre-pet sounds masterpieces (composition wise) and that everyone has their opinion.

My poster name is indeed cheesy and self inspired.

Yeah, AGD was right.   ;D

For some reason, these days, when I sing along to "When I Grow Up", I change the lyrics to "Will I choke my wife, or leave her alive?"... no, I'm not married. (Not any more.) (kidding.)

Yeah i got that you meant 'in bold', i just hadn't been able to see anything highlighted in bold. Got to say, i have now noticed the bit in bold and i'm still none the wiser... :)

Have any of the Tandyn Almer lyrics been leaked, either in audio or written down?

I think their lyrics only got worse over time. The lyrical nadir was their collaborations with Jack Reilly and some of Dennis's putrid ballads like Barbara, but almost all of it sucked. The best lyricist in the band was Brian by far, because his lyrics are at least charming in their innocence and naivete. They aren't forced.

Hear that? EVERYTHING after 1967 sucked. "Barbara" is putrid.

I feel so ashamed that I thought Brian was a brilliant composer with severe limitations as a lyricist. He shouldn't have used all of those collaborators when he could have been cranking out "charming" gems like Hey Little Tomboy and Love Is A Woman all along.

As much as I am bored by Reilly's lyrics, you can't get worse than "Summer Of Love" and TPLOBAS.

Nice try, but we've come to expect a much higher standard of trolling here.

There are good songs lyrically after 67 but there were as many clunkers as before. All of the TM, environmental awareness stuff grates. That doesn't mean I don't love that period of the band. Surf's Up is one of my favorite albums.

And yes, Barbara sucks. It's just too mushy.

Love is mushy.

I've reached a weird point in my life where nothing sucks.  I see everything as products of what they are.  It's weird and liberating and fascinating and humorous.  Therefore everything becomes about me -- and whether I'm into it or not.  Which is not about anything concrete, especially related to the subject matter being discussed.  Go figure.

Either the blinders are full-on or misplaced in the "drunk drawer" where we keep our rubber bands.  You decide!   :-D

Tab Lloyd is very real. His very first post on this board, in the New Mike Love Interview topic, is already a classic:

"Mike, what do you recommend in the way of cutlery sets for the single man?" :lol

I myself prefer plastic cutlery.   Wash or toss.

No one mentioned the BJ Thomas cover of DWB where the lyrics are "improved' and made 70's lounge hip.  A bit like the Don Ho take on Fire and Rain.

Jon, Nice review and interpretation of the song.  The Kingsley Abbot book has a nice "personal appreciation" of the song.

IMO, The song rates in the top 10 of the BB catalogue both sonically and lyrically.