The Beach Boys performing TV show theme "Karen" (opening, closing credits), 1964 (see post 141)!

Wow! That's unbelievably awful! "She can even write a book report!!"

 

From the TV show "Karen" 1964-1965

Written by Jack Marshall & Bob Mosher. Duchess Music Corporation BMI. Courtesy of Universal Television, a division of University City Studios, Inc.

From the liner notes:

The Beach Boys were one of the hottest bands in America when they were induced to record the soundtrack theme for this NBC teen sitcom, which premiered on Monday night in October 1964. It didn't help. Both the show and the theme quickly disappeared into the realm of pop culture trivia, with the theme being heard here for the first time in 30 years.

Energetic Debbie Watson played 16 year old Karen, who was constantly confounding her tolerant parants, Steve and Barbara, and upstaging (and being upstaged by) her bomboyish younger sis' Mimi, in their sunny Southern California home. Their apartment complex, 90 Bristol Court, just happened to be the setting for two other concurrent sitcoms, Harris Against the World (with Jack Klugman) and Tom, Dick and Mary. The three shows ran back to back in a 90-minute block, which at least represented unique scheduling, if not content. All of them were gone by the end of the season, but winsome Ms. Watson was back the following year as the title teenager in ABC's Tammy, which also had a one-season run. Then, after a few minor film and TV appearances, she laughed and giggled her way off to the Land of Lost TV Stars.

This theme song in all it's sonic glory is on the CD Television's Greatest Hits Black White Classics Volume 4. This is also available from the way out of print M&M CD compilation from Japan Brian Wilson Still I Dream of It, which sounds like a cassette tape dub from tv.

 

That's what Mike said/sang. I guess to him that was amazing considering "You know I can't read" from the "Party!" album!

 

The same song has appeared on at least two Surfaris comps I know of so it seems they might have had an official release of it in 1965.

Dale

 

They held this back and put "Bull Session with Big Daddy" on TODAY? Those crazy kids!

 

Karen? Dunno, especially since there must have been some better choices they had floating around...All Dressed Up For School, Graduation Day, The Monkey's Uncle (with Annette) all would have been OK for the final track if you ask me. Weren't there even more tracks laying around? I remember I Do as one of those bonus tracks from one of the CDs...

Dale

 

And a hot dog made Patty Lane lose control! Those darn teenage girls on 60s sitcoms!

I remember this series, and I have always remembered the Beach Boys singing the theme song. I hope someone here knows who wrote it!

 

No, I wouldn't say awful at all. Album worthy? Probably not. But the Beach Boys could have read the phone book back then and made it sound good! The vocals are very good, no surprise there.

 

I sgree that Karen is a nice lightweight song, but there were better unreleased songs that could have been Today! tracks.

Karen was officially? released on Still I Dream Of You – Rare Works of Brian Wilson
M&M MMCD-409, 1993 Japan. This is an unauthorized release but legal under the lax laws in Japan at the time. It's an unlisted bonus track and may not be complete.

Lyrics are by Jack Marshall and show producer Bob Mosher.

 

It saddens me a bit, to think that all those cute young TV girls
and dancers on Shindig and Hullabaloo shows of the '60's
are now in their 60's!

Look! Grandma! You're on TV!

Like when Dawn Wells was arrested recently,
"Marianne" is 69 ???

Where did the time go ?

 

I'm sorry but Marianne and "69" in the same sentence breaks some kind of forum rule!

 

I love that track... Did you master the Annette set, though? (i.e. Is there a Hoffman-mastered Monkey's Uncle around?) All I have is the version (in stereo) from the CLASSIC DISNEY series.

 

Didn't this same topic come up a while back? I think so, 'cause I ended up with a copy of the TV Greatest Hits. Thanks to a helpful forum member. I didn't think I'd ever hear this again. Some how I managed to lose my Surfari's 45 before the end of the 60's.

 

There's an acetate from Western Recorders that sold at auction last year...

http://entertainment.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=647&Lot_No=22192&src=pr#Photo

 

I thought about that after I posted,
but Hey! Let's loosen our neck ties,
and take a walk on the wild side.
Shall we?

 

Would'nt the length be similar to the Surfaris version?

 

If it was done for the TV show, I wouldn't think there'd be a long version.... perhaps it just doesn't have a fade?

 

I wonder if this is mentioned in Keith Badman's BEACH BOYS book... I have it handy, let me check.

 

I have it somewhere. I'll try to find it.

 

As a sidenote of trivia, the Universal City emblem music was co-composed by the master of quirky lounge music, Esquivel, along with Stanley Wilson, music supervisor at Universal TV at the time.

 

Nope... the session is nowhere to be found in the book. Maybe it was just mixed at Western and recorded somewhere else?