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Post by filledeplage on Jan 7, 2024 11:03:09 GMT -5
Thanks for the great video! I strongly dislike "Barbara Ann” but “The Little Girl I Once Knew" is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs, so it's great to have a bit of both in there. In defense of B-A...it is the first BB song you can teach a baby before they can even talk! 🎶 Watching them imitate the ba-ba-ba sounds while waving their arms in delight, at 6 months is just great!
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Post by jk on Jan 7, 2024 17:50:52 GMT -5
Thanks for the great video! I strongly dislike "Barbara Ann” but “The Little Girl I Once Knew" is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs, so it's great to have a bit of both in there. In defense of B-A...it is the first BB song you can teach a baby before they can even talk! 🎶 Watching them imitate the ba-ba-ba sounds while waving their arms in delight, at 6 months is just great! To each their own, FDP. Anyway, isn't it called "B-f-A" these days?
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Post by filledeplage on Jan 7, 2024 18:58:02 GMT -5
In defense of B-A...it is the first BB song you can teach a baby before they can even talk! 🎶 Watching them imitate the ba-ba-ba sounds while waving their arms in delight, at 6 months is just great! To each their own, FDP. Anyway, isn't it called "B-f-A" these days? Do you have grand children? Or know any small kids who can't talk yet and kids you want to have an introductory hand-shake with the BBs? Think you would teach them to sing Wild Honey? Or Sail on Sailor? Brian Wilson loves the heck out of Barbara Ann!
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Post by jk on Jan 8, 2024 3:45:01 GMT -5
To each their own, FDP. Anyway, isn't it called "B-f-A" these days? Do you have grand children? Or know any small kids who can't talk yet and kids you want to have an introductory hand-shake with the BBs? Think you would teach them to sing Wild Honey? Or Sail on Sailor? Brian Wilson loves the heck out of Barbara Ann! As do I (the 45). I do indeed have grandchildren, the youngest of whom is in the process of learning to talk. But I'd never force my musical tastes on anyone, let alone defenceless family members.
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Post by filledeplage on Jan 8, 2024 4:17:27 GMT -5
Do you have grand children? Or know any small kids who can't talk yet and kids you want to have an introductory hand-shake with the BBs? Think you would teach them to sing Wild Honey? Or Sail on Sailor? Brian Wilson loves the heck out of Barbara Ann! As do I (the 45). I do indeed have grandchildren, the youngest of whom is in the process of learning to talk. But I'd never force my musical tastes on anyone, let alone defenceless family members. In the US, I suppose it is part of the culture and music is a way of emphasizing and isolating early vowels and consonants. 4-0-9 was used as a commercial advertisement for a cleaning product in heavy rotation on television. Be True to Your School was even used fairly recently for the same, as a back-to-school advertisement, so it is unavoidable/inescapable in this environment. The BBs are no longer teen music confined to solo listening on radio, as they were in real time in the 60s, but integrated into everyday life. And yes, it is in the spectrum of my taste (as a teen) but has evolved into something bigger, not for teens. Full House, in real time was a program that all ages watched as a family. One morning a child came into my pre-kindergarten classroom singing "Aruba, Jamaica..." That was late 80's. She landed in the right classroom. They have appeared in scores of television programs so they are part of the television re-run culture as well. Kids get exposed to music on many levels and it is like children learning to hold a cloth baby book. And kids pick up on what music is on around them, in their sound-sphere, whether classical, jazz or rock or even hip hop. Kids learn sound, they learn rhythm to clap along to. It is all good. You can teach children almost anything to music. In my opinion, (both personal and professional) it is less brainwashing, and perhaps more influencing. And all music helps in language and other development. JMHO.
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Post by karmafrog on Jan 8, 2024 10:08:01 GMT -5
As do I (the 45). I do indeed have grandchildren, the youngest of whom is in the process of learning to talk. But I'd never force my musical tastes on anyone, let alone defenceless family members. In the US, I suppose it is part of the culture and music is a way of emphasizing and isolating early vowels and consonants. 4-0-9 was used as a commercial advertisement for a cleaning product in heavy rotation on television. Be True to Your School was even used fairly recently for the same, as a back-to-school advertisement, so it is unavoidable/inescapable in this environment. The BBs are no longer teen music confined to solo listening on radio, as they were in real time in the 60s, but integrated into everyday life. And yes, it is in the spectrum of my taste (as a teen) but has evolved into something bigger, not for teens. Full House, in real time was a program that all ages watched as a family. One morning a child came into my pre-kindergarten classroom singing "Aruba, Jamaica..." That was late 80's. She landed in the right classroom. They have appeared in scores of television programs so they are part of the television re-run culture as well. Kids get exposed to music on many levels and it is like children learning to hold a cloth baby book. And kids pick up on what music is on around them, in their sound-sphere, whether classical, jazz or rock or even hip hop. Kids learn sound, they learn rhythm to clap along to. It is all good. You can teach children almost anything to music. In my opinion, (both personal and professional) it is less brainwashing, and perhaps more influencing. And all music helps in language and other development. JMHO. Hits differently in different parts of the world, too. My unscientific observation is the best known Beach Boys song in southeast Asia is apparently "Kokomo." ("Cottonfields" is big too but I can't discern which version everyone is familiar with)
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Post by filledeplage on Jan 8, 2024 10:35:22 GMT -5
In the US, I suppose it is part of the culture and music is a way of emphasizing and isolating early vowels and consonants. 4-0-9 was used as a commercial advertisement for a cleaning product in heavy rotation on television. Be True to Your School was even used fairly recently for the same, as a back-to-school advertisement, so it is unavoidable/inescapable in this environment. The BBs are no longer teen music confined to solo listening on radio, as they were in real time in the 60s, but integrated into everyday life. And yes, it is in the spectrum of my taste (as a teen) but has evolved into something bigger, not for teens. Full House, in real time was a program that all ages watched as a family. One morning a child came into my pre-kindergarten classroom singing "Aruba, Jamaica..." That was late 80's. She landed in the right classroom. They have appeared in scores of television programs so they are part of the television re-run culture as well. Kids get exposed to music on many levels and it is like children learning to hold a cloth baby book. And kids pick up on what music is on around them, in their sound-sphere, whether classical, jazz or rock or even hip hop. Kids learn sound, they learn rhythm to clap along to. It is all good. You can teach children almost anything to music. In my opinion, (both personal and professional) it is less brainwashing, and perhaps more influencing. And all music helps in language and other development. JMHO. Hits differently in different parts of the world, too. My unscientific observation is the best known Beach Boys song in southeast Asia is apparently "Kokomo." ("Cottonfields" is big too but I can't discern which version everyone is familiar with) It was great that you mentioned that John Lennon loved the song (TLGIOK.) It has a lot of energy. Somewhere I remember reading that, but forget exactly where. And Andrew is correct in that it was released post Summer Days, but would have found a real home there. And as a new single was released of course it would start sliding down the charts so maybe it didn't get a fair shake. For the first time, I really heard The Beach Boys, with that song.
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Post by jk on Jan 8, 2024 13:04:25 GMT -5
In the US, I suppose it is part of the culture and music is a way of emphasizing and isolating early vowels and consonants. 4-0-9 was used as a commercial advertisement for a cleaning product in heavy rotation on television. Be True to Your School was even used fairly recently for the same, as a back-to-school advertisement, so it is unavoidable/inescapable in this environment. The BBs are no longer teen music confined to solo listening on radio, as they were in real time in the 60s, but integrated into everyday life. And yes, it is in the spectrum of my taste (as a teen) but has evolved into something bigger, not for teens. Full House, in real time was a program that all ages watched as a family. One morning a child came into my pre-kindergarten classroom singing "Aruba, Jamaica..." That was late 80's. She landed in the right classroom. They have appeared in scores of television programs so they are part of the television re-run culture as well. Kids get exposed to music on many levels and it is like children learning to hold a cloth baby book. And kids pick up on what music is on around them, in their sound-sphere, whether classical, jazz or rock or even hip hop. Kids learn sound, they learn rhythm to clap along to. It is all good. You can teach children almost anything to music. In my opinion, (both personal and professional) it is less brainwashing, and perhaps more influencing. And all music helps in language and other development. JMHO. Hits differently in different parts of the world, too. My unscientific observation is the best known Beach Boys song in southeast Asia is apparently "Kokomo." ( "Cottonfields" is big too but I can't discern which version everyone is familiar with) I recall Alan's new, "improved" "Cotton Fields" being a smash hit in the UK and, it would seem, almost everywhere except in the USA...
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bookofb
Grommet
Posts: 34
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Post by bookofb on Jan 8, 2024 18:38:44 GMT -5
This was a really good video on what seems to be a very complicated and pivotal time for Brian and the Beach Boys. So many things are going on in December of 1965... one thing I've always wondered about is the sequence of all these events (in no particular order):
- Release of "Little Girl I Once Knew"
- Brian hears Rubber Soul
- Brian rings up Tony Asher
- Brian's and Tony's first writing session (I'm assuming very early January?)
- Brian sees that "Little Girl I Once Knew" is not successful
- decision to release "Barbara Ann" as a single
Because to me "Little Girl I Once Knew" seems to be Brian's last stab to have it both ways and walk the line between band work and solo work; where he is still trying to create great studio music while purposefully writing on a teenage theme that he thinks is accessible and the kind of thing he and the Beach Boys are supposed to do, but obviously, not what he wants to do. (Because Pet Sounds is such a radical departure, thematically, from "Little Girl," "Barbara Ann," etc., and the turn was so quick)
Also, has anybody read The White Book by 1960s Capitol executive Ken Mansfield? Because in that book Mansfield says that the idea to put out "Barbara Ann" as a single was Brian's idea. And Mansfield is not pointing the finger at Brian for a bad decision, but admiring Brian's commercial instinct, from a business perspective. Mansfield says that he said to Brian, "you really want to put that out as a single?" and that Brian declared "it's the single" and walked out of the room. And Mansfield basically says "I was wrong" and "Brian was right" because he had the commercial instinct, which he admires.
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Post by karmafrog on Jan 8, 2024 22:59:18 GMT -5
Hits differently in different parts of the world, too. My unscientific observation is the best known Beach Boys song in southeast Asia is apparently "Kokomo." ( "Cottonfields" is big too but I can't discern which version everyone is familiar with) I recall Alan's new, "improved" "Cotton Fields" being a smash hit in the UK and, it would seem, almost everywhere except in the USA... Sorry, I wasn't clear. Obviously it would be Alan's version over Brian's if it was the Beach Boys' version at all...but I'm not sure whether it's their version or one of the other many cover versions that has been heard here. I've never been able to figure that out. I've heard it played by cover bands most often in Bali, and it was #1 in Australia, so I'd guess it was.
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Post by bessieboporbach on Jan 20, 2024 7:59:03 GMT -5
Hi everyone, pleased to share Episode 18 of PET SQUARES: A GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE BEACH BOYS. I think this is one of the best shows so far, covering side two of BEACH BOYS PARTY and a *very* deep dive into both "Barbara Ann" and the concurrent single "The Little Girl I Once Knew," including a breakdown of song vocal areas and the intro. Enjoy and share! Adam, I don't really have anything to add to your commentary here, but I wanted to say something: when Pet Squares rolled out, I was a bit skeptical of hour-long videos of a guy looking at the camera, telling me facts I was mostly familiar with about these albums. But I think I was five minutes into the first video when you won me over. These videos are increasingly full of new data I didn't know about, the natural good humor with which they are delivered is a delight, and your insights as someone who has performed this music, particularly into the vocals, are surprising and trenchant. Bravo! The long discussion of Little Girl here is exemplary. Every once in a while, you say something that raises my hackles as a long-time fan. But that's part of the fun, I think -- the way these videos balance the authority of knowledge with a personal voice.
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Post by karmafrog on Jan 20, 2024 8:23:08 GMT -5
Hi everyone, pleased to share Episode 18 of PET SQUARES: A GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE BEACH BOYS. I think this is one of the best shows so far, covering side two of BEACH BOYS PARTY and a *very* deep dive into both "Barbara Ann" and the concurrent single "The Little Girl I Once Knew," including a breakdown of song vocal areas and the intro. Enjoy and share! Adam, I don't really have anything to add to your commentary here, but I wanted to say something: when Pet Squares rolled out, I was a bit skeptical of hour-long videos of a guy looking at the camera, telling me facts I was mostly familiar with about these albums. But I think I was five minutes into the first video when you won me over. These videos are increasingly full of new data I didn't know about, the natural good humor with which they are delivered is a delight, and your insights as someone who has performed this music, particularly into the vocals, are surprising and trenchant. Bravo! The long discussion of Little Girl here is exemplary. Every once in a while, you say something that raises my hackles as a long-time fan. But that's part of the fun, I think -- the way these videos balance the authority of knowledge with a personal voice. Oh wow, thank you so much! You know I need to hear this sometimes, because I'm always thinking about how to improve the show. When I started doing the show one of the things I was thinking is "what do I have to offer that other analysis shows don't?" A lot of it is I've been both an uberfan and a musician that's played this stuff, but I'm also someone who has had an expansive music and non-music life outside the Beach Boys world, and so I think there's a place for a perspective that's a little facetious or knowingly irreverent about some of the wilder aspects of the band. There's also a lot of room to explain how the actual business of keeping rock bands going gets in the way of having our dreams fulfilled as fans. We fans as a whole tend to take ourselves very seriously, and analysts and historians even more so. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all, but since everyone else's got that covered I like the idea of having a looser, entertaining vibe while still hopefully being accurate and informative. I will say the more I do youTube videos, the more down the rabbit hole I go. They get better and better, but they also tend to get longer and take longer to get done.
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Post by bessieboporbach on Jan 20, 2024 9:29:08 GMT -5
Adam, I don't really have anything to add to your commentary here, but I wanted to say something: when Pet Squares rolled out, I was a bit skeptical of hour-long videos of a guy looking at the camera, telling me facts I was mostly familiar with about these albums. But I think I was five minutes into the first video when you won me over. These videos are increasingly full of new data I didn't know about, the natural good humor with which they are delivered is a delight, and your insights as someone who has performed this music, particularly into the vocals, are surprising and trenchant. Bravo! The long discussion of Little Girl here is exemplary. Every once in a while, you say something that raises my hackles as a long-time fan. But that's part of the fun, I think -- the way these videos balance the authority of knowledge with a personal voice. Oh wow, thank you so much! You know I need to hear this sometimes, because I'm always thinking about how to improve the show. When I started doing the show one of the things I was thinking is "what do I have to offer that other analysis shows don't?" A lot of it is I've been both an uberfan and a musician that's played this stuff, but I'm also someone who has had an expansive music and non-music life outside the Beach Boys world, and so I think there's a place for a perspective that's a little facetious or knowingly irreverent about some of the wilder aspects of the band. There's also a lot of room to explain how the actual business of keeping rock bands going gets in the way of having our dreams fulfilled as fans. We fans as a whole tend to take ourselves very seriously, and analysts and historians even more so. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all, but since everyone else's got that covered I like the idea of having a looser, entertaining vibe while still hopefully being accurate and informative. I will say the more I do youTube videos, the more down the rabbit hole I go. They get better and better, but they also tend to get longer and take longer to get done. I think there's basically no-one who balances discussion of the way the vocal harmonies interact with the instrumental arrangements better than you're doing right now. A lot of Beach Boys analysis focuses on one or the other, often with extreme and admirable depth, but you combine them with an awareness of the key element of *performance*, and that's what makes the substance of your videos special. The integration of the history is judicious as well. The irreverence you mention keeps things from getting too abstract!
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