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This is one for all you historians. Any ideas? Actually everybody feel free to weigh in. I think it's one of; if not THE best track on "Surfin' USA" and hands down beats anything off the debut which is was recorded alongside of. So again - why on earth did it not make the final cut for "Safari"?  Did Murry think it was too dark or not poppy enough? It for sure does have a totally different tone and feel to all the other material being recorded at this stage. Surely it wasn't deliberately held back for a later release because in '62 no one, not Brian, Murry, Nick Venet or the Capital execs could have known if there would even BE a second album.

What a superb question!

Thank you. I've never heard it asked before.

"TLS" was actually recorded before the band landed the Capitol contract - it was part of the 4/16/62 demo tape cut at Western, produced by Murry.

And yes, a damn fine question.

Didn't Gary Usher write most of the tune?  Could it be that Murry didn't want it on there since it was mostly an Usher tune?  I know this may not make sense since there were other songs that were not written by any of the Beach Boys, but didn't Murry have a beef with Usher?

Just a small one...  ::)

AGD, do you think this was the reason?

It could very well be that this was thought of as more of an Usher song than a Brian song. Dave Marks says he was there, in the Wilson home, when it was being composed, and he insists that Gary wrote the music and that Brian's only contribution was some of the lyric...and obviously the harmonies at the end of the recorded arrangement. Assuming this is fact, perhaps Brian needed a little more leverage, like a hit or two...to talk Murry into allowing it on an LP. But I agree it is a great question...the first LP could have used this song in a big way.

What about "Surfer Girl"?

Who wrote the ridiculous middle section?

SJS...yeah...I was wondering about that too.

LP version of Lonely Sea recorded April '62. Not released until March '63. Hit version of Surfer Girl recorded June '63...released July '63. Brian wanted no part of the World Pacific version.

Yeah, but my question is why? It's one the best songs that Brian ever wrote, it was one of the first songs that Brian ever wrote, Brian usually mentions it in his "favorite song" lists, and it got bypassed on two albums. And, Surfin' Safari and Surfin' USA could've benefitted by another ballad. Just wondering....

Why is a good question. I agree those LP's would have benefited. Never have heard any reason for the delay in re-trying it.

My two cents is that Brian was a little shy about his more sensitive side thus Lonely Sea and Surfer Girl got held back. Remember the Surfin Safari LP has next to no falsetto on it.

Brian thought it was inappropriate music.

I've always assumed that it was felt that the public might respond better to up-tempo songs and typical surf stuff rather than The Lonely Sea or Surfer Girl (or Their Hearts Were Full of Spring for that matter).

I blame Mike. The BBs had a minor hit with Surfin, and Brian wanted to experiment further, but Mike told him in no uncertain terms "don't foda with the formula of having next to no falsetto on our songs". Brian got little support from within the band for his falsetto ballads.

Afterwards Brian had a breakdown and the rest of the band quickly needed enough material to fill 20 albums in 7 years, so they revisited the songs in an attempt to cajole him into the studio.

Ah, of course! Why do we have to discuss? It's always Mike's fault!

Yeah, I remember. In 1962, Brian felt awful and scared. One day, he drank two glasses of beer, and a former high school teacher of his got very worried and urged him to visit a young student in psychology, Gene L., who dabbled a bit in piano playing and mistakenly thought he had brains.

:D

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 8)

 As to Surfer Girl, I have a record with the version that was recorded at Hite Morgan's, and on Candix, but that version has a weird section on it, and maybe Brian was still experimenting with it.  On each verse, take the first for example - when they sing "all undone," the chords go from G major to g minor. Now on the recording that was a hit, the bass stays on the g note, but on my Candix recording it goes up to B- flat (the 3rd of g minor.)   Although I didn't like the sound, it's interesting to see that Brian was already experimenting with playing non-root notes on the bass.

 I'm suprised that Usher wrote the music for Lonely Sea. It just has that haunting melancholy Brian sound in the melody. Just goes to show, that I can't trust my ears anymore.

I could be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere, probably on this site, that Usher wrote the chord sequence, while the vocal melody and most of the lyrics were Brian's.

Based on an older thread I began making altered albums.  My Surfin' Safari has Lonely Sea on it, plus Farmer's Daughter, which I know was recorded after Safari was released, but I think it fits with the theme of the title track.

On another note: I seem to recall reading that John Lennon said something about Lonely Sea, that it was one of his favorites.  I cannot recall where I saw that, and I'm wondering if anyone might know - or am I mistaken?

There's been a rumor for quite some time that John played 'Lonely Sea' during the 'Get Back' sessions. Maybe that's what you remember? It turned out that he was just randomly playing his guitar and it came out sounding a bit like the guitar on 'Lonely Sea'. But that's obviously a very common riff. You can hear it on dozens of songs ('Everbody Hurts' by REM is the first that comes to mind).

Ah, thank you shelter - that's it alright, that's what I was remembering.

It sounds un-Brian-like to me. More like Usher's style of writing a la "Sacramento".