Saturday, November 16, 2013

And The 2nd Greatest Rock and Roll Song Ever - The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations

Beach Boys mid 70s publicity photo
The band was never the same after the passing of Dennis Wilson (top right)
And his brother Carl Wilson (bottom right)



I knew exactlty the time and place I heard that President John F, Kennedy was shot, I knew exactly where I was when man landed on the moon.  I knew where I was and what I was doing on the morning of 9/11. It's funny how the mind works when it is touched by a memorable event

And I new exactly where, when, and what I was doing the first time I heard gentle opening chords of Brian Wilson's and the Beach Boy's Good Vibrations, a song that at the time, was the most expensive recording ever made at some $100,000 in 1966.

I heard it laying in a bathtub with my faithful transistor am radio nearby (somehow ignoring the fact that electrical devices and water do not make a good combination but hey - I survived). To this day, the haunting lyrics (which are surprisingly about a dog) and swirling musical accompaniment make me stand up and take notice. It is a song of rock and roll royalty.

It's a pity that the Beach Boys couldn't remain a consistent viable musical force through the years though they certainly had their moments of greatness, Egos, insanity, drugs, and even death plagued the band from the get go but when they hit things just right, man......  they were really, really, good.

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