The Smiley Smile Message Board

As a lifelong Beach Boys fan: why are my two favorite songs "Goin On" and "Getha Back"?

These are not arguable. These are my top 2 favorite Beach Boys songs!

I would happily have this little list tattooed on my arm even!

What is wrong with me?

Do I have the right to consider myself a true fan??

1) Because, 2) plenty, and 3) sure, fine by me.

Yeah, it'd be boring if we all liked the same stuff. On the other hand....are you nuts!!!!! ;D

I like both of those songs, so I can't argue with you.

While they're both later recordings in their career, they're the mature Beach Boys trying (successfully, in my opinion) to return to their classic sound.

Holland and Smiley Smile are two of my favorites. As a dedicated fan, it's pretty normal to take interest in material beyond the hits. That's why we're all here, right?  :)

Well put!

And Holland is my favorite album by far!

I honestly don't know what it is about these two songs other than the sheer rush of joy I get when listening to them both.

I think Goin On is perfect proof of Brian's genius! The stacked/shared vocals/leads are perfect and melody/arrangement-wise, the whole thing just starts out great, gets better and better and just keeps topping itself!

And Getcha Back should be slapped in the face of anyone who thinks The Beach Boys were all Brian and only Brian. Though as a singer/performer Brian is all over the track and it just shows you how talented he is in those respects too!!

I think Goin' On is VERY underrated. Among Brian's original composition in 75-80, I'd rate it in the top 5. It's easily better than the holy grail Soul Searching, which is in the same style.

Getcha Back... If the whole of BB'85 were as good as the first two tracks... I'd listen to it more than I do.  :-D

Who considers Soul Searchin a holy grail? I've never seen it referenced as anything better than a pretty good song.

It's not as good as it should be, i think. Last Carl lead on a Beach Boys tune, the Paley tune Brian was most enthused/involved in, good production, etc, but the song itself is a tad ordinary. If the Beach Boys had tried a little harder on it, it would have been special. I don't know. There are much better Paley tunes, i think.

huhuhuhuhuhhuh, he said analyze

heheheh yea yea, heh analyze, hey butthead, i'm gonna analyze you

shut up, beavis!

(http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9683/isxljhgiqnu5t3rfjoplgtc.jpg)

If Goin On and Getche Back are your two favorite BB songs then I just can't allow you to be a BB fan. :)

When did you become a fan?  Perhaps these two songs remind you of a certain time of your life that you have fond memories of?  There are songs (BB and non-BB) that I know objectively aren't really all that great that I *LOVE* to hear because they remind me of a good time in my life.

I adore 'The Night Was So Young', and 'This Song Wants To Sleep With You Tonight'.

Brilliant.

If Goin' On had been recorded during the Sunflower sessions, with that period's production style, it would probably have been one of the finer tracks on that album. Somehow it belongs there.



(Waits for AGD to announce it was written and demo'ed back then....    ;D )

Later additional thought: Maybe there's a version without that bloody sax break that we can all legitimately love!

I agree. GO's production is horrific. What happened to their ears ca. 1977-1980?

I think Beach Boys fandom, once you leave Pet Sounds behind and start venturing into the outer reaches of the 70s material, is all about guilty pleasures - digging the songs that most people wouldn't touch with a barge pole. It's kind of anti-purist, the musical equivalent of choosing cream-soda over champagne (well for me anyway!)  Songs like: I Wanna Pick You Up, At My Window, Mount Vernon & Fairway, Day In The Life Of A Tree, and definitely Goin On! 

I went through a phase of having Goin On and Kokomo in permanent rotation although I think the latter is less forgiveable.

Don't take this personal, BH, but: why is Kokomo hated so much? I love it, without any guilt. It's a lovely tropical fantasy. Rumour has it that Brian will cover it on 'Pleasure Island'.

What I love about Goin On is Carl's part

'...Awaken me Beautiful Dreamer...'

Now that I'd love to hear! Honestly, I don't think Kokomo is all that bad. I prefer almost everything the band did from Surfin' Safari through to Holland but it's not a bad song by any means. It's been said before - and I tend to agree with this - that fans hate Kokomo because it (like "Barbara Ann") is what people think of when they hear the name "The Beach Boys". And that to me really sucks cause there is so many other songs in their catalogue that are far far superior.

"This Song Wants To Sleep With You Tonight" is among my own personal favourites too. In fact I think it has just about anything you could ask for in a classic BW composition. Don't you just love the "Soft serenade" part? The Pet Sounds bass part at 2:57? This is utter magic disguised as an unassuming pop tune.

Well said, Phirnis! It has classic surf-guitar (or PS bass) elements, nice echo, a perfect bridge. It should have been a hit!

BTW: I have the Swedish Frog CD-single version of it, it is a 'b-side' of Do It Again. The front photo is utterly cool... BW in black with Ray-Bans, near his pool.

I guess it's difficult to establish a line between respectably creative Beach Boys material, and the schmaltzy cheesy stuff that you mute when your best mate/other half/whoever walks into the room. A lot of the tunes that we're mentioning here: Goin On, The Night Was So Young, Kokomo etc. are held in high esteem by one fan or another. In fact I think what's interesting about Brian Wilson is that he walked the line between cheese & genius so frequently and so many songs have both in equal measure. McCartney seems to posses the same talent. Goin On is a great example of this cos on first listen it's cheesy as hell, yet compositionally seems to have some pretty complex stuff going on when you really start to listen to it. Plus it's just great the more you get into it - what an uplifting song!

Actually there are people that see all of the Beach Boys' music as cheese. They prefer Metallica. Or Radiohead.

And it's their loss!!!!

I really like "Barbie (Living Doll)".

"Later additional thought: Maybe there's a version without that bloody sax break that we can all legitimately love!
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Check out the live version they did on the TV show Fridays! Munoz does a lovely keyboard solo in place of the cheeseball sax!

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Check out the live version they did on the TV show Fridays! Munoz does a lovely keyboard solo in place of the cheeseball sax!
[/quote]

Sure it was Munoz and not Mike Meros?

It was one of those bearded guys with M in his name!

I don't think Carli Munoz and Mike Meros look anything alike, although I'm basing that all on this one picture of Carli:

(http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/3280949.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=4F84C7EF07395AB61E595950B4C95E7C)

Ok, well if was one of Dennis' buddies with an M in his name who either played keyboards with the BBs live and or wrote some songs for Bambu!

I was raised in Hawthorne (till 13yrs old) so, The Beach Boys were something to feel proud of since I can remember, but I have to sadly admit it wasn't until the Summer Dreams TV movie that I really took an active interest in them. I went out and bough the Made In USA compilation, and hated everything on it past Pet Sounds! Of course that was more of a knee jerk than an honest reaction to the music. I was into "cool" bands at that time and couldn't be bothered with lumpen covers of Rock And Roll Music or Hungry Heart soundalike tunes.....

When Kokomo came out, I couldn't help but like the song and was happy that The Beach Boys had a number one hit again! It got me on my second big Beach Boys kick, so I dug out Made In USA again (remember, this was when Pet Sounds was still OOP) and, Kokomo being a big hit, Getcha Back stood out in a "why wasn't this as huge a hit" kind of way! I've loved the song ever since.

Ok, Ok! He's just one of the many hairy mammals to be found on a 1970's Beach Boys stage!

I like most of the 85 album.   And I like Goin on from KTSA.  Nothing wrong with any of that stuff and as I said in another thread recently, Somewhere Near Japan is among my all time favorites.  There are gems to be found in each era of the Beachboys career.  More or less.

And as someone else said, the time and circumstances when you first related to the music is a big factor in one's preference for songs.

Music is second only to smells in evoking strong memories and associations.