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

The howls on this song are in fact Brian's reaction to having downed an unhealthy amount of root beer five songs ago.

 

"Moon Dawg!" holds up pretty well in the context of a bunch of boys/young men having fun. I don't remember it when I'm not listening to it, but it's always fun. 3.4/5

Speaking of fun, a fun fact is that flip side of The Gamblers' original was a little tune called "LSD-25", the subject of which may come up in a couple of months.

 

Moon Dawg: best guitar tones on the album, great plucky metallic fender high spring reverb, ominous rhythm section with the wordless vocals, cool vibe. The band sound very together, and while the tune isn't anything special, it's a well performed track with a lot of atmosphere, so 3/5.

 

That it is.

 

Surfin' Safari - 3.5/5 Album 2/5 Early Demo
County Fair - 2.5/5
Ten Little Indians - 1.5/5
Chug-a-Lug - 3/5
Little Girl (You're My Miss America) - 3/5
409 - 4/5
Surfin' - 4/5
Heads You Win, Tails I lose - 2/5
Summertime Blues - 2.5/5
Cuckoo Clock - 2/5

Moon Dawg - 4/5

One of my favorites from the album. I know it's a cover and all, but it's a great addition to the album as it creates more dynamic in the record and another flavor to what we had been seeing so far. It's also a sign of what the band would end up doing again in the next album with the covers and instrumentals and later on original instrumentals.

 

"Moon Dawg" - Meh I don't care much for tracks like this. The barking is too much, but eliminating it won't fix it for me. Just a boring instrumental. Yes it sounds good, whoever is playing, but it's not interesting. Nothing happens, or at least not enough happens. I only have the Ventures Christmas album, if that matters.

 

"Summertime Blues" - a passable but weak version of a great song. The arrangement doesn't have any Beach Boys magic to it. 2.5/5

 

"Cuckoo Clock" - the organ solo is cool, in an amusement park kind of way, but this is otherwise a forgettable novelty song, with a forgettable arrangement - other than the annoying "cuckoo cuckoo", and a patchy vocal from Brian. 2.25/5

 

"Moon Dawg" - if I hadn't heard the original, I would think this was a decent instrumental, but their version is lacking the wild energy of the original - most prominently on the drums. Carl (or whomever) does a good job on the solos though. 3/5

 

"Moon Dawg" and "The Shift" are my favorite tracks on the album. "Moon Dawg" for it's moodiness and dog, "The Shift" for its early bold admission of cross-dressing.

"Moon Dawg": 3/5

 

Moon Dawg
I'm not familiar with the original, so I'm going to judge this one on its own merits. Firstly, the drum intro, so that's Carl, is it? That's quite surprising to me, it has the hall marks of Surf Instrumentals of the era, such as Wipe Out by the Surfaris. The howling dog interjections get tedious VERY quickly. They should have been confined to the coda & fade in my estimation. I do like the bass played with a pick to give it that distinctive click. That's some tasty guitar playing from Carl, and the BGVs had me scratching my head as to where I'd heard something similar quite recently. It came to after a lot of brain-wracking: Alison Kraus and Robert Plant Gone, Gone, Gone has the same (or at least very similar) Aah aah aahs. So, for the rating, pass me the envelope please; ah, 3.5/5 (docked a half point for the tedious dog howls)

 

"Moon Dawg", a fairly forgettable nothing melody, saved by some great guitar playing. This kind of thing was done way better later as "Carl's Big Chance", which has a real rocking vibe this one lacks.
2.5/5

 

Our votes for "Moon Dawg"
1-0
2-3
3-13
4-9
5-0
Average: 3.1236

 

Today’s song is “The Shift”, written by Brian Wilson & Mike Love and produced by Nik Venet and an uncredited Brian Wilson & Murry Wilson.

The Beach Boys – The Shift Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Background:
“The Shift” was originally copyrighted by Mike Love alone on May 1st, 1962, but Brian had apparently contributed enough to it for it to be credited as (Wilson-Love)by the time it was recorded, along with “Chug-a-Lug” and “Ten Little Indians”, at the first proper Surfin’ Safari session on August 8th, 1962.

It’s a song extolling the virtues of the shift, a short, sleeveless, loosely fitting dress that girls and women might wear in the summer. Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy had popularised the garment. My wife wears them all the time!


Line Up:
Mike Love: lead vocal
Carl Wilson: lead guitar, backing vocal
David Marks: rhythm guitar
Brian Wilson: bass guitar, backing vocal
Dennis Wilson: drums, backing vocal

None of the major Beach Boys compilations have included “The Shift”, and I know of no officially released live version of “The Shift.” Neither Brian nor Mike mention the song at all in their memoirs.

 

Tomorrow, the Surfin’ Safari album.

I’ll also link to some songs Bruce Johnston was doing in 1962 tomorrow. I won’t be counting ratings on those, but feel free to discuss and/or rate. Ditto on a couple of Gary Usher sock-puppetted songs that Dennis played drums on that I’ll also link to, if they stream. And then over the following 7 days, I’ll hold up the extra album tracks listed below for discussion:

• Land Ahoy (Brian Wilson) --The Beach Boys {Surfin' Safari outtake, originally released on Rarities, 1983}
• Cindy, Oh, Cindy (Robert Barron, Burt Long}--The Beach Boys {Surfin' Safari outtake, released on Surfin’ Safari/Surfin’ USA twofer 1990}
• Revolution (Wilson, Gary Usher) --Rachel & The Revolvers {A-side, 1962}
• Number One (Wilson, Usher) -- Rachel & The Revolvers {B-side, 1962}
• Humpty Dumpty (Wilson, Robert Norberg) -- Bob & Sherri {B-side, 1962}
• The Big Beat (Wilson, Norberg) -- Bob & Sheri {outtake, released on 1963: The Big Beat, 2013}
• Punchline (Wilson) -- The Beach Boys {outtake, released on Good Vibrations: 30 Years of The Beach Boys, 1993}

Surfin' USA album to begin on August 16th.

 

I had no idea what a shift was until this post. I guess my lack of curiosity betrays the fact that I really don’t care that much about this song. It is not a bad closer for the album, a lot of the band’s key elements lyrically and musically are in place. 3/5

 

The Shift

The presumably unintentional grammatical twist with the singer the apparent subject wearing the object named in the title was already alluded to, hours ago, in post above — quite well I might add — and that's the most interesting thing about this number.

I'll say 1/5

 

"The Shift" has some energy in the performances, which are really pretty good, instruments and vocals alike -- this song feels almost like it's looking towards Surfin' USA (it could fit well on side 2 of that record), even though it was one of the first songs recorded. I guess they spent a little more time on this even though it's a throwaway. Maybe Mike insisted on getting it right.

Mike's back to his cocksure persona after several songs where he seemed to be playing a weakling or a pipsqueak...He sounds better in this mode, but the song is really not much at all melodically. I suspect that Brian's contribution to the song that Mike copyrighted alone a few months earlier is small. The lyric is better than the melody in execution, but it's Mike in his jingle-writer style (he might have made a good jingle-writer, come to think of it) and that only goes so far with me and not very far at all if the melody is mediocre.

This song closes the album out with a bit of lascivious, shallow fun...but seeing as they had "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" and "The Lonely Sea" in the can...it could have definitely ended better. Imagine ending Surfer Safari with "The Lonely Sea" instead of this little dance-punk number! Jaws would have dropped.

On the lyric: of course there's a very boldly suggestive line or two in there which I normally don't associate with 1962 (she can ball it with the shift on and you'll have a good time) and I wonder that they did get away with it in that more censorious time, especially given their squeaky clean boy image. I guess the Capitol brass didn't listen too hard to this, either that or "ball" was an acceptable euphemism (Jack Kerouac used it all the time but then I don't think he had exactly what you'd call a squeaky clean image.)

Good performance. Mediocre song, I'm afraid. But no worse than some of the others. 2.5/5

 

The Shift

I like the guitar on this one.

2/5

 

What distinguished Shift dresses from more common ones was the fact that they were beltless. Most women at the time wore dresses that were either form fitting, or had belts around the waistline (see photo below). In contrast, a Shift is essentially a sleeveless maternity dress.

The song features the same call & response format that they would be better at a year later with "Surfers Rule." About the best I can say for it is that it's easy to dance to.

 

Musically fine but lyrically annoying: 2.5/5.

 

The Shift
2/5

 

I liked the little guitar part and the song is OK.

2.5/5

 

At this juncture I think it might be instructive to look at a member's review from years ago that is an utterly different take from the vast majority of posts we've seen here thus far. It will give folks an opportunity to view Surfin' Safari in a completely new light.

The Beach Boys Surfin' Safari album - Really that bad?

"Surfin' Safari" is a great record. It's grungy and dirty and raw and I like it. It's the surfin' equivalent to "Never Mind The Bullocks".

What's wrong with a group of enthusiastic young men singing about chicks, soft drinks, county fairs, and more chicks? Not to mention, the most earnest and heartfelt lead vocal ever, found on the overlooked masterwork "Cuckoo Clock"? Such a moving performance. The arrival of the Beach Boys was as Earth shattering as the Beatles landing in JFK. They had a fresh, energetic sound that kicked the whole 60's rock and roll scene in the ***. They provided the shot heard round the world which lead to all the great albums that followed. Friends, Sufin' Safari is as dangerous and dark as Velvet Underground & Nico 5 years later. Happier lyrics, yeah, but look at the muscianship. If Chug-a-lug was about liquid LSD you'd all see what I mean. Don't let the lyrics throw you. Messy haired teens with nothing to lose laying down some hot jams under the watchful eye of their lunatic father. Nothing was ever the same after it, and sweaty jocks everywhere put down their bat and gloves and picked up Fender stats all because of Brian and the gang.

"Cuckoo Clock" is my favorite cut on the album, and it is as dark and cerebral as anything. "Ghosts crowd the child's fragile eggshell mind". It's all coming from the same troubing place.

Surfin' Safari is a song about patricide. Read between the lines.

Dare I say, aside from Johnny Cash, that Wilson was the only one gutsy enough to speak out against racial injustice on "Ten Little Indians". He could see that the California hills were stained with the blood of many a brave tribe. The tenth little indian acted like himself. He didn't succumb to the white man's ways and accept Jesus Christ as his savior.

"Chug-a-lug" is a naked assessment of the group. "Gary like's a girl's tight black pants". This was 1962. How did such a filthy sentiment get past the censors? Wilson and Usher pushing the envelope, as much as the Beatles would with "I'd Love To Turn You On" five years later. Each Beach Boy represents a different fraction of troubled youth. Carl's unhealthy obsession with food is explored, as well as Mike's secret need for alcohol to help him deal with the reality of knocking up girls. A generation lost in space, all described perfectly within the confines of a two-minute song.

"409" is a song that deals with the loss of a boy's virginity at the hands of a hooker.

"Surfin'", the song that started it all, is a desperate cry for help. "Surfin' is the only life". All other roads lead to death. The escapism of the beach and surf and sand is the only thing keeping them from ending their lives because of the hardships they face.

The "Surfer Stomp" is referring to giving squares and greasers the beat down. It's kinda like an American Quadrophenia, this song.

"Heads You Win, Tails I Lose" is about some of the seeder parts of town, where pimps and hookers rule, and smoke filled pool halls crackle with the sounds of gunshots and knife fights. Sometimes the kids from uptown sneak into the slums to get a taste of the action. Peeking through a filthy window smeared with blood and **** and yellowed from decades of cigar stench. The innocence of youth is lost in an instant as they witness a man stabbed to death for attempting to cheat at a game. Either way the coin falls, you lose. Death is at your door. Heavy, heavy stuff.

"Cuckoo Clock" is for me the ultimate Brian Wilson statement. Before fame, fortune, drugs, self-confidence, women, and lawyers got in the way, we have a sweet young man with a voice as pure as God's linen, experiencing the joy of a simple, wholesome relationship with a nice young girl. The cuckoo clock is not literal; it is only in Brian's head. Each time things start to happen again, he thinks he's got something good going for himself, but what goes wrong? "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!" The cuckoo is in his head, man, it's one of the voices. I almost cry sometimes because I feel so bad for that young boy whose life was ruined by all sorts of outside influences. This recording is pretty much the last snapshot of Brian before that red-blooded, all-American kid got swallowed up forever inside the jaws of paranoia, depression, and record industry corruption. **** you, Doctor Landy.

"The Shift" is an animalistic statement of human sexuality, the words most likely spat solely from the sinful mouth of Mike Love. The polar opposite of “Cuckoo Clock”, it is complete devoid of emotion and old fashioned social standards. Sex is a physical act, done only for sick pleasure, nothing more. Women are objects and should wear this "shift" in order to please the men folk around them. I find myself rather offended by this song, to be honest with you. "She'll ball you with the shift on". Mike would park at inspiration point and have his girl climb over on top of him and he'd slide up the shift and do his business. Easy access, they'd call it. One of the most explicitly sexual songs ever recorded by the Beach Boys. Disgustingly brunt, but again, honesty where honesty had seldom been seen before. No sugarcoating. The reality of the era. Biff, you take your damn hands off her.

So you see, the "Surfin' Safari" album is just as deep and meaningful and groundbreaking as anything released during the 60's. The Beach Boys had arrived, before the Beatles shook the world, before Dylan became the voice of a generation, and they had already broken down many barriers and expanded the musical horizon with their dark, realistic view of life as a teenager.

BEST. ALBUM. OF 1962.

 

I wish I could forget it now!