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Hey all,

So I was going through some CD's of my older stuff, and came across this song I wrote back in the day.

The song is called "Summer Girls", which is something I wrote in the style of the Beach Boys. I came up with the track, wrote the chorus + pre hook when I was around 16. Around this time I was in full Beach Boys mode. Life was good. I was recording all the time, building my skills. I was getting backstage passes to all BW related events. I had a lot of friends. I was in the midst of a relationship with my 1st girlfriend. I was very blessed at the time.

Fast forward a few years.

My time in the Brian Wilson "inner circle" had come and gone. My parents had just gotten divorced, and I was on the brink of being kicked out of my house (for the 2nd time). I messed things up with my girlfriend, so she was gone. Along with her went my circle of friends. I stopped caring about my music. I had a shitty job at an indoor amusement park, and spent all my money on.. bad stuff. I was feeling pretty hopeless at the time. To make matters worse, BW was about to perform SMiLE in a few weeks at Carnegie Hall. There was no way I'd be able to afford a ticket. Or was there?

Determined to score a ticket for the show, I surf around the net looking for money making opportunities, and came across a Craigslist ad. It was posted by a production house looking for ONE Beach Boys imitation song for a commercial (advertising beach towels, IIRC). The pay was $250. Cha-ching!

So, I immediately thought about that song I started called "Summer Girls" and sent them the rough demo I had. Surprisingly, they responded and told me to finish it and re-submit. Being the impulsive kid I was, I rushed through the verses, added all the harmonies.. fixed some out-of-time drum stuff, and resubmitted the track within hours.

They accepted it!

I went down to their studio in the city, masters in hand, and collected my $250. I cashed the check immediately, and that night I was sitting in Carnegie Hall watching Brian perform the hell out of SMiLE. As anyone who saw it knows, it was an incredible experience. Brian never sounded better in a live setting. Even got to run into Darian and Jeff outside the venue before hand.


..and that's how I made my first few bucks in the music industry. All to see SMiLE. And looking back on it, perhaps SMiLE is the reason I continued to pursue a career in music.  8)


This is the rough mix I found. Listening to it 9 years later, of course I think it sucks, and I can see why they wanted to get their hands on the masters (to mix and FIX the song!).

Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

https://soundcloud.com/smile-a-d/summer-girls

-J

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That's a great story. Synchronistic.  See what happens when you want something bad enough :)

You're welcome and thank you for reading. Indeed, those were some magical times, looking back.

Re: check - Yeah, it's kinda amazing how it all came together like that. It's funny, I just watched that new Eagles documentary last night. One of the guys said "When you're living life, it can seem crazy and chaotic. Yet, when you look back, it reads like a perfectly written novel."


Right on brother! Sometimes that's all you need to put your life back on a positive track.


Thank you WH. Yes, so true! We have a lot to be grateful for.

Beautiful story, Man!
Thanks for sharing!
Great job on that song too, especially for a 16 year old kid!

Great song and story!

There's no greater band to get you out of a bad time than The Beach Boys.

Thanks guys! I remember being so amped at the time about the chord changes haha. Probably the best song I wrote as a kid.

I think one of these days I'll re-record it with better sounds, better vocals and a better mix.

Dish out parts to us in the collab thread!
We'll make your song sound HUGE!
I'd love to help out if you'll let me!

Hey Seltaeb

Did you ever get to rerecord this one?

I think it's a very cool song. Fits the formula to a T & a fun tribute. It reminds me a lot of some of Jeffrey Foskett's best Beach Boys pastiches. (And that is meant as high-praise indeed!))

Hey man! Not yet. Been focused on my pop / R&B stuff as of late. I released an album in Japan a few months ago.. went to #4 on the iTunes R&B charts, and top 40 on the main charts! Now working on a follow up single + album. I feel like BW in 1964 without the ground breaking talent or worldwide popularity, lol.

I'd really love to get a band in a studio with vintage gear and record this one the right way at some point. Maybe try to give it a 'Today' / 'Summer Days' type of a vibe sonically...

Hope all is well with u bro!

Awesome! What's the name of the album?

It's called "ALIVE". I posted up some screenshots from when it was still climbing the charts... (it was released June 19th!): https://www.facebook.com/jhypemusic

Cool, will check it out. I played your version of Waterspout at a party last week and forced everyone to listen to it. They thought it was great. I also played parts of Egon Spengler's SMiLE recreation and the reception was equally warm.

Oh, nice man. Thanks for doing that. And I agree Egon Spengler's SMiLE is insane. And he does a sick Carl impression!

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Thanks man! That little jazz progression was actually the first section of the song that I wrote. Weird, right?

I was looking around for the Stevie track and came across this one.  Cool.  When you get to the Big Time all your demos will be right here at Smiley.  Good Luck