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.
the only deadhead in the hameau 
A great song, and wonderful memories 👍
what a great way to start the day- I wouldn’t have minded being soaking wet if I could have experienced that performance- great choice 😃🙌
Nice choice and I am glad the Beach Boys showed up here today. The Beach Boys’ “bearded era” spans from the late 1960s through the mid 1980s, marking a massive visual and musical departure from their 1960s wholesome, clean-shaven, matching-striped-shirt persona. This look reflected their shift toward the counterculture, internal personal turmoil, and their evolution into a progressive rock and “hippie” mountain man aesthetic
A fellow Beach Boy blogger! They simply had to be here. Nice choice!
Perfect for the prompt! Thanks for sharing this today.
Still sounds as good today as it did back then