The Smiley Smile Message Board

Bill Medley’s new memoir “The Time of My Life” is an interesting, recommended read and contains several BB related stories, including this one:

Shindig gave us the opportunity to meet and perform with the biggest stars in pop music. That's where I first met Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. I'm embarrassed to say that Bobby and I thought the Beach Boys' early stuff, the surfin' stuff, was kinda "bubble-gummy.” It certainly wasn't Ray Charles or Wilson Pickett, who we loved.

That all changed for me in the ABC-TV studio men's restroom when the Beach Boys were guests on Shindig. Brian was a big fan of Phil Spector, who we'd just started working with. He came to me and said, "Bill, I'm Brian Wilson: of the Beach Boys. I want you to hear something.”

I said, "OK” and he took me to the men's restroom at ABC where they actually had a piano. Nothin' better than that, man. That reverb in there . . . that's the verb you've been lookin' for all your life! Brian sat down at the piano and said, "I want you to hear something that me and the group do.”

I'm thinking, "Oh brother” but I said, "Yeah sure, go ahead”

Brian was a big fan of the vocal group the Four Freshmen, who were famous for their tight, precise harmonies. So Brian and the others go into the Four Freshmen version of "The Lord's Prayer" with Brian's arrangement.

I sat there stunned. Not just, "Wow”, I mean: I was stunned. I had thought these guys only played bubblegum surf music, and they were doing something I couldn't do with a shotgun. I couldn't do that real tight harmony, but Bobby could. I said, "hang on a minute” and I went and got Bobby.

"C'mon, you gotta hear the Beach Boys. Believe me - you'll thank me later." I knew it was mostly Brian, because he was showing them all what to do, but I also knew the other guys were awfully damn good because they were able to do what he was telling them to do.

It was all out of Brian's head, but they were capable of pulling it off.

My respect for them immediately went zoom.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing that. That would be mind-blowing to hear them do that complex, tight arrangement live right in front of you. What an incredible piece of writing, especially for a 22 year old kid.

Never heard that phrase "something I couldn't do with a shotgun", but I think I know what he meant.

Thanks for that. My respect for Bill Medley just went zoom.

Love Bill Medley and i'm not a big expert on the Righteous Brothers but it seems like Bobby was doing all the heavy lifting :)

I wonder what Brian's impetus was for this?  I guess he was just trying to one up the Righteous Brothers?

My respect for Brian just went zoom. Again. But that happens regularly.  :)

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Cool anecdote. :-D Gotta put his book on my list.

Should be pointed out that while he may not recall it, he'd met them before. The bbs first shindig was in December 1964 but they'd been on a concert bill with the righteous brothers in 1963 and at the million dollar party in Hawaii in July 1964.

Bill became their producer when they fell out with Spector.

It would have been more logical if this demonstration of "The Lord's Prayer" was in 1963 or at the latest 1964. The single of the song was released 12/63 so why was Brian supposedly showing it to Bill in 1965? The Beach Boys had already "worked on it" and released it in 1963 and it wasn't part of their concert setlist at the time so no need to rehearse it in the Men's Room. Maybe Bill's timing was off, unless Brian just picked the song at random to show off their harmonies.

Maybe it happened when they were on the same bill with the BBs a couple of years earlier. Seems logical. It was 50 years ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if his memories were a bit jumbled.

It's always amazed me when people give exact years for stuff like this (like Bill did).  I can't remember whether something, even if it's a big deal in my life, happened 5 years or 8 years ago, etc.  So yeah I wouldn't be surprised if he's talking about something that happened in 1963.  I believe the story though.

Still wondering, why do you think Brian did that?

Perhaps Brian wanted to prove himself once he discovered that Bill considered BB music to be "bubble-gummy."

I met Bill Medley after a show a few months ago and mentioned to him that I thought his version of "In My Room" was terrific. His response was something along the lines of "Yeah, I'm glad I got a chance to work with Phil"; no mention of Brian. But since this wasn't long after Phil Everly's death, I didn't find that odd or disappointing; it was, after all, a two-sentence "conversation".

BTW, he put on a terrific show that night IMO. The man can still do some "heavy lifting" himself. And although he must have been pretty worn out, he stayed after the show to meet anybody who wanted to say hello and shake his hand, or get an autograph or photo, whether or not they purchased anything from him. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs-rTMeb8y8&list=UUQThRLF3VrEXsl4yP-eYNaQ          ... Watch a couple of minutes for some good ol' rock & roll.

He's still great, I wasn't trying to insult him.  I love how he does his solo version of unchained melody.  

You can see a good version of it, two minutes into this video :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQuDTPCOGSc