the Sly Stone / Beach Boys connection

[b00ts]

The parallels between Sly Stone and Brian Wilson are obvious; I have seen Stone referred to as "the black Brian Wilson;" his drug problems and withdrawal from music mirror Brian's in many ways.

Whilst reading a book about Sly and the Family Stone recently (I want to take you Higher) I found a direct connection between Sly Stone and The Beach Boys.  Sly covered "Que Sera Sera" in the mid-1970s and was rumored to be dating Doris Day; in reality, he never dated her, but was friends with her son, Terry Melcher, and had met her once or twice, which resulted in him covering the song on his 1973 LP, Fresh.

So, perhaps the cover of Hot Fun in the Summertime on The Beach Boys' Magnum Opus, Summer In Paradise, was Terry Melcher's way of saying "hi" to Sly.

Bye!

[Exapno Mapcase]

I thought he sponged money off Brian for drugs.

[buddhahat]

I have never listened to SIP an didn't realise the BB had covered Hot Fun In The Summertime. It's one of my favourite Sly songs! I won't hold my breath though ...

I find a lot of Sly's poppier songs reminiscent of Bacharach and similar to BW's writing in that aspect. Songs such as Running Away for instance and the aforementioned Hot Fun.

[Aegir]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqRKTKSYCiE

^^Here it is. I heard the Beach Boys version of Hot Fun in the Summertime (one of my favorite songs on the album, in fact) before I heard the Sly and the Family Stone version, and Sly's version sounds weird and off to me, so I guess that means the Beach Boys version wasn't a very good cover.

[buddhahat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqRKTKSYCiE

^^Here it is. I heard the Beach Boys version of Hot Fun in the Summertime (one of my favorite songs on the album, in fact) before I heard the Sly and the Family Stone version, and Sly's version sounds weird and off to me, so I guess that means the Beach Boys version wasn't a very good cover.

Hey thanks for posting that, but what a terrible video. It starts out as soft porn and ends like a Werther's Originals ad - lots of old men hanging with the grandkids. Possibly the worst video I've ever seen, actually. The video equivalent of having a wank and having your grandma burst in on you. Well done Beach Boys!

[b00ts]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqRKTKSYCiE

^^Here it is. I heard the Beach Boys version of Hot Fun in the Summertime (one of my favorite songs on the album, in fact) before I heard the Sly and the Family Stone version, and Sly's version sounds weird and off to me, so I guess that means the Beach Boys version wasn't a very good cover.

Thanks a lot. Now I don't want to live anymore.

Certainly one of the cheesiest videos ever made, and yes, the cover struck me as odd the first time I deigned to listen to it. Carl sounds good on it, but the dopey synthetic snare sounds and autotuned vocals just kill it for me -- other than that, the vocal blend is quite nice, if robotic-sounding.

Then again, by those criteria, the cover could be a big hit in the musical climate of 2009.

Is it true that Sly grubbed money off of Brian? My understanding is that throughout the 1970s, Sly was quite well off, only really hitting bottom in the 80s and 90s... but information about him is sketchy. He has recently begun staging a Brian Wilson-style comeback, except that Sly's behavior these past few years has been quite a bit more erratic than Brian's.

Here's hoping he releases some new music soon.

[phirnis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqRKTKSYCiE

^^Here it is. I heard the Beach Boys version of Hot Fun in the Summertime (one of my favorite songs on the album, in fact) before I heard the Sly and the Family Stone version, and Sly's version sounds weird and off to me, so I guess that means the Beach Boys version wasn't a very good cover.

I didn't know Bruce could play the sax, too. 
Stamos looks like he was going to audition for Bon Jovi later that day...

[A Million Units In Jan!]

I don't understand how anyone in their right mind could look make a video like that and hope that people would like it.

[chris.metcalfe]

Can someone tell me which Sly album the long version of Hot Fun is on? Thanks

[Aegir]

There's a long version?

[b00ts]

Can someone tell me which Sly album the long version of Hot Fun is on? Thanks

It was originally released as a single, and is on "The Essential Sly & The Family Stone." The first album it appeared on was the group's 1970 Greatest hits.

[Sheriff John Stone]

There's a long version?

One version is about 2:37 and the other clocks in at about 3:03

[MBE]

I heard Hot Fun on the radio in 1992 with a special Mike Love intro for the station. It sounded good to me then, but the video did kind of wreck it for me. The Stamos Forever video made it worse too. I finally got the vinyl of sip in about 2003 or so and it does sound a little less sterile but not enough to save it. Still it is one of the better cuts on the album without that meaning much of course.

[Smilin Ed H]

"...well, the fucking truth was that Sly Stone and Terry Melcher and all those people were hitting on him [Brian] for like $1,500 a week so they could score coke, okay... he could not say no to people who have really heavy habits. The fucking vipers." - Carl Wilson in an interview with Timothy White, reprinted in Abbott's Back to the Beach.

[Bean Bag]

Funny ...I was just reading about this story (Sly Stone/Brian Wilson) in Heroes and Villains this morning!  Weird.  I didn't mention how they met or anything, just that Sly was using him to score coke.  I thought to myself... "wuh?  Did I read that right?  Brian was a supplier to the stars!"

I also read something about how (I think in 1969) after Murray sold the catalog, that Brian rewrote all, or many, of their hits with new lyrics and recorded a demo of them on piano?  Where the flunk is that tape!

[hypehat]

Funny ...I was just reading about this story (Sly Stone/Brian Wilson) in Heroes and Villains this morning!  Weird.  I didn't mention how they met or anything, just that Sly was using him to score coke.  I thought to myself... "wuh?  Did I read that right?  Brian was a supplier to the stars!"

I also read something about how (I think in 1969) after Murray sold the catalog, that Brian rewrote all, or many, of their hits with new lyrics and recorded a demo of them on piano?  Where the flunk is that tape!

That was done with Brian, Tandyn Almer (?) and Stanley Shapiro, turned down by a record label (can't remember which one - they liked what they heard until someone mentioned it was Brian Wilson, and they dismissed it outright because they thought he'd be 'pitching circus tents on the lot'), they took it home, left it by Brians piano.... never to be seen again    One of the songs done was 'Passing By', i know that much, someone else might help me out.

[Bean Bag]

Oh man!  That tape, if it still exists, IS A FREGGIN GOLD MINE!

Or at least I would assume it would be.  I also think they rewrote "Don't Worry Baby."  The goal being to remove all the surf and car lyrics and replace them with more contemporary and "re-recordable for other artists" subject matter.  If I may... 

409Baby O' Mine
"She's real fine...my baby o' mine!"
etc...