"All I Wanna Do"

[CenturyDeprived]

The BBs invented both shoegaze and chillwave with All I Wanna Do.

Totally. I also have told other people the same thing about this song and shoegaze.

I'm a huge shoegaze fan, and IMO, I can hear some trace elements of what eventually became shoegaze with All I Wanna Do.

Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine is a big Brian Wilson fan, and a hunch tells me he may have had this song somewhere in his head when recording and writing.

[c-man]

Adam, Desper says the prominent keyboard sound is a Fender Rhodes hooked up to a Moog.  There's reason to believe the Rhodes is actually a Roxi.  It's also pretty certain that Carl played the dominant production role here, on both the basic tracking and mixdown stages.  I really dig the electric sitar sound twanging away!  According to the songbook, the chord progression on the next section is:

F on "All I"
Fmaj7 on "Wanna Do,"
G

Em7 on "Ooh, let these little words"
Am7 on "of love be-"
Em7 on "come the lamps that light your"
Am7 on "way"

and in the fade, it's

Dm7 on "All I Wanna Do," (w/"My love is" in the background)
G ("burning brightly" in the background)
Dm7 on "All I Wanna Do," (w/"like moon and" in the background)
G ("stars shine nightly")

[Wrightfan]

Such an underrated song. One of my favs.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

One thing that's hitting me about this as I listen to it is that the bass has to be drop-tuned to D (did they have 5 string basses in 1970?) to hit the great deep notes there. 

I think it's drop-D.  They did drop-E flat on Sloop John, after all.  Would still like to know if there is really some sort of string bass on this track.  And Craig reminds me another mystery on the track sheet, the "Z-tar."  What does that mean?  Is it really something weird, or is it just somebody having a little too much fun writing down the tracks?

[Mikie]

One of my all time favorite Sunflower songs. Even when I overlook all the hiss and noise (presumably from bouncing tracks back and forth too much?). I'll have to read Desper's "Recording The Beach Boys" again to see if he addresses that. Someone once told me that if you listen to the DCC CD of that, that it's much clearer and you don't hear the hiss. Anybody have a DCC version to confirm?

[drbeachboy]

One of my all time favorite Sunflower songs. Even when I overlook all the hiss and noise (presumably from bouncing tracks back and forth too much?). I'll have to read Desper's "Recording The Beach Boys" again to see if he addresses that. Someone once told me that if you listen to the DCC CD of that, that it's much clearer and you don't hear the hiss. Anybody have a DCC version to confirm?

Mikie, of which DCC title are you referring to? I don't recall Sunflower being released except through Sony and Capitol.

[Andreas]

Someone once told me that if you listen to the DCC CD of that, that it's much clearer and you don't hear the hiss. Anybody have a DCC version to confirm?

DCC only released Pet Sounds, Endless Summer and Spirit Of America. Less hiss is however not a feature of the DCC releases. 

[Mikie]

Yeah, those are the only three DCC's I've heard of. Never heard of a Sunflower DCC nor a compilation that includes "All I Wanna Do". Just tried Googling message boards to see where I read that some guy heard a DCC of it. You guys know what I'm talking about, the excessive hiss, right?

[drbeachboy]

I understand about the hiss, yes, but the "DCC CD" part is what has me confused.

[c-man]

One thing that's hitting me about this as I listen to it is that the bass has to be drop-tuned to D (did they have 5 string basses in 1970?) to hit the great deep notes there. 

I think it's drop-D.  They did drop-E flat on Sloop John, after all.  Would still like to know if there is really some sort of string bass on this track.  And Craig reminds me another mystery on the track sheet, the "Z-tar."  What does that mean?  Is it really something weird, or is it just somebody having a little too much fun writing down the tracks?

I think the Z-tar is the electric sitar.  No mention of string bass though.  I think Jimmy Bond is on the AFM contract (don't have it handy at the moment), but I googled him and see that he's played electric bass on a few sessions for other people,  so he could have easily played an electric model on this song.

[CarlTheVoice]

A great song and a very under-rated era from the Beach Boys. I love Carl's voice in the chorus, but can't make out what he sings, can anyone help?

[drbeachboy]

Amazing how this song has never made it to a compilation release. Summer Love Songs would have been a perfect comp for it to fit on and give it more exposure.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Killer song! Should have been a # 1 hit!

I don't know about anyone else, but for such a peaceful, calm, and lovely track, there is an uneasiness to the whole thing that lends it a whole different dimension.

I've yet to hear it in quad, but in headphones on the CD and vinyl, almost every element of the track seems slightly out of sync with the other. And the vocal seems to have an echo or double track that sounds like it's fighting to keep up with the main vocal and then that moog bass (?) keeps chugging away at the bottom and tugging it back.

AGD: does the quad experience accentuate this detail or open it up to where it's not so noticeable?

Or does no one know what the hell I'm even talking about and are my ears busted?

[adamghost]

Adam, Desper says the prominent keyboard sound is a Fender Rhodes hooked up to a Moog.  There's reason to believe the Rhodes is actually a Roxi.  It's also pretty certain that Carl played the dominant production role here, on both the basic tracking and mixdown stages.  I really dig the electric sitar sound twanging away!  According to the songbook, the chord progression on the next section is:

F on "All I"
Fmaj7 on "Wanna Do,"
G

Em7 on "Ooh, let these little words"
Am7 on "of love be-"
Em7 on "come the lamps that light your"
Am7 on "way"

and in the fade, it's

Dm7 on "All I Wanna Do," (w/"My love is" in the background)
G ("burning brightly" in the background)
Dm7 on "All I Wanna Do," (w/"like moon and" in the background)
G ("stars shine nightly")

I know the sound you're talking about...it's not the same sound I'm talking about, which is a guitar-ish sort of thing lumbering along in that midsection part.  If they ran the Rhodes through the moog, I bet I'm right and this other sound is the guitar through the moog.  Listen right channel starting at 1:27...now that I listen more carefully, it could be the bass track (or just another bass) and not the guitar...it's an echo of the bass line.  But as I said, it reminds me of when I tried running a guitar through the moog.  I have a feeling that's what was done here....either run the guitar through the moog doubling the bass line or run a bass return through the moog.  And the more I listen I think it was the latter.

It annoys me that the songbook chords don't put the root in there.  It misses the whole point of the chord to omit that!  Fmaj7 and Am are pretty much the same thing tonically, but if there's an E in the bass, calling it an Fmaj7 makes no sense at all.

[kwan_dk]

Earlier in this thread, I asked if anyone could point towards other stellar engineering work that Desper might have done after his involvement with the guys. Who else did he work with?

[Mikie]

Zappa.

[bossaroo]

this really is an underrated masterpiece. Brian and Mike at their collaborative best.

it's really strange that it's never been included on a compilation, and apparently has never been performed live. wonder why??!!!

the weird echo on the vocals can bug me sometimes, but a gorgeous production overall.

thanks for making me learn this one!

[harrisonjon]

All I Wanna Do - Forever - Our Sweet Love

As good a trio of songs as ever appeared in sequence on any album.

[harrisonjon]

Bass sounds like Carol Kaye

[over and over]

A great song and a very under-rated era from the Beach Boys. I love Carl's voice in the chorus, but can't make out what he sings, can anyone help?

Always thought he was saying "Only in the night I feel", but that could be wrong. I love how Carl's part mixes with Brian's part in the fade (true harmonic magic).

It annoys me that the songbook chords don't put the root in there.  It misses the whole point of the chord to omit that!  Fmaj7 and Am are pretty much the same thing tonically, but if there's an E in the bass, calling it an Fmaj7 makes no sense at all.

That's a very good point. Is there staff music in the songbook?

[c-man]

A great song and a very under-rated era from the Beach Boys. I love Carl's voice in the chorus, but can't make out what he sings, can anyone help?

Always thought he was saying "Only in the night I feel", but that could be wrong. I love how Carl's part mixes with Brian's part in the fade (true harmonic magic).

It annoys me that the songbook chords don't put the root in there.  It misses the whole point of the chord to omit that!  Fmaj7 and Am are pretty much the same thing tonically, but if there's an E in the bass, calling it an Fmaj7 makes no sense at all.

To the first point, I've always heard it as "Love me in the ni-ght".
To the second point, yes, and I'll post that next.

That's a very good point. Is there staff music in the songbook?

[c-man]

I got as far as the Intro and 1st half of the Verse, the rest will follow later:

Inversions, bottom-to-top

Intro
(F-A-C) alternating w/D bass (first half of first measure)
(G-A-C) alternating w/E bass (second half of first measure)
(F-A-C) alternating w/D bass (both halves of the next four measures, with notation for left hand to play the extra notes on the downbeats in the 
treble clef, that are played by the 12-string guitar on the record:  F and E in the second & fourth measures, D, E, D, E in the third & fifth measures)

Verse Part 1
Dm7 on "All I"
(E-A-C) w/D bass (second space below the bottom line in the bass clef), on "wanna", add F to the chord while the bass note climbs up to E on "do"
G7
(D-G-B) w/G bass (looks like the 7th is in the melody line, which decends from B to A to G) (guitar then plays E-D-E), bass climbs to A on "is"
Dm7 on "always bring"
(F-A-C) w/D bass, on "good" add E to the chord while the bass note climbs up to E on "you"
G7 (same as second bar)
The next four bars repeat the previous two bars, except in the last bar of this progression, the bass note stays on G instead of climbing to A

[Disney Boy (1985)]

'All I Wanna Do' is, along with the equally under-rated Slip On Through, my favourite Sunflower track. Wish they'd had these two of the GB boxset as they're far better examples of Sunflower's excellence than, say, the lovely but plain Our Sweet Love.

[c-man]

Here's the rest:

Verse Part 2
Am7 on "Sure as the su-"
(C-E-G) alternating w/A bass in the treble clef, w/A bass at bottom of the bass clef
Fmaj7 on "-un will come around again to"
(E-F-A) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/F bass at bottom of the bass clef
C on "start out another day"
(E-G) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/G bass at bottom of the bass clef
E7
(D-E-G#) alternating w/B bass in the treble clef, w/E bass at bottom of the bass clef
The next two bars repeat the first two bars of this section (Am7 - Fmaj7), then two different inversions of Fmaj7 for the next bar:
(C-E-F-A) w/F bass on the "1" beat, (a-c-e-g) w/F bass on the "3" beat
G6 on "way"
(B-D-E-G) w/G bass

bridge Part 1
Em7 on "Ooh, when I sit and close"
(D-E-G) alternating w/B bass in the treble clef, w/E bass at bottom of the bass clef
Am7 on "my eyes"
(D-E-G) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/A bass at bottom of the bass clef
Em7 on "gentle thought comes in my mi-"
again, (D-E-G) alternating w/B bass in the treble clef, w/E bass at bottom of the bass clef
Am7 on "-ind"
this time, just (E-G) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/A bass at bottom of the bass clef
F on "My love is"
(F-A-C) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/F bass at bottom of the bass clef
F on "burning brightly"
this time, descending intervals of thirds: (G-B) on "burn-", (F-A) on "-ing", (E-G) on "bright-", "D-F" on "-ly", all alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/F bass at bottom of the bass clef
C on "like moon and"
just (E-G) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/G bass at bottom of the bass clef
E7-9 on "stars shine"
(D-F-G#) alternating w/B bass in the treble clef, w/E bass at bottom of the bass clef
Am7 on "nightly"
(E-G-A) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/A bass at bottom of the bass clef

Bridge Part 2
F on "All I"
(F-A-C) w/G bass
Fmaj7 on "Wanna do"
(E-F-A-C) w/descending bass line of G (immediately prior to Fmaj7 chord), F, E, D
G (following "do")
(D-G-B) w/D bass, then bass line climbs back up to E, F while guitar plays E-D-E
This pattern repeats three more times, then there is a chromatic descending bass line of C-B-A-G-F, then
Em7 on "Ooh, let these little words"
(D-E-G) alternating w/B bass in the treble clef, w/E bass at bottom of the bass clef
Am7 on "of lo-ove be-"
(D-E-G) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/A bass at bottom of the bass clef
Em7 on "-come the lamps that light your wa-"
again, (D-E-G) alternating w/B bass in the treble clef, w/E bass at bottom of the bass clef
Am7 on "-ay"
this time, (E-G-A) alternating w/C bass in the treble clef, w/A bass at bottom of the bass clef, but on the "4" beat the right hand plays
(C-F-G-A), w/G bass at bottom of the bass clef

Coda (Fade)
Dm7 on "All I"
(F-A-C) w/D bass (second space below the bottom line in the bass clef), on "wanna", add E to the chord while the bass note climbs up to E on "do"
G
(D-G-B) w/G bass (guitar then plays E-D-E), bass climbs to A
(repeat & fade)

[Jay]

You really need to hear it over four channels. Truly psychedelic in the strict sense of the word... and of course major props to Steve Desper.

Funny you should say that. I was just thinking a few days ago that All I Wanna Do is probably the most psychedelic the group ever got, along with possibly Feel Flows.