William N. Law Blog: Anatomy: 'Good Vibrations'

Monday, September 12, 2016

Anatomy: 'Good Vibrations'

Yesterday, my "Anatomy of a Song" column on the writing and recording of the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations was posted online at WSJ.com. To read the column, go here—or visit my Twitter feed (Marc Myers @ JazzWax) or Facebook page (Marc JazzWax Myers) and click on the link there, which bypasses the WSJ paywall and lets you read it for free.

At the tail end of July, I few out to Los Angeles, rented a car and drove four hours north to Paso Robles, the location of the California Mid-State Fair. The landscape driving up was bone dry while the temperature topped out at 106. I was on my way to interview Brian Wilson and Al Jardine of the Beach Boys for the column. The interview was set to take place the afternoon before their Pet Sounds concert that evening at the fair.

I've interviewed Brian several times over the years, once at his house in L.A. I like Brian. He's gone through a lot, but deep down he's still the imaginative, hard-charging producer and singer-songwriter of the 1960s. Just older. But aren't we all.

I had 20 minutes with Brian (above) alone in his air-conditioned trailer and then Al joined us for another 20 minutes. Al is a relaxed, easy-going guy. We talked about the writing and recording of Good Vibrations, which will celebrate its 50-year anniversary on Oct. 10. That night, I watched from the side of the stage as Brian, Al and the band worked through the entire Pet Sounds album along with hits including Good Vibrations. The image that's still seared in my mind is watching Brian at the piano singing I Just Wasn't Made for These Times as the neon of the rides twirled and twinkled in the background and beach balls were smacked from row to row by the audience. It was a pure summer visual.

When I returned to New York, I interviewed Mike Love (above), who wrote the lyrics or Good Vibrations, as well as Tony Asher, who wrote the song's original set of lyrics along with the lyrics for mot of the songs on Pet Sounds. I also interviewed Wrecking Crew musicians Hal Blaine, Don Randi and Tommy Morgan. All I can say is it was a heck of lot of fun working hard.

JazzWax notes: If you haven't done so already, please support my efforts at JazzWax by pre-ordering a copy of my new book, Anatomy of a Song, due out Nov. 1. You can pre-order in the US here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.

Also, I just finished building out my new book site, AnatomyOfASong.com, where you can hear all 45 songs covered in my book on a Spotify jukebox. Go here.

JazzWax clip: Here's rare footage of the Beach Boys working through Good Vibrations in the summer of 1966...