At the end of last year, I posted a Beach Boys song performed by Brian Wilson. This was prompted by my having watched a rerun of his performance at Glastonbury in 2005 – seventy five minutes of sheer joy, as I noted at the time.

Fast forward to this summer and, with daughter and grandsons staying with us, I dug it out again. More sheer joy, but with the slightly unfortunate downside that I haven’t been able to get this particular song out of my head ever since. Perhaps posting it for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday will prove to be the catharsis I need in order to move on….

It’s automatic when I talk with old friends
The conversation turns to girls we knew
When their hair was soft and long
And the beach was the place to go

With suntanned bodies and waves of sunshine
The California girls and a beautiful coastline
And warmed-up weather, let’s
Get together and do it again

With a girl, the lonely sea looks good
With moonlight
Makes your night times warm
And out of sight (Been so long)
Do, do, do-do-do (Been so long)
Do, do, do-do-do (So long, been so long)
Been so long

Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now
Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now
Hey now, hey now, hey now, hey now

Well, I’ve been thinking ’bout all the places
We surfed and danced and all the faces
We miss, so let’s get
Back together and do it again
(Come and do it)

Written by Mike Love and Brian Wilson

A word on the video: this was recorded at the Crystal Palace Garden Party in the summer (!) of 1972 and I was there, although mercifully I don’t appear. What I remember is that it poured with rain for the entire afternoon. The Beach Boys were top of the bill, with a pretty impressive supporting cast.

There was a really long gap before the headline act came on and the bedraggled audience was beginning to get restive – as well as soaking wet.

Apparently the plan was to record this show for possible release as a live album, although the weather obviously put paid to that idea and it took an age to set up and try to keep the instruments in tune. Anyway, all was forgiven as soon as they opened up.

Song Lyric Sunday 30 August 2026