The Smiley Smile Message Board

From the BBB board and posted by Paula Bondi - Springer

Note: AGD has already noted that the article is factually in error (that 'Honkin DTH' was never before recorded)

Jardine's solo CD supported by BMI
Posted on January 21, 2008 at 09:37:08 PM by Paula Bondi - Springer


Read entire article on BMI's world music page:

http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/entry/535921

Neil Young plays on the album??????????????

Does anyone else see the irony in Al being referred to as the "Lost Beach Boy"?

Such a shame that Honkin' Down The Highway was never recorded...  ::)

Yeah.... didn't he replace the true lost beach boy?  So kind of, he's the one who lost the lost beach boy?

This is quite a supporting cast:

Brian Wilson, Neil Young, Glen Campbell, Steve Miller, Norton Buffalo, David Marks, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Michael “Flea” Balzary and America's Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell.  I'm sure his two sons are on there as well.

Hey, that's four Beach Boys (if you stretch and include Glen).  I'd love to hear a surf guitar jam with David and Glen trading leads and Al on rhythm.

What we do know so far:

Brian sings on "Honkin down that gosh darn highway" and three others???

Steve Miller duets on "Help Me Rhonda".

???

I thought you just said they didn't record that song... ???

No, the article said 'the song' had never been recorded before.  As AGD pointed out on BBB, "a few lesser known ones like ‘Honkin’ Down the Highway,’ which we never recorded"

Right, it's not on Love You which wasn't released in 1977, nor was it ever a single backed with "Solar System"..

Nor was it included on "The Best Of The Beach Boys, Vol, 3: The Brother Years"!

Did they somehow screw up Al's quote or did he really not remember recording HONKIN'?

Al finished that solo album? (Yawn) 

It has surprised me on several occasions how little The Beach Boys seem to know about their own music... They'll talk about songs and don't know what album they were on, they'll talk about albums and don't know in what year they came out, they make mistakes like announcing "Girl Don't Tell Me" as Carl's first lead vocal... I know all of these things from the top of my head and I've only been a fan for about five years, while it's been their life's work for the past 45 years...

It is kind of funny. But the reason they're like this I'm assuming is because they don't obsess over every detail. Seriously most fans of the Beach Boys (I'm talking serious fans here) study and read up about the band. I'm sure Brian, Mike etc.. couldn't give a crap about what they did on January 27, 1964. They couldn't care less. Most artists/musicians create a piece of work and then move on. They don't sit their and obsess over it and write down all the details about it. I'm sure you (or anybody for that matter) couldn't tell me what you were doing ten years ago on this day (unless it was someone you knew's birthday or a really big event). Like I'm sure Mike could name some of the highlights of his career. But I bet he couldn't tell you the exact date and probably doesn't even remember the details of the recording sessions of Aren't You Glad or a song of that 'importance'. It is funny but I don't think it's all that surprising.

EDIT: plus when you say "it's been their life's work for the past 45 years" I think that's the key. They've done so much. Whereas you have learned about all this stuff over the last five years so naturally you would be able to recall a lot more info as its fresher in your mind.

Maybe that's why Al re-wrote Sloop John B as Postcards From California, he forgot it had already been written...

I understand musicians forgetting the specifics regarding their careers, and I certainly don't expect Al to remember what date he recorded the lead vocal for "Honkin' Down The Highway", but I have trouble getting my head around the idea that Al would re-record the song for his solo album believing the track had not been released before!

I remember a McCartney interview in Goldmine where he didn't remember if RUBBER SOUL or REVOLVER was recorded first (when reminded, he jokingly responded "Oh yeah, and what band did I play bass in again?"). I can see where that sort of thing could slip from his mind. But if McCartney re-recorded something like "Mother Nature's Son" thinking it had not been previously released, I would start to worry!

Of course Al knows that 'Honking Down The Highway' was on Love You. He referred to the song and the album in interviews last year while touring with Brian. It's perhaps a misquote or a 'senior moment'.

 ::)

That doesn't surprise me at all. Like mikeyj said, it's unlikely they give most of these things a second thought. (Can you imagine the sort of self-obsessed egomaniac who would study himself and his own work to the extent some of us here have studied the Beach Boys?)

And frankly, I've done major projects at work that I thought I'd never need to document, certain I'd be able to always call them up from memory upon request. And I could ... usually for a year or two. Now there are things from as recently as 2003 or 2004 that I barely recall having even been a part of, much less remember what I did, with whom, when, why, etc. And I'm only 31. Or, take music for example. I've come across songs I've not only written, but fully recorded (not just demos, but full recordings), of which I have no memory whatsoever. None. And rare is my own song that I can recall chord progressions or lyrics from memory.

All that said, I'm pretty sure it's either a misquote of Al or him just having one of those moments.

Exactly!  And Al wouldn't refer to himself as the "Lost Beach Boy".  He tours with David in the ' The Surf City Allstars" and was interviewed for David's book I believe. 

I would be real interested to know what involvement (if any) Neil Young had with Al's album.   :hat