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Author Topic: Track Talk #4: Land Ahoy (& Cherry Cherry Coupe)  (Read 12611 times)
buddhahat
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« on: September 25, 2012, 02:28:16 AM »

One of my favourite of the early tracks, this. It has great momentum, propelled beautifully by the backing vocals.

Can anyone explain exactly what "Papa's toy l'ahoy" sang as a counterpoint in the chorus actually means, if that really is what they're singing? He (papa) spies his girl (his toy) on land, perhaps?

Cherry Cherry Coupe as a rewrite just doesn't quite match up for me.


« Last Edit: September 25, 2012, 08:56:50 AM by buddhahat » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2012, 03:27:46 AM »

One of my favourite of the early tracks, this. It has great momentum, propelled beautifully by the backing vocals.

Can anyone explain exactly what "Papa's toy l'ahoy" sang as a counterpoint in the chorus actually means, if that really is what they're singing? He (papa) spies his girl (his toy) on land, perhaps?

Cherry Cherry Coupe as a rewrite just doesn't quite match up for me.


A great surprise choice for track talk, and one of my all-time early faves (along with Cindy, Oh Cindy). It's so moving piece, in more than ways than one. Young and more or less innocent boys, singing this story of a sea-faring sailor, who's "been overseas for almost a year"... Aww.

Speaking of innocence, this is one of my favourite early performances by Mike. Listening to his lead, it's difficult to think of all the fights, filth and summers in paradise that were still yet to come.

By the way, love that muffled cough in the beginning of the solo! They don't leave moments like that on records anymore...
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« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2012, 07:31:33 AM »

Dislike it greatly. Can't deal with the drum rhythm, the lead vocal, the lyrics, anything about it.
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lance
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« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2012, 07:57:21 AM »

I think the melody is great no matter what the song, but Cherry Cherry Coupe is one of THE BEST BRIAN WILSON PRODUCTIONS EVER in my book.

i was already a fan but that song((Cherry, cherry coupe) that really convinced me how fucking out of this world BW could be.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2012, 07:58:28 AM by lance » Logged
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« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2012, 08:02:35 AM »

I think the melody is great no matter what the song, but Cherry Cherry Coupe is one of THE BEST BRIAN WILSON PRODUCTIONS EVER in my book.

i was already a fan but that song((Cherry, cherry coupe) that really convinced me how f***ing out of this world BW could be.

Same here. The groove on that song is unholy. I love how the crisp snare drum seems to float above the solid groove of the tune. And how the lead guitar part pulls against that groove. Mike's vocal is killer. And the sax is there too.


Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em
They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system
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buddhahat
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« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2012, 08:25:50 AM »

I think the melody is great no matter what the song, but Cherry Cherry Coupe is one of THE BEST BRIAN WILSON PRODUCTIONS EVER in my book.

i was already a fan but that song((Cherry, cherry coupe) that really convinced me how f***ing out of this world BW could be.

That is a solid backing track, no denying. The first 2 bars possibly the closest The Beach Boys got to sounding like The Velvet Underground. Still doesn't trump the cool little arpegio guitar figures that drive Land Ahoy along for me though.

Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em
They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system

What the devil is a "Cellunoid" system?!

I used to play it note-for-note on my synthesizer, selecting "church organ". The solo sounded even more groovy after that.

This is cool.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2012, 08:32:57 AM by buddhahat » Logged

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buddhahat
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« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2012, 08:32:25 AM »

.
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« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2012, 08:49:55 AM »


Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em
They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system

What the devil is a "Cellunoid" system?!

You got me, man. No idea.
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buddhahat
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« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2012, 08:54:59 AM »


Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em
They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system

What the devil is a "Cellunoid" system?!

You got me, man. No idea.

Calling all petrol-heads ...

Presumably some sort of brandname for a, er, handleless door opening system?  Shrug
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EgoHanger1966
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« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2012, 08:56:04 AM »


Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em
They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system

What the devil is a "Cellunoid" system?!

You got me, man. No idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenoid
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buddhahat
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« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2012, 08:58:57 AM »


Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em
They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system

What the devil is a "Cellunoid" system?!

You got me, man. No idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenoid

Is that what they're singing about then? That Mike could turn anything into poetry.
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I. Spaceman
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« Reply #11 on: September 25, 2012, 09:11:40 AM »


Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em
They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system

What the devil is a "Cellunoid" system?!

You got me, man. No idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenoid

Is that what they're singing about then? That Mike could turn anything into poetry.


Roger Christian! Ultimate gearhead.
What you said about the Velvets just knocked me out, because I realised that the guitar thing on Coupe I was talking about very much reminds me of Lou's rhythm-lead style on We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together.
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buddhahat
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« Reply #12 on: September 25, 2012, 09:42:27 AM »


Door handles are off but you know I'll never miss 'em
They open when I want with the "Cellunoid" system

What the devil is a "Cellunoid" system?!

You got me, man. No idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solenoid

Is that what they're singing about then? That Mike could turn anything into poetry.


Roger Christian! Ultimate gearhead.

Those Roger Christian songs catch me out every time! Was going to post only recently about how great Mike's Don't Worry Baby lyrics are ...

What you said about the Velvets just knocked me out, because I realised that the guitar thing on Coupe I was talking about very much reminds me of Lou's rhythm-lead style on We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together.

You know I haven't listened to that Velvets track for a while. It's a good 'un. Will have to dig it out and compare. I was thinking Waiting For My man for general pulsing rhythm guitar similarities.

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« Reply #13 on: September 25, 2012, 09:50:08 AM »


You know I haven't listened to that Velvets track for a while. It's a good 'un. Will have to dig it out and compare. I was thinking Waiting For My man for general pulsing rhythm guitar similarities.



Oh yes, great example as well.
This is another of my "idiosyncratic" opinions and all, but I somehow relate Roger Christian to Van Dyke Parks in my head, in terms of the roles they fulfilled for Brian obviously, but also in terms of the near-impenetrability of their lyrics. Parks has his wordplay and diffuse turn-of-the-psychedelic-century imagery, but Christian's grease-monkey terminology is also quite odd, and personal. I mean, he might as well be talking about driving a spaceship most of the time, and I'm fairly car-familiar.
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« Reply #14 on: September 25, 2012, 09:52:23 AM »

I don't know if the Wikipedia entry mentions it specifically, but the "solenoid system" as sung in the lyrics is what makes a car's electronic door locks work.
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« Reply #15 on: September 25, 2012, 09:54:49 AM »

I don't know if the Wikipedia entry mentions it specifically, but the "solenoid system" as sung in the lyrics is what makes a car's electronic door locks work.


I don't think they has electronic locks back then. Just the traditional key system, right?
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« Reply #16 on: September 25, 2012, 10:01:15 AM »

I wonder how the hell Solenoid got pronounced as "cell-u-noid" on the date. I know Solenoid stuff mainly because I am an 8-track enthusiast, and Solenoid switches are what makes the program change over (also the first thing to usually break down in a player).
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« Reply #17 on: September 25, 2012, 10:03:49 AM »

One thing about Ahoy: I wish Brian would have waited, changed the lyrics a bit to reflect the POV of the girl the guy is coming home to, and cut it with Sharon Marie or The Honeys. It coulda had that contemporary ultra-cute Diane Renay Kiss Me Sailor/Navy Blue "I-love-a-man-in-uniform" vibe.
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« Reply #18 on: September 25, 2012, 10:08:36 AM »

I don't know if the Wikipedia entry mentions it specifically, but the "solenoid system" as sung in the lyrics is what makes a car's electronic door locks work.


I don't think they has electronic locks back then. Just the traditional key system, right?

There were power locks in the 50's, power windows, etc. but as far as the actual date and year of the first ones ever, I don't know. It was an option on luxury cars in the 50's, and according to previous conversations with my dad who was a mechanic at that time, there were many, many problems with anything "automatic", "power", "electronic", etc. in cars at the time. They rushed a lot of these features onto the market and they were simply not that good.

The solenoid is used in many other applications - to be honest I don't quite understand what Mike was getting at singing about them relating to car doors and power locks. It's not exactly a feature the gearheads would be bragging about on a hot rod anyway, unless the tune is more about a luxury car...I'm confused! I doubt a real hot rodder (i.e. one who actually took the car to the drag strip and raced) would want that kind of luxury option anyway - some would weld the doors for safety in races, and/or try to eliminate everything like extra power options and the systems to run them to lower the weight of the car.
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« Reply #19 on: September 25, 2012, 10:15:55 AM »

I think Christian is mainly writing about a cruising car, as he talks a lot about visual features. But it is odd.
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« Reply #20 on: September 25, 2012, 10:16:50 AM »

The solenoid system in this instance was for "hot rodders" who shaved their door handles. Meaning, the cars were altered by taking the door handles off for looks. There had to be a way to open the doors and they put solenoid systems in.
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« Reply #21 on: September 25, 2012, 10:24:33 AM »

The solenoid system in this instance was for "hot rodders" who shaved their door handles. Meaning, the cars were altered by taking the door handles off for looks. There had to be a way to open the doors and they put solenoid systems in.

Brilliant, thanks for that. Takes a while to get to the meanings of these things. For over two decades, I had no idea what "lake pipes" were.
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« Reply #22 on: September 25, 2012, 10:27:22 AM »

The solenoid system in this instance was for "hot rodders" who shaved their door handles. Meaning, the cars were altered by taking the door handles off for looks. There had to be a way to open the doors and they put solenoid systems in.

Makes sense, I'm not saying it's not what happened because it was, but again I think the real hot rodders who actually competed were trying to shave off anything extra in general, and adding electronic locks and the system to power and run them doesn't seem to fit the "less is more" credo. The reasons why some of the true rods looked so bare-bones is because they did everything to reduce weight and increase power, which would mean stripping anything unessential to the engine and the car's power off of the car.

Unless we're getting into "customs" from the California builders/designers the Beach Boys would have been aware of at that time like George Barris, Dean Jeffries, etc. If it's a car for show, and to cruise and get chicks, then yeah, having solenoids and relays and Air Ride suspensions and all of that to do cool stuff like pop open your doors would be nice to have!

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« Reply #23 on: September 25, 2012, 10:30:13 AM »

And I think the spelling and pronunciation of "cellunoid" versus "solenoid" is also a regional or dialect kind of thing, or a mispronunciation that caught on.
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« Reply #24 on: September 25, 2012, 10:41:14 AM »

The solenoid system in this instance was for "hot rodders" who shaved their door handles. Meaning, the cars were altered by taking the door handles off for looks. There had to be a way to open the doors and they put solenoid systems in.

Brilliant, thanks for that. Takes a while to get to the meanings of these things. For over two decades, I had no idea what "lake pipes" were.

Hahaha, no problem. Roger was definitely into the hot rod/street rod scene that developed in the '50s and early '60s in Los Angeles. My father is the same age as the BBs and he grew up working in his father's auto shop in Ohio, so he loved their car songs. And lakes pipes are awesome, we have some on our '51 Chevy.
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