[Today: The beach goes on forever...]
Beaches, babes, boards, waves, hotrods, and long summer days. The world of the early Beach Boys’ singles was a simple, sun-drenched place that harkened back to the wholesome fun of the 1950’s, when teenagers “went steady” and getting high merely involved climbing up on a wave. This was archetypal, mythological America, where manifest destiny led to golden shores full of tanned, smiling people who peed sunshine and farted rainbows.
Quite frankly, the culture depicted within this music bores me. I thank my lucky stars that California isn’t the vanilla place that’s described here, and it likely never was. But in spite of the sell-by date on some of its subject matter, The Beach Boys’ music contains a secret ingredient that helps it resonate through the ages – namely, the genius of Brian Wilson. One of the most gifted songwriters of his generation, Wilson constructed three-minute symphonies about teenage summer dreams, and even if the details of those dreams have morphed through the ages, the spirit behind them – freedom, happiness, and love – hasn’t changed much at all.
Implicit within every upbeat Beach Boys tune is the death of happiness, the setting of the sun, the end of summer. From ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ to ‘I Get Around’ to ‘California Girls’, the songs compiled here are invitations to grab hold of every minute and wring the fun from it – ride that wave, kiss that girl, rev that engine, squeeze that lemon – because these times will never pass this way again, and when they’re gone, they’re gone for good. In various interviews, Brian Wilson has talked about the “eternal now” and his songs ride the breaking wave of an ever-active present. People actually do stuff in Beach Boys songs, and even if it ain’t my kind of fun, it sure does sound like summer…
Listen: I Get Around
Listen: Good Vibrations
Listen: California Girls
