A Cork on the Ocean: Beach Boys and Wilson Brothers song-by-song

Today’s song is “She's My Summer Girl”, written by Jan Berry, Don Altfeld and Brian Wilson. Produced and arranged by Jan Berry Engineered by Chuck Britz.

Jan & Dean – She's My Summer Girl Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Background:
Don Altfeld was a lyricist who often collaborated with Jan Berry. Don said that he and Jan started the song and wasn’t around when Brian added "whatever he added".

Phil Lambert thinks that “She's My Summer Girl” might have been a “dialogue" song with Phil Spector, as parts of it recall the then-current “Da Doo Ron Ron”, which Brian believed was a reply to “Surfin' Safari.” Structural similarities are coincidental, for sure,(due to recording/release dates) but the backing vocals might be a conscious response to The Crystals’ single.

“She's My Summer Girl” was recorded on the same day as the backing track for “Surf City”, four days before the release of the Surfin’ U.S.A. album. The vocals may have been recorded later.

Line Up: (just culled from the "Surf City" credits)
Jan Berry: vocals, claps
Dean Torrence: vocals, claps
with
Glen Campbell & Billy Strange: guitars
Bill Pittman: guitar, bass, or six-string bass?
Leon Russell?: piano (Slowinsky was speculative
Ray Pohlman: bass or 6-string bass
Earl Palmer: drums
Hal Blaine: tambourine, percussion(?)

"She’s My Summer Girl” was released as a B-side to Surf City on May 17th, 1963.


It was also included on Jan & Dean’s 1964 album Ride The Wild Surf and several Jan & Dean compilations as well as some VA compilations.

 

“She's My Summer Girl” is a sweet pop song. It’s got a nice snap and pop to it and some very nice piano playing. I can hear the connection with “Da Doo Ron Ron”: that one is the better single for sure, but this is quite nice and pleasant.

It’s certainly not the huge rockin' production “Surf City” was, but the rather less monumental arrangement is maybe even more pleasing to my ear.

Vocals are not too irritating, except for that pseudo-beat poetry bit or whatever it is at the beginning. What the hell?

3.5/5

 

She's My Summer Girl

It's like a weird experiment: take a perfect song, maybe the most exciting single of the year, and write a song that's that song except utterly boring and bland. Amazing how much talent went into making this nothingburger.

1/5

 

She’s My Summer Girl

Oh man I am always a sucker for these “de dun dun dun dun” type vocals. (Same goes for “Gonna Hustle You”/“New Girl in School”.). Nice piano tinkling away, at times almost evoking an ice cream truck. The WTF spoken word intro gets bonus points.
4/5

Edit: I know this is a really common chord progression, but this song always gets me thinking about this one.

 

Did you know about this?
Various - Everybody's Goin' Surfin'
It's got a cover of Surf City by The Tymes...

...as well as covers of Surfin' (by The Orlons), Surfin' Safari (by The Dovells) & Surfin' USA (by Bobby Rydell)!

Also I saw that Jan & Dean covered Surfin' & Surfin' Safari on Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfin'

 

Tomorrow, I’m going to start holding up songs from Surfer Girl.


Seven months separated the completion of the Surfin' U.S.A. and the release of Surfer Girl.

Right as The Beach Boys were finishing work on Surfin’ U.S.A. Dennis crashed his car into a wall and sustained injuries to his legs. It would be the first of dozens of expensive cars he would crash in his short lifetime. He also took up drag racing as a semi-professional hobby, although he used a pseudonym when racing.

While he was out, his friend Mark Groseclose filled in on drums for four shows. Groseclose also recorded some tracks with Brian and would later join David Marks's first post-Beach Boys band, The Marksmen.

Mike turned 22 in March, got served with divorce papers from his estranged wife and The Beach Boys resumed their touring. The Surfin’ U.S.A. album and single was released.

In April The Beach Boys got in a literal fist fight with a band called The Centurions and “crashed" their concert, ascending the stage and playing their own set. This happened in Newport Beach, California. Also, “Surfin’ U.S.A.” entered the Top 40.

As Surfin U.S.A. ascended the charts, the demand for the band grew, and their shows became horrific scenes of teenage mayhem, filled with screaming girls who literally (Murry took to boasting) pissed the seats they were sitting in, making it necessary for theatre owners to replace the upholstery wherever The Beach Boys played.

Dennis, with his good looks and outlandishly long, sun-bleached hair was especially popular; and he got the most fan mail, elicited the loudest screams and, if unlucky enough to be caught after a show, the howling fans would run right past the rest of the band in order to tear Dennis apart in a disturbing and bloody Dionysian frenzy get to Dennis.

As a result, the band had uniforms made that were held together at the seams by velcro, in order to give them, or, well, at least Dennis, a last chance to slip free of the grasping hands of euphoric, raving, foaming-at-the-mouth teens.

Dennis’s popularity planted the first scenes of envy in the rest of the band, and contributed to Brian’s hatred of touring: not only did he feel under-appreciated and a little jealous of the attention Dennis got, (according to photographer Ed Roach) but his stage fright had not gone away; moreover the screaming girls and extremely loud amplifiers at the live gigs threatened the hearing in his one good ear. (Brian was deaf in one ear, either from a childhood injury, a childhood illness or from birth: he’s claimed all three.) Furthermore, all Brian really wanted to do was make music and record in the studio.

Brian drove himself to gigs in California, and often arrived very late — if he arrived at all. Eventually, the band enlisted Brian’s old pal Al Jardine to fill in for Brian when he went missing or refused to play. Al had a falsetto voice that was eerily reminiscent of Brian’s and, in David’s words, “was a beautiful bass player”.

The William Morris agency was representing The Beach Boys and they were undervaluing them. Teenage promoter/fan Fred Vail revealed to them that he himself had actually made $4000 for a gig that they reportedly had taken only $50-60 apiece from after expenses— and he told them that The William Morris Agency didn’t really know what they were doing. (They would hire Vail as tour manager later that year and consequently earn much more money.)

In May, as The Beach Boys prepared for their first short tour of the Midwest, Brian announced that he would not be going. This created panic in the Beach Boys until someone asked Al to join the band on a semi-permanent basis. Al, who was just finishing his second year at university and looking to get back to the band (since they were now becoming successful) agreed, and the band became a six-piece in the studio. “Surfin' U.S.A.” peaked at this time at #3.


Brian would continue to play with them in the L.A. area and sometimes at various gigs but would often fly back and forth so he could focus on writing and recording new music..

On this Midwestern tour Elmer Marks, David’s father, accompanied them, as did Audree Wilson, and back in L.A. Murry allegedly tried to seduce David’s mother, who rejected him.

Perhaps not coincidentally, after May 24th, David was never paid for a gig again. “Expenses."

This created a lot of issues within the Beach Boys organization, especially between Murry and David’s parents who were convinced Murry was stiffing David and they began taking detailed records of gigs that were played.

On the road, Carl became the de facto leader of the stage band, a role he would continue in for the rest of his life, less a break in the early 80s for his solo career and a break in the 90s while he underwent chemotherapy. Contracts for gigs were made for “Carl Wilson & four other musicians” and Carl (with one of his parents as he was a minor) signed them.

In June, the band toured Hawaii, playing not only their own show but backing up other singers. Bruce Johnston, who was on vacation in Hawaii at the time, saw them back up Jackie DeShannon and, impressed, introduced himself to the band.

In the meantime, back in L.A., Brian and Bob continued writing and recording demos at home; and an increasingly powerful Brian continued recording tracks for various side-projects, and recording with The Beach Boys when they were in town. Brian became a studio perfectionist: while most studio sessions were set for three hours and would see several songs recorded, Brian would insist on recording a song until it was perfect. Some sessions lasted as long as nine hours.


Brian's chief side-project at that time was The Honeys, as he had grown quite close to the Rovell sisters, Diane and Marilyn, though he was still engaged to Judy Bowles, with whom he had a very turbulent relationship — perhaps understandably as Brian also seems to have casually seen other women as well.

Brian had a crush on all three Rovell sisters, but was drawn to Marilyn the most, and he all but moved into the Rovell’s house, sleeping in their guest bedroom, with her parents’ permission of course. In fact, the Rovell’s became a warm home where all the Beach Boys could hang out, raid the fridge, and pass out if they had drunk too much. They left so much money lying around the house that the Roverll mother used it to buy snacks for the boys.

Brian also recorded more songs with Jan & Dean in this time and allegedly attended some sessions produced by Phil Spector, learning a lot from both Berry and Spector about the nuts and bolts of production.

Additionally, Brian formed a new four-piece vocal group with Bob Norberg, Richard Alarian, and Dave Nowlen called The Survivors and recorded several songs with them as well. Richard Alarian claims to have written uncredited lyrics for several Beach Boys songs credited to Brian Wilson from the early era, and the Survivors' recordings, which Brian presumably paid for himself, were Brian’s way of repaying him for that favor — although in the end, The Survivors never went anywhere commercially and only released one single.

These side projects further infuriated Murry Wilson, who felt that Brian’s continued work outside The Beach Boys was an act of betrayal to the family and to himself.

In the time between albums, Brian's struggle for production credit with Capitol Records and Nik Venet contnued. In his opinion, Nik did very little, while Brian did everything. So why should he not be credited; and why should he have to even share credit with Nik?

Capitol fought Brian: not only was it against their policy, but from Capitol’s point of view, Brian and The Beach Boys were still nothing more than passing flash-in-the-pans, even if The Beach Boys were really becoming very popular — probably Capitol’s top-selling act of 1963.

On top of that, the suits at Capitol were unhappy at Brian’s preference for studios other than Capitol Studios: that was another policy that Brian broke.

Because Brian did end up winning that war, thanks to the runaway success of Surfin’ U.S.A., and Surfer Girl bore the credit “Produced by Brian Wilson”. He also won the freedom to record wherever he wanted to and as long as he wanted to. A breakthrough not only for Brian, but for all artists: a self-produced rock and roll artist at that time on any label had been unheard of.

A second gruelling tour of the Midwest came in a period of increasing surf-mania, with the Beach Boys playing to sold-out venues and playing up to four 45-minute shows per day. Brian joined them for part of this, but soon enough had flown back to L.A., to work in the studio.

Murry began to get phone calls from irate hoteliers and theatre owners about The Beach Boys’ terrible and immoral off-stage behaviour : it seems that The Beach Boys, out from under Murry’s one controlling eye, (Murry being a cyclops) went a bit wild: drinking, smoking, cavorting with prostitutes and female fans, getting into fights and using the “F-word” with complete impunity.
They had even all had to get a dose of penicillin in Kansas to combat the venereal diseases they had picked up.

It wasn’t long before Murry had to fly to Chicago shortly after David’s 15th birthday, in late August, Brian in tow, to join the last bit of the tour and exact some discipline.

This particularly irked David, who was already harbouring a resentment because Murry and Brian had rejected his original song “Kustom Kar Show”— I’ll post it later — and he hadn’t been paid for a gig since late May.


David, whose head had swollen a little from “first fame” (as Barry Gibb has called it) also later admitted that he had gotten a little spoilt, refusing to load or strike his own gear, and talking back to Murry during a car trip between towns. An argument between Murry and David ensued and David angrily announced he was quitting the band, not realising that that was exactly what Murry had been gunning for by picking an argument with the 15 year old guitarist.

Murry accepted his resignation with glee, but for now David would stay in the band for the duration of his contract (which was up in October, when the next album would be released.)
________________________________________

Recorded, between, before and after gigs and tour-jaunts, Surfer Girl was completed in late August 1963 and Brian and The Beach Boys immediately began work on the follow up.

Exact dates, studios and players for most of the recordings of Surfer Girl and its follow-up, Little Deuce Coupe, have not been pinned down: the AFM records have been lost and many of the multi-track recordings have not been found, according to sources I have read.This means that, almost uniquely for the Capitol years, specific information about where, who, etc is sometimes — not always— basically a best guess.

It’s generally known though that The Beach Boys played the majority of the tracks themselves, with a handful of tracks played by or at least augmented by Wrecking Crew members and a few other side-players like Bob Norberg or Mike’s sister Maureen. And I think its generally believed that most of the tracks were recorded at Western Studios, which Brian preferred, not only because of the presence of engineer Chuck Britz, but also because it was a non-union studio, meaning that sessions weren’t constantly being interrupted by union-mandated coffee breaks, which would often occur right at the moment of inspiration. Al, having joined in May, was present for no less than four tracks vocally and/or on the bass guitar.

Al was not an official, shareholding member of the band at this point — that would not happen until 1967, which may have contributed to the strife and resentment decades later when Al reflected back on things.

Surfer Girl was released almost exactly six months after Surfin’ U.S.A., on September 16th, 1963.

Surfer Girl was a hit of course, spawning no less than three songs on the top 40 . It charted at #7 in the U.S. Billboard chart. In the UK, when it was released in 1967 (three and a half years later!), it charted at #13.

In the USA Surfer Girl went gold and as of 2013 it had sold 850,000 copies — a respectable figure for an album released in what was very firmly a singles era. Sales were perhaps curtailed by the fact that the follow up album Little Deuce Coupe was released only three weeks (no joke!) after Surfer Girl.

Surfer Girl is the seventh highest selling non-compilation album by The Beach Boys in America and their 14th most popular there overall, according to AGD’s info from 2013.
The tracklist:
1. Surfer Girl (Brian Wilson)

• Surfer Girl [February 1962 "Hite Morgan Version"]
• Surfer Girl [August 1967 "Lei'd In Hawaii" version]

​

2. Catch a Wave (B. Wilson, Mike Love)

• Sidewalk Surfin' (B. Wilson, Roger Christian) - Jan & Dean {A-side. 1964}

​

3. The Surfer Moon (B. Wilson)

• The Surfer Moon [Bob & Sheri Version] {A-side, 1962} The Surfer Moon [Bob & Sheri Version] {A-side, 1962)
• The Summer Moon -Bob & Vicki {outtake, released on The Big Beat 2013}

​

4. South Bay Surfers (Stephen Foster, B. Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine & Mike Love)
5. The Rocking Surfer (Traditional, arranged by B. Wilson)
6. Little Deuce Coupe (B. Wilson, Roger Christian)
7. In My Room (B. Wilson, Gary Usher)
8. Hawaii (B. Wilson, Love)
9. Surfers Rule (B. Wilson, Love)
10. Our Car Club (B. Wilson, Love)
11. Your Summer Dream (B. Wilson, Bob Norman*)
12. Boogie Woodie (trad., arr. B. Wilson)

*pen name for Bob Norberg: Murry thought “Norberg" sounded “too Jewish."

In addition to the above, I plan to hold up the following extra-album tracks:

• The Things WE Did Last Summer (Sammy Cahn, Jule Style) {recorded April 1962, released on Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys, 1993)
• Pamela Jean (B. Wilson) The Survivors {A-side 1964}
• Back Home (B. Wilson, Norberg) The Survivors {outtake, released on Made In California, 2013}
• Thank Him [demo] (B. Wilson) Brian Wilson {outtake, streamed online in 2010 and digitally released on The Big Beat in 2013
• Runaround Lover (Wilson, Love) Sharon Marie {A-side, 1964}
• Pray For Surf (Saundra Glantz, Diane Rovell)- The Honeys {A-side, 1963)
• Hide Go Seek (B. Wilson) The Honeys {B-side, 1963)
• You Brought It All on Yourself (B. Wilson) The Honeys {outtake, released on The Big Beat 2013}
• First Rock & Roll Dance (B. Wilson) - Brian Wilson {outtake, released on The Big Beat 2013}
• Little Surfer Girl aka Teach Me To Surf [demo] (B. Wilson) {outtake, released on Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys, 1993}

Note: "First Rock & Roll Dance" and “Little Surfer Girl” will be held up on the same day, being either slight or incomplete. I’ll hold up “Little Beach Girl” by the Nodaens (allegedly a rewrite of an unreleased Survivors song Brian wrote) on the same day as the album, Surfer Girl.

So if I haven't forgotten anything, I'll start on Little Deuce Coupe on the 28th of September.

 

I have the Tymes one on a collection but I didn't link to it because I don't like it all that much. Just sounds like watered down Jan & Dean to me. I prefer the Ramones one!

 

Extra Tracks:

Spoiler

Surfin' (B.Wilson-M.Love) - Jan & Dean = 4
Surfin' Safari (B.Wilson-M.Love) - Jan & Dean = 4
Come And Get It (G.Usher-M.Borchetta) - The Tri-Five = 4
Like Chop (G.Usher-M.Borchetta) - The Tri-Five = 4
The Original Surfer Stomp (B.Johnson-J.Hartnett) - Bruce Johnson = 4
Quasimoto (B.Johnson) - The Hot Doggers = 4
Surfin' 'Round The World (B.Johnson-T.Melcher) - Bruce Johnson = 4
Nut Rocker (Fowley) - B. Bumble and the Stingers = 5
Gone (B.Johnson-T.Melcher) - The Rip Chords = 4
She Thinks I Still Care (D.L.Lipscomb-S.Duffy) - The Rip Chords = 4
She Thinks I Still Care (D.L.Lipscomb-S.Duffy) - George Jones = 5
She Thinks I Still Care (D.L.Lipscomb-S.Duffy) - Elvis Presley = 5
Note: Wow, I liked all these!
She Thinks I Still Care (D.L.Lipscomb-S.Duffy) - The Flying Burrito Bros = 4
Be Here In The Morning Darling - The Beach Boys = 4
Shut Down (actual 2003 mix) - The Beach Boys = 4
Shut Down (2021 mix) - The Beach Boys = 4
Shut Down (mysterious mix) - The Beach Boys = 4
Note: I think I like the 2003 mix slightly. To be honest I don’t hear that much difference between them and any would work.
Mother May I (B. Wilson) - The Beach Boys (outtake, released on The Big Beat 2013) = 2.5
Ride Away (B. Wilson, Bob Norberg) - Bob & Sheri (outtake, released on The Big Beat 2013) = 3
Marie (B. Wilson) - Bob Norberg & Brian Wilson with The Honeys (outtake, released on The Big Beat 2013) = 3
Funny Boy (Wilson) - The Honeys (outtake, released on The Big Beat 2013) = 4
Shoot The Curl (Susan Glantz, Diane Rovell) - The Honeys - (single, 1963) = 3
Shootin’ Beavers (G.Sanders) - The Tornadoes (single b-side 1963) = 4
Surfin’ Down The Swanee River (Foster, arr. B. Wilson) - The Honeys (single 1963) = 3
Swanee River Hop (Arranged By D.Bartholomew-A.Domino) - Fats Domino = 4
Swanee River (Adapted & Arranged By Bones) - Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers = 3
Swanee River (Arranged By Ross Bagdasarian) - David Seville And The Chipmunks = 2
Shoot That Curl (Chris Montez) - Chris & Kathy (single, 1964) = 4
The Baker Man (B. Wilson) - The Beach Boys (outtake, released on Surfin’ Safari/Surfin’ USA twofer, 1990) = 3
Side Two (B. Wilson) - Brian Wilson (outtake, released on The Big Beat 2013) = 2
The Baker (B. Wilson) - The Olympics (1963 LP: Do The Bounce with The Olympics) = 3
Surf City (Brian Wilson, Jan Berry) - Jan & Dean (Rec: 1963-04-23 / Rel: May 17, 1963 Single A-Side) = 5
Surf City (Brian Wilson, Jan Berry) - The Go-Gos (Live 2001) = 5
Surf City (Brian Wilson, Jan Berry) - Ramones (1993 LP: Acid Eaters) = 5

She's My Summer Girl (H.Altfeld-J.Berry-B.Wilson) - Jan & Dean (Single B-Side) = 4
Rhythm Of The Rain (John Gummoe) - The Cascades (1962 Single) = 5
Surf City (Brian Wilson, Jan Berry) - The Tymes (1963 Various Artists LP) = 4
She's My Summer Girl (H.Altfeld-J.Berry-B.Wilson) - Astro Chimp (1996 single) = 5

Note: The only cover listed at Second Hand Songs.

 

She's My Summer Girl

… and nearly unlistenable.

if she's really number one, maybe try to keep her when fall rolls around

far as this song's concerned, I could lose it

eh, 1.7/5

 

But I found this one:
She's My Summer Girl (H.Altfeld-J.Berry-B.Wilson) - The Richies (1993 LP Pet Summer) = 4

 

I'm going to mirror you again and I agree it's a sweet pop song. I loved it as a kid, but it hasn't aged all that well over the decades. Still, I like it, I like the piano and especially the drums. There are some differences between the mono single mix and the stereo mix (extra day-dun-dun-duns over the break with the drums on the stereo, no goofy talk bit at the start of the mono), then when it was included again on ... what was it...the US Filet Of Soul I think, that was another version from the same takes but cut and spliced to have a different intro, which along with a different ('interim') iteration of Dead Man's Curve that sounds somewhere between the first LP version from Drag City and the final hit version, made me think those were unfinished working parts.

On the weird talk bit -- ever since I was a kid I kind of thought they were goofing like kids, like we would do when we were 10 or 11, or were stoned (did they smoke?). Anyway, on some presses/cd iterations you can just barely hear a control room engineer call out "eleven-b" then Jan launches into his "eleven bees, four wasps..." stream of consciousness word association or goof or whatever it is, then just as he finishes and before the music starts you can hear the engineer chime in with a sarcastic "that's gooooood"...

One thing that's always kind of puzzled me about this is the notion of a "summer girl" ... i.e. a girl you went out with just for summer then said goodbye once summer was over. I guess it was kind of a school vacation thing? You left home for somewhere during the summer, had a fling there, ditched or otherwise said goodbye as September came around or something? She's My Summer Girl, It's As Easy As 1,2,3 (both a Jill Gibson single and a track with Gibson and Berry on a couple of LPs), The Beach Boys Girl Don't Tell Me, maybe some others I'm not remembering all seem to have this theme. We were on the poor side when I was a kid and I never went anywhere, except to my grandparents once and they lived isolated up in the mountains. No summer girls up there for sure.

Anyway, good song and an appropriate score of

3.5/5

 

Maybe she doesn't want to be kept, either.

 

I woulda rewritten that line but I thought it goes well with what's presented in a lot of these songs so I… kept it.

 

In 1993, I worked at a theatre in North Carolina and a friend of mine hooked up with a girl and he told me "well, I guess she's my summer wife." I thought that was cute. There was lots of that going around. And they were together all summer long and in late August they parted.

I think that happened every summer there; all these little romances that would end as soon as we went back to "the real world." So this song reminds me of that time. Which was awesome.

 

Well, I'd always pretty much guessed that was it. I also thought it was on the callous side, but that's just me.

 

See You In September...

 

This is pretty good. I’ve never heard this before. Eugene from The Vaselines and 3 members of Teenage Fanclub.

 

Extravaganza already posted "Rhythm Of The Rain," so I might as well post the other hit that this obviously resembles:



Rick Nelson / Travelin' Man

 

Well, I don’t think Brian or Jan wrote this lyric. I would bet that Brian just wrote the Da Doo Ron Ron backing vocal bit —maybe also the rhythmic bit on “to me she’s number one”, as it sounds a little like that “shoop shoop” part of “The Baker Man.”

Brian did kind of explore the darker side of this summer fling idea in “girl don’t tell me.”

 

A competent b-side completely lacking the magic of the a-side: 2.5/5.

 

I love that song so much.

 

Another famous "Summer Fling" song, but this time, it appears to have been the girl who ditched the boy come the fall:



Chad & Jeremy / Yesterday's Gone

 

The best of the lot.

 

The Rip Chords tried their hand at Surf City as album cut from the 1964 Three Window Coupe LP.

It's better than that Tymes version for sure, but still totally underwhelming in comparison to the hit version. Frankly, except I guess to get an extra track on an lp, I don't understand why people attempted it. There are also two instrumental versions I know of: a sax led version by The Lively Ones which basically removes virtually all the melodic and vocal magic of the hit and turns the song into a honking '50s sounding number. Then there's another instrumental version on Jan Berry's shot at doing a pop orchestral album in 1965, "Jan & Dean's Pop Symphony No. 1" (there would never be a No. 2) by The Bel Aire Pops Orchestra. Though I would have hated it as a young person, I've grown to like these 'adult pop orchestra' things doing Beach Boys, Beatles, Jan & Dean, Four Seasons -- this, the George Martin Orchestra, The Hollyridge Strings, The Bob Crewe Orchestra...

What I find interesting, in a time capsule sort of way, is that buried right in the middle of The Bel Aire Pops Orchestra take on Surf City is a kind of East Asian sounding interlude at 0:46 in:



You'll also hear one of these East Asian sounding bits as the intro to a guitar instrumental titled Old Ladies Seldom Power Shift which is included on stereo edition of The Little Old Lady From Pasadena LP (though the tune was originally recorded sans East Asian bit titled Bucket Seats and released by "The Rally-Paks", a Sloan-Barri outfit, on a 1964 single. Oh, and written by Don Altfeld). For the longest time I wondered what on earth that was all about and the only things I could come with were a couple of events that may have sparked public interest in Japan at the time, including:

*Kyu Sakamoto's huge world-wide 1963 hit Ue O Muite Aruko (stupidly retitled "Sukiyaki" for the UK and US markets)
*the 1964 Tokyo Olympics -- which heralded Japan's return to the world community
*the growing presence of Japanese products in the US -- toys, cameras, radios and significantly for this thread, Honda motorcycles

 

Cheers and many thanks for this comprehensive, deep research. Where on earth did you source all of this? I'm learning all kinds of things on this thread. Thanks again!