'Do It Again' vs. 'It's OK' - Which Is Better?

[Manchini]

Do It Again is one the Beach Boys last great songs, and has poignancy and beauty and involves genuine creativity.  It's OK is just moronic juvenillia. Kokomo is better. Surely no-one on the board seriously thinks there is any comparison between these two songs?

Melodically and harmonically, "Do It Again" isn't really more creative or dynamic than "It's OK."  Maybe the middle section of "Do It Again" scores it some more points as a composition... But ultimately, yeah, I'd say there is a comparison between the two songs.  And I enjoy "It's OK" equally, if not more, because I think the production is interesting too.

[Mr. Cohen]

Better yet, how do these two songs compare to "Child of Winter"? I'd say negatively.

[Manchini]

Better yet, how do these two songs compare to "Child of Winter"? I'd say negatively.

I agree.

[brother john]

Its partly about art. DIA is a piece of art, and Its OK and CoW  are just product. Did anyone involved in Its OK and CoW really care about how either song turned out? Certainly they lack the spirit of creativity and joy that DIA is full of. Come on guys...

[Mr. Cohen]

What? Brother John, are you crazy? Brian loves, loves, loves, Christmas (Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You is his favorite album of all-time), and you can hear his exuberance for the holiday on "Child of Winter". That song was not just product! Have you ever really listened to that song's arrangement? It's out of this world! He even takes the time to throw in part of "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)", which was already a Christmas standard by that point.

[Foster's Freeze]

Do It Again is one the Beach Boys last great songs, and has poignancy and beauty and involves genuine creativity.  It's OK is just moronic juvenillia. Kokomo is better. Surely no-one on the board seriously thinks there is any comparison between these two songs?

Kokomo is better than It's O.K.?

If we're talking moronic juvenillia then Kokomo shares the blue ribbon.

[brother john]

What? Brother John, are you crazy? Brian loves, loves, loves, Christmas (Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You is his favorite album of all-time), and you can hear his exuberance for the holiday on "Child of Winter". That song was not just product! Have you ever really listened to that song's arrangement? It's out of this world! He even takes the time to throw in part of "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)", which was already a Christmas standard by that point.

Yeah, I love Christmas too, and I've just re-listened to CoW again and its still a crock. Take away the sleigh bells and what have you got? Its like a Love You reject.

I don't really understand how anyone could not distinguish the enormous difference in quality in output between the BB's early career (to 70, 72) and the drek they produced (with a few notable exceptions) from the mid seventies to the end of their career. Don't get me wrong, there are things I love on every album they produced, but this is often for fond reasons of nostalgia. I know there are many who disagree with me, but LA Light Album was a high point in an otherwise sparse and unforgiving half of the decade, and the last thing they produced that wasn't basically cringeworthy.

You cannot usefully compare Its OK or CoW with anything from '65 to 70. Certainly by 1972 it was all over.

[Mr. Cohen]

Hey, I can understand the viewpoint that a lot of what was done after '72 doesn't compare to what was done before, but don't you touch my "Child of Winter"! If you take away the sleigh bells, I'll tell you what you'd hear: more of the intricate arrangement that is buried beneath the sleigh bells. Don't underestimate the song because of the weird synthesizers, which is Brian doing his own Switched on Bach. It's just like how people get fooled by the easygoing instrumentation of Friends, calling it a simpler album musically, or minimalist. Even at it's most minimalist, the songs on Friends were still at least as complex as almost any song on Rubber Soul. I'm of the persuasion that Brian couldn't really make a bad song when actually tried... well... at least until the 80s.

Just check out the chords during the "here comes Santa Claus" bit. Safe to say, it's a little more complex than what Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman originally envisioned.

[Mr. Cohen]

Seriously, look at this:

Eb..................Eb6...............Ebmaj7.........Eb6................Bb7
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane
..........................................................................Eb.......Eb6......Eb7
Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer are pulling on the reins
Ab............Bb...........Gm7.......C7.........Fm7....Bb7...........Eb.....Eb7
Bells are ringing, children singing, all is merry and bright
Ab.................Bb....................Gm7.........C7.....................Fm7...............Bb7..........Eb....F6
Hang your stockings and say your prayers 'cause Santa Claus comes tonight

I just about had to change my diapers after that.

[slothrop]

I love Child of Winter. It is utterly baffling to me; and I've never heard anything that sounds as inventive and demented at the same time. Strange how it's hardly ever mentioned but (I think) this was Brian's first solo production since "Add Some Music"...what a change in such a short time.

[brother john]

Seriously, look at this:

Eb..................Eb6...............Ebmaj7.........Eb6................Bb7
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane
..........................................................................Eb.......Eb6......Eb7
Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer are pulling on the reins
Ab............Bb...........Gm7.......C7.........Fm7....Bb7...........Eb.....Eb7
Bells are ringing, children singing, all is merry and bright
Ab.................Bb....................Gm7.........C7.....................Fm7...............Bb7..........Eb....F6
Hang your stockings and say your prayers 'cause Santa Claus comes tonight

I just about had to change my diapers after that.

Yeah, but its not really, its just

Eb......................................................................,................................Bb7
Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus Lane
..................................................................Eb..........................
Vixen and Blitzen and all his reindeer are pulling on the reins



and all the rest of the section is just completely standard too:

Ab............Bb...........Gm7.......C7.........Fm7....Bb7...........Eb.....Eb7
Bells are ringing, children singing, all is merry and bright
Ab.................Bb....................Gm7.........C7.....................Fm7...............Bb7..........Eb....F6
Hang your stockings and say your prayers 'cause Santa Claus comes tonight


This is Landy-quality songwriting and the chord progs are straight off the shelf.

I have no issue with anyone liking it at all, I just maintain that its banal when compared to what BW and the BBs were writing before it all went bad.

[Mr. Cohen]

I'm going to ask you politely now, back away from "Child of Winter", put both hands behind your head. Now, I'm going to read you your rights.

But in all seriousness, except for the bridge, "Do It Again" is just a three chord rock song. "Child of Winter", from a chord perspective, is Mozart compared to that. Now, granted, "Do It Again" has a great arrangement (some of Brian's best arrangements, in my mind, happened when he was forced to work with simpler chords, like on "Sloop John B"), but in my mind so does "Child of Winter".  While "Do It Again" has a more complex vocal arrangement, I'd say that "Child of Winter" has a more complex instrumental arrangement.

Brian's instrumental arrangements at the time were bonkers.  While I don't think "Battle Hymn of the Republic" works as a pop song, I have to give it points as an instrumental. What's crazy is that those two tracks give one the indication that Brian must have spent a significant amount of time figuring out how to arrange with those weird synthesizers. He couldn't have just pulled that off out of nowhere, right (or could he?)? You heard him experiment with synthesizers on Holland, but it was nothing in comparison to his '74 style in terms of sheer inventive weirdness. It's a shame we only got two songs out of that style, maybe three if you want to count "It's OK" (which was started in '74 but wasn't finished; while it has those synthesizer sounds, it doesn't have the complex craziness on top that Brian would've probably added in '74).

[brother john]

Ha ha, ok Dada, point taken - I don't want to get too up close and personal about a favourite of yours (well done for retaining your good humour...) - for my part I'm very attached to Just Once in My Life, which everyone else seems to hate and which, apart from Had to Phona Ya, is the only track worth listening to on 15BO.

I've now listened to CoW more times than I ever would have if it wasn't for your insistence on its greatness. OK, it has a busy arrangement, but its not that great in my view, and the chords are simplistic in the extreme. Don't be fooled by the chord charts, all the 6s and M7s are just artistic license on the part of the chart maker (F Green, I presume?) and really just an interpretation of the ascending line in the background, and the rest of that section (Bells are ringing etc.) is just a standard progression that's been used in literally hundreds, if not thousands, of songs, as has the autistic Bb > Gm progression that dominates the rest of the song.

I guess there's no right and wrong here: you love it and I think its a piece of wank. I'll concede it has a certain joie de vivre, and yes Brian was having fun with those synthesizers, but...

Happy listening 

[mikeyj]

for my part I'm very attached to Just Once in My Life, which everyone else seems to hate and which, apart from Had to Phona Ya, is the only track worth listening to on 15BO.

Actually I am a HUGE fan of Just Once In My Life and from memory so is The Heartical Don and maybe one or two others.

[grillo]

for my part I'm very attached to Just Once in My Life, which everyone else seems to hate and which, apart from Had to Phona Ya, is the only track worth listening to on 15BO.

Actually I am a HUGE fan of Just Once In My Life and from memory so is The Heartical Don and maybe one or two others.

Count me in, though I also love It's Ok, making 15 Big Ones a three-good-songs kinda album, not just two. Frankly, I usually just add these songs to Love You (minus Good Time) with half a dozen from Adult Child and call it the best BB album(s) since PS.

[brother john]

for my part I'm very attached to Just Once in My Life, which everyone else seems to hate and which, apart from Had to Phona Ya, is the only track worth listening to on 15BO.

Actually I am a HUGE fan of Just Once In My Life and from memory so is The Heartical Don and maybe one or two others.

Count me in, though I also love It's Ok, making 15 Big Ones a three-good-songs kinda album, not just two. Frankly, I usually just add these songs to Love You (minus Good Time) with half a dozen from Adult Child and call it the best BB album(s) since PS.

grillo, you're a crazy guy. 

[Mr. Cohen]

Hey, I like "Just Once In My Life", too. The instrumental version is amazing (and is on Youtube if you look for it). You can't really hear some of the brilliant little touches Brian put into the instrumental on the released version. I also really, really love that little snippet of "Tallahassee Lassie" that Brian slips into to "Talk to Me". "Had to Phone Ya" has some nice moments but it doesn't sound like Brian had thought the track all of the way through. It sounds unfinished.  I have a soft spot for "Rock and Roll Music" (especially that mix on The Brother Years/Greatest Hits Vol. 3) and "Back Home". And, hell, while I'm at, I think that their cover of "Palisades Park" is better than the original IMO. So, that's about half an album right there. I guess I'm turning into a real fanboy.

[Wirestone]

15 Big Ones is a misunderstood album, let down by its (lack of) concept. Individually, most of the tracks have something to commend them. Well, except for "A Casual Look."

And as for the choice offered by the subject --

"Do It Again" is, like it or not, a classic BB tune (let down by a cruddy mix). "It's Okay" is more interesting to me musically, but it seems lyrically forced.

[Andrew G. Doe]

for my part I'm very attached to Just Once in My Life, which everyone else seems to hate and which, apart from Had to Phona Ya, is the only track worth listening to on 15BO.

Actually I am a HUGE fan of Just Once In My Life and from memory so is The Heartical Don and maybe one or two others.

Me, me !!

[Emdeeh]

"Just Once in My Life" -- with that killer Carl vocal?! Oh yeah, count me in as a fan, as well. 

[LetHimRun]

I prefer Do It Again, though I do like It's OK.

[Smilin Ed H]

Do It Again.  It's Okay, with those awful lyrics, isn't even in the same league.

[buddhahat]

I don't mind It's Ok but I agree that Do It Again is in another league, especially that floaty middle eight - that is peak Brian Wilson genius. I think this is the last really great Mike/Brian collaboration inasmuch as it ticks all the boxes both creatively and commercially.

[Mahalo]

Do It Again...no contest

[Smilin Ed H]

Count me in for Just Once in My Life