The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hi,

I am proud to introduce a new song to you. “First American Band” is a collaboration of Martin Gotz (Austria), Bernd Oettinger (Germany) and the talented and beautiful singer Kayla Williams (Canada).

I wrote the song back in September 2009 and asked my friend Bernd Oettinger to produce it. After this, I invited Kayla Williams to sing the song - she agreed real soon. So I´d say, let´s Surf Rock :)

I´m not quiet sure if you are familiar with Kayla Williams. She has such amazing talent and made cover versions of many Beach Boys Songs you can find on youtube.....

Soundclick Link:
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9579713


First American Band


God only knows how many tunes
I´ve listened to in my room
Songs of endless summer
And the Surfer Moon
Made me cuddle up with a surfer girl
In the Californian sand
I caught a wave while I fell in love to
The rhythm of a steel drum band

Chorus:
The First American Band
From Southern California
A Cousin and a Friend
Along with three brothers
They made their Mamas cry
With every single song
Their story isn´t over
As long as their music plays on

Verse:
Caroline my little girl
Oh, where did your long hair go?
You are no longer the sweet thing
That I used to know
I will pick you up in my 4-0-9
We’ll cruise the hamburger stands
Because, everything is just fine
When they play “Do you wanna dance”

Chorus:
The First American Band
From Southern California
A Cousin and a Friend
Along with three brothers
They made their Mamas cry
With every single song
Their story isn´t over
As long as their music plays on

(Bridge – Instrumental)

(Chorus)

 

Credits:

words and music by martin gotz
arranged,  produced and all instruments by bernd oettinger
vocals by kayla williams

(c) 2009/2010 by martin gotz, bernd oettinger and kayla williams

 

 

p.s.: Kayla produced a video around the song, I´d love to introduce this a bit later to you all :)

I am not a fan of tribute lyrics / songs--in fact, I think it's one of the worst things about the Beach Boys from the mid/late 70s onward. So frankly I don't like these lyrics. But it's a decent song, well-performed and recorded.

Hi Luther,

thank you for listening... oh, bad that you did not like it :(

I know, many Beach Boys Fans (even myself) don´t really enjoy groups which sound like the Beach Boys or even worth write a Tribute to them. But I am a each Boys Fan. And I had to do this :(.

WE made a little video as well :( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhiKIQAQsnA

I didn't dislike it in its entirety, I'm just not a fan of the lyrics. Obviously my opinion is nothing more than that; I'm sure everyone involved in the tune is more than happy to go along doing what they like to do regardless of li'l ol' me!

OK Luther :). I was thinking about writing new lyrics for it, somthing that doesn´t have anything to do with the Beach Boys :): I thought it was funny to use quotes from other Beach Boys Songs but it COULD be, that I have misjudged it :). I didn´t want to write "oh Beach Boys are the best band, you cannot find anything better in the whole land"  (yes, this was a suggestion by someone i asked to help me with the lyrics  ;D)

I quite like it.

I definately understand where Luther is coming from regarding tribute lyrics but I think this is one of the better balanced efforts. And I like the fact that you guys haven't 'over-Beach-Boysified' it with a lot of falsettos, Mike Love bow-bow-bow bass lines or similar trademarks. That would probably have been too over-the-top considering how much the lyrics are steeped in BB-fandom.  :)

So my two cents: Congratulations with a very well executed and catchy song! And you can never go wrong with Kayla handling the vocals. She sings beautifully as always.

Martin / Surf School Dropouts

I'd like to second this.

I very much enjoyed the song, the melody and certainly the jaunty groove. I think to second some of the other comments I am not a fan of tribute lyrics as such and the lyrics do the song a disservice as many would write it off (as a novelty) though that would be bad as the rest of the song is good. I think with new lyrics over the same melody it would be a real winner - the girl singing it has a wonderful voice!

I disagree. What it needs are annoying falsettos done by Adrian Baker, fake drums, a John Stamos cameo, lots of bow wow wow's and bop bop bop's, lyrics lifted from earlier BB tunes, Terry Melcher producing, and all the recording being done on an early version of Pro Tools on an early 90s Mac...and, of course, the Lovester/Myk Luv/My Glove throwing down his mad MC skills!!

I can do a good Mike Love impression.