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Post by jk on Sept 6, 2023 5:03:19 GMT -5
I'm still wrestling with the "Happy Organ"--"Shortenin' Bread" connection. Which version of "Bread" might Brian have heard? Maybe it was the one by bass-baritone Paul Robeson, which I recall hearing in the fifties:
That would explain the chorus being sung in a low register. Maybe he also knew of Paul Chaplain's rock and roll version, a minor hit in 1960:
Other bass voice solos that might have played a part are Richard Berry's lead on The Robins' "Riot In Cell Block #9" and Fred Johnson's bizarre bass burblings on The Marcels' "Blue Moon".
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2023 7:43:20 GMT -5
I've spent lots of time swirling Shortnin' Bread around in my head. Yes, Happy Organ has a snatch of it. I'm sure Brian caught that. I hear the influence of that record and Let's Dance (Chris Monetez) and Johnny & The Hurricanes in his early organ style. I think the Dave "Baby" Cortez record may have helped inspire him but the incessance of the underlying riff/groove in the Beach Boys record tells me that he might have based his idea on something else. Perhaps a song with an incessant groove, inspired by Shortnin' Bread: Joe Liggins THE HONEYDRIPPER. It came out on the Hollywood based label, Exclusive in 1945. It was a huge hit and it did crossover, at least regionally. Lots of the sales had to be due to jukebox play in clubs, bars and diners. My aunt played boogie woogie piano. The Honeydripper was in her repetoire. My mom and uncle were not piano players but even they learned rudimentary versions of it. That tune fit right in with songs like Flat Foot Floogie and Beat Me Daddy (Eight To The Bar) and TD's Boogie Woogie. Listen to the original Exclusive version. Right after about 2:30 you will hear the interplay of the piano figure and the two saxophones. There, they outline Shortnin' Bread. As for the rhythm track for The Beach Boys version...well, that would be a very long and complicated discussion. What I will say is that Brian had been developing that riff/groove for a number of years, over a number of songs, starting in 1966.
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Post by jk on Nov 9, 2023 17:15:36 GMT -5
Percy Faith's instrumental version of "Theme From 'A Summer Place'" was all over the airwaves in 1960, so it can't possibly have escaped Brian's attention, glued to the radio as he was. The French horn line introduced when the melody is repeated could very well have been the inspiration for the famous motif for that instrument, glissando and all, in "God Only Knows". Again, the track modulates by stepping down in semitones from G Major to E Major, an effect Brian uses in "The Rocking Surfer". Lastly, there are the pizzicato passages which might have prompted Brian's use of this technique in "The Surfer Moon", and maybe even the imitation pizzicato violins at the end of "The Rocking Surfer". All speculation, of course.  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_from_A_Summer_Place |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2023 18:59:49 GMT -5
Percy Faith's instrumental version of "Theme From 'A Summer Place'" was all over the airwaves in 1960, so it can't possibly have escaped Brian's attention, glued to the radio as he was.... Again, the track modulates by stepping down in semitones from G Major to E Major, an effect Brian uses in "The Rocking Surfer".... Well, Rockin' Surfer is all about Johnny & The Hurricanes!..Check out Reveille Rock. They are the model. |
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Post by jk on Nov 12, 2023 15:47:23 GMT -5
Percy Faith's instrumental version of "Theme From 'A Summer Place'" was all over the airwaves in 1960, so it can't possibly have escaped Brian's attention, glued to the radio as he was.... Again, the track modulates by stepping down in semitones from G Major to E Major, an effect Brian uses in "The Rocking Surfer".... Well, Rockin' Surfer is all about Johnny & The Hurricanes!..Check out Reveille Rock. They are the model. Yes! Modulation and all. Thanks, Steve.  |
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Post by jk on Dec 11, 2023 3:36:19 GMT -5
"Walk Like A Man" pops up again, albeit briefly, on a Beach Boys song in "The Night Was So Young" at the line "Why she had to li-yi-yie". Frankie Valli sings about "dirty li-yies" during the first verse of The Four Seasons' third consecutive US #1: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_Like_a_Man_(The_Four_Seasons_song) |
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