Goin' To The Beach

[Gertie J.]

That film does seem to illustrate the limits of Mike (or anybody) being able to "write" a song on his own when he doesn't play an instrument. Some would argue that such a thing is virtually impossible, unless you Bobby McFerrin it out and vocalize everything (I recall reading supposedly Michael Jackson did something along those lines in writing some of his songs?). Having a group where everybody else plays instruments of course afforded Mike easy opportunity to get help, whether it constituted writing credit or not.

Well, we have someone on the board who writes songs without playing any instruments. And that's Swedish Frog,

Then, he hands it off to a collaborator who makes the arrangements and plays the instruments.

who is that? another frog? or panda? dinosaur? duckling?

[zachrwolfe]

‍

[Micha]

That film does seem to illustrate the limits of Mike (or anybody) being able to "write" a song on his own when he doesn't play an instrument. Some would argue that such a thing is virtually impossible, unless you Bobby McFerrin it out and vocalize everything (I recall reading supposedly Michael Jackson did something along those lines in writing some of his songs?). Having a group where everybody else plays instruments of course afforded Mike easy opportunity to get help, whether it constituted writing credit or not.

Well, we have someone on the board who writes songs without playing any instruments. And that's Swedish Frog,

Then, he hands it off to a collaborator who makes the arrangements and plays the instruments.

who is that? another frog? or panda? dinosaur? duckling?

Sometimes a panda, sometimes a unicorn, but never a frog, as far as I'm told. Brian however relied heavily on a frog when arranging Love You reportedly.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

That film does seem to illustrate the limits of Mike (or anybody) being able to "write" a song on his own when he doesn't play an instrument. Some would argue that such a thing is virtually impossible, unless you Bobby McFerrin it out and vocalize everything (I recall reading supposedly Michael Jackson did something along those lines in writing some of his songs?). Having a group where everybody else plays instruments of course afforded Mike easy opportunity to get help, whether it constituted writing credit or not.

Well, we have someone on the board who writes songs without playing any instruments. And that's Swedish Frog,

Then, he hands it off to a collaborator who makes the arrangements and plays the instruments.

who is that? another frog? or panda? dinosaur? duckling?

Sometimes a panda, sometimes a unicorn, but never a frog, as far as I'm told. Brian however relied heavily on a frog when arranging Love You reportedly.

Lick lick

[HeyJude]

I've often told people, playing an instrument isn't really required for writing a song.

Writing is about creativity, and the ability to hear music in your head at a basic level.

Playing is about practice and or training.

Mike could totally write his own songs, alone.

As I mentioned, it’s all very debatable, and also depends on the circumstances. Personally, I don’t feel that it is writing a complete song to come up with a single line melody, put lyrics to it, and then give it to someone else to compose the chords underneath that melody and lyrics. If that underlying series of chords is not part of the writing process, then I could take all the “Pet Sounds” backing tracks, write new lyrics with a different melody, and then claim 100% writing credit.

Yes, the melody helps to steer the chords in most cases. It’s a very collaborative process. But being able to play an instrument very much informs the actual writing process.

It’s complicated, and has been hashed out in court cases over the years regarding writing credits. There are even more extreme cases, like the “Whiter Shade of Pale” case from the last several years, where an even smaller contribution, one keyboard riff driving the song, was brought in years later as enough of a contribution to get credit despite two others having written all the lyrics, the melody behind those lyrics, and the underlying chords.

But if I was in a band and someone brought me a melody with lyrics and had me “arrange” the song by composing all of the chords, then I’d be pissed if I didn’t receive some sort of share of the songwriting credit.

[drbeachboy]

Also, there is the case of Joe Knot being given credit on Add Some Music To Your Day, where he claims that he added very little to song, yet Brian chose to include him as a writer. It sounds like it can be a very subjective thing or very concrete where there is a contract like with Lennon/McCartney.

[LostArt]

Back in the '80s, a friend of mine who owned a studio called me up, told me about a girl who wanted to record three songs that she had written, and he asked if I wanted to play guitar on them.  I told him that I would, so a meeting was arranged between him and the songwriter and I.  When we got together, she handed me three sheets of paper with lyrics printed on them.  The lyrics weren't very good, but it was a gig, so I asked her about chord changes, melodies, etc., and she had no clue.  She took the first piece of paper and said, "This one is like Pat Benatar, you know?" 

Long story short...she was pretty weird, quite the 'space case', if you know what I mean.  I ended up writing the chord structures and the melodies, arranging the instruments, and teaching her the melodies (which she never did get right), as well as playing all of the instruments except for the drums.  I did get paid, but let me tell you, she got a deal. 

Now, who wrote those songs?

[Mendota Heights]

That film does seem to illustrate the limits of Mike (or anybody) being able to "write" a song on his own when he doesn't play an instrument. Some would argue that such a thing is virtually impossible, unless you Bobby McFerrin it out and vocalize everything (I recall reading supposedly Michael Jackson did something along those lines in writing some of his songs?). Having a group where everybody else plays instruments of course afforded Mike easy opportunity to get help, whether it constituted writing credit or not.

Well, we have someone on the board who writes songs without playing any instruments. And that's Swedish Frog,

Then, he hands it off to a collaborator who makes the arrangements and plays the instruments.

who is that? another frog? or panda? dinosaur? duckling?

It's me.

[Wirestone]

I'm still not posting, but ...

If you watch the section of the special about GTTB, Mike explicitly says he played the song to the guys on the guitar. So he likely did come up with some sort of chord progression. I always interpreted his work with Brian as an attempt to flesh out a vocal arrangement, not necessarily re-composing the tune.

[drbeachboy]

I'm still not posting, but ...

If you watch the section of the special about GTTB, Mike explicitly says he played the song to the guys on the guitar. So he likely did come up with some sort of chord progression. I always interpreted his work with Brian as an attempt to flesh out a vocal arrangement, not necessarily re-composing the tune.

I like this, a lot. Both sentences.

[Micha]

That film does seem to illustrate the limits of Mike (or anybody) being able to "write" a song on his own when he doesn't play an instrument. Some would argue that such a thing is virtually impossible, unless you Bobby McFerrin it out and vocalize everything (I recall reading supposedly Michael Jackson did something along those lines in writing some of his songs?). Having a group where everybody else plays instruments of course afforded Mike easy opportunity to get help, whether it constituted writing credit or not.

Well, we have someone on the board who writes songs without playing any instruments. And that's Swedish Frog,

Then, he hands it off to a collaborator who makes the arrangements and plays the instruments.

who is that? another frog? or panda? dinosaur? duckling?

Sometimes a panda, sometimes a unicorn, but never a frog, as far as I'm told. Brian however relied heavily on a frog when arranging Love You reportedly.

Lick lick

No, that's a toad.

[Smilin Ed H]

Back in the '80s, a friend of mine who owned a studio called me up, told me about a girl who wanted to record three songs that she had written, and he asked if I wanted to play guitar on them.  I told him that I would, so a meeting was arranged between him and the songwriter and I.  When we got together, she handed me three sheets of paper with lyrics printed on them.  The lyrics weren't very good, but it was a gig, so I asked her about chord changes, melodies, etc., and she had no clue.  She took the first piece of paper and said, "This one is like Pat Benatar, you know?" 

Long story short...she was pretty weird, quite the 'space case', if you know what I mean.  I ended up writing the chord structures and the melodies, arranging the instruments, and teaching her the melodies (which she never did get right), as well as playing all of the instruments except for the drums.  I did get paid, but let me tell you, she got a deal. 

Now, who wrote those songs?

Yeah, but was she hot?

[Niko]

What does Scott Totten think about the song?

[runnersdialzero]

What does Scott Totten think about the song?

he messaged me on facebook a few days ago and said, verbatim, "lol hve u herd goin to the besch what a flaming pile of shit. total SHIT. SHIT FROM A DOG'S ASS, RUNNERZ"

[c-man]

I'm still not posting, but ...

If you watch the section of the special about GTTB, Mike explicitly says he played the song to the guys on the guitar. So he likely did come up with some sort of chord progression. I always interpreted his work with Brian as an attempt to flesh out a vocal arrangement, not necessarily re-composing the tune.

Not quite...Mike says, quote: "..I played it for Carl, he did a demo on the guitar...".  So when Mike "played it for Carl", he could have meant on a piano, on a guitar, on a kazoo, on his knees with a pair of spoons...but to your point, he didn't just say he "sang" it for Carl, so yes...Mike probably played it in rudimentary fashion on either piano or guitar, after which Carl did a proper arrangement on the guitar and demoed it as such, for presentation to the other guys.  After which Brian worked up the background vocal arrangement on the piano with Mike, as seen in the documentary a short time later.

[Pretty Funky]

.

[alf wiedersehen]

According to this article:
http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/08/10/i-thought-it-was-a-great-song-mike-love-on-the-newly-released-beach-boys-track-goin-to-the-beach/

Carl and Randy Bachman are the authors of this song.


Edit: I have misread it; Mike Love did indeed write this song.

[phirnis]

This is weird, doesn't feel like a Carl song at all, to me anyway. Both KTSA and especially Heartache are much better than this.

[runnersdialzero]

This is weird, doesn't feel like a Carl song at all, to me anyway. Both KTSA and especially Heartache are much better than this.

Man, Carl didn't write "Goin' To The Beach."