Some Songs Considered

“Hang On to Your Ego” – Frank Black 
(Words/music: Tony Asher and Brian Wilson, available on Frank Black, 4AD / Elektra 1993) 

Maybe it’s the fatigue of a long work week setting in, but I can’t really think of a lot of Beach Boys cover songs.  Yo La Tengo fuzzed their way through the surfy “Little Honda” and Petra Haden gave “God Only Knows” a beautifully multitracked a capella treatment a few years ago, and there’s Frank Black’s cover posted above.  I’m sure there’s more, and I’m sure you can point me in their direction.  There’s plenty of love and respect for the Beach Boys out there, but not a lot of cover songs it seems.  I wonder if this comes from a respect for the recordings just as much as the songs.  Perhaps the vocal harmonies seem daunting, and an attempt to perform the song might not feel right without the expanded instrumentation.  

Perhaps Black’s choice of song – a slightly obscure one – makes this cover more effective than others.  “Hang On to Your Ego” became Pet Sounds’  “I Know There’s an Answer” after a lyric change to scrub the song of any potential references to Brian Wilson’s experiments with hallucinogens.  Frank Black’s version hums along with pulsating synthesizers and breaks only for his distorted guitar.  The heavier instrumentation gives the song a little bite and Black’s general tone even gives the song this strange diabolical feeling – one appropriate for a song that hits at losing one’s mind.  Regardless, Black’s cover works for me, and it might be because I’m more familiar with the Beach Boys’ “I Know There’s an Answer.”  In a way, Black grabbed onto a Beach Boys song that wasn’t already tied up in their mythology, sensing enough room for his interpretation to exist.

More on Frank Black: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

“Surf’s Up” – Brian Wilson
(Words/music: Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson, available on Smile, Nonesuch 2004) 

Brian Wilson’s rerecorded Smile, one of popular music’s greatest “lost albums,” came out right around the same time that I started to look at the Beach Boys as more than a kitchy’60s act.  I have a vivid memory driving around northern Rhode Island trying to match a washer for a drum set, listening to late period Beach Boys albums and discussing the efficiency in the arrangements with a friend of mine.  I asked him about Smile and he gave me the run through of unofficial sequences and alternate recordings, rattling off a few of the songs he thought I’d know, almost stopping cold on some major road when I looked back blankly at “Surf’s Up.” 

Now, I regularly listen to Wilson’s piano demo of “Surf’s Up” from the Good Vibrations box and marvel at the way he threads the song’s different sections together.  I’ve never really focused on the lyrics, so I’ve let Wilson’s voice and the different, often overlapping, melodies wash over me.  When I first heard Smile, I was curious to hear how “Surf’s Up” would sound decades later.  Remarkably, it sounds like the original with a little more shine on it.  The harmonies are flawless and perfectly balanced with each other, but it still comes down to Wilson and his piano.  His voice, particularly in every television performance I’ve seen over the last six years, feels worn both by age and by decades of demons, but when paired with one of his melodies, it sounds as arresting as ever.  Certainly as captivating as it sounded that one night stopped dead in traffic somewhere in Rhode Island.

More on Brian Wilson: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” – The Beach Boys
(Words/music: Tony Asher, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson, available on Pet Sounds, Capitol 1966)

Right now, when I think of Pet Sounds I’m drawn in to the tone of the bass guitar.  All over this album, the bass resonates in such a full-bodied way that it’s impossible to ignore.  Maybe it’s from spending the better part of my life listening to songs with over-compressed or underplayed bass lines, but these songs gain a sense of depth from having such a rich lower end of the sound spectrum.  If nothing else, this is a bass sound worthy of these meticulously arranged compositions.

Of course, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” isn’t great because of its bass sound.  It gets some of its bounce from the bass, but as a whole it radiates with relentless sweetness.  Brian Wilson crafts his own Spector-ian wall of sound by stacking melodic bricks on top of the opening drum beat.  Ultimately, it’s the lyrics that make this bright sounding pop sound feel sincere.  It’s a simple statement of desire to be with a loved one and looking forward to the day when it becomes a possibility rather than a pipe dream.  Sure, it’s not as simple as the song suggests, but it’s a refreshing look at the simplicity of love.  When the world starts to seem more complex, it’s these beacons of love that bring us back to the place where out world feels as cheery and hopeful as this song.

Songs like “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” also remind me of Jenny.  Today’s her birthday, and dedicating such a beautiful song to her is the least I can do to thank her for making me understand songs like this one.  Happy birthday, dude!

More on The Beach Boys: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm