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Decent Quality Since 1847

You Can Go Home Again

11/19/2018

2 Comments

 
I love this video for its simplicity.  And grace.  The music isn't shabby either.

I came upon it yesterday when tracking down a version of the Beach Boys' song "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" to include with my Trump article this morning, and thought I should include it here on its own.

Without going into the long history, much of which most people probably have a sense of, for the last long while original Beach Boy member Mike Love has owned the rights to the name Beach Boys.  And so the core founding member, Brian Wilson, has not been able to perform under that name, now that he's been back singing again.

But here is with another another original Beach Boy, Al Jardine, singing an exquisitely lovely studio version of "Sloop John B," along with backup group members.

By the way, the original Bahamian folk song dates back to at least 1916, probably further.  It's gone through a variety of incarnations, though the version the Beach Boys recorded -- probably with a few tweaks by Brian Wilson -- largely comes from an adaptation by Lee Hays of The Weavers and the poet Carl Sandburg.

There are other very good videos of this recording session -- and of Wilson and Jardine in concert -- but this particular video just stood out for me.  Both fellows were in their 70s when they recorded this two years ago in 2016 -- 50 years after having originally recording it for the classic Pet Sounds albums -- and happily both (including to a large degree Brian Wilson, most-especially for all his issues over the years, limited though his range may be now) are in very fine voice.
​
Indeed, I suspect to a big degree that that may be why they changed the very last line from the original.
2 Comments
GregVB
11/20/2018 01:44:35 pm

A few thoughts about this (and I agree -- it is wonderful):

1) What a beautiful job, and in a single take (who knows how many others they did, but this was a dandy). Great back-up musicians!

2) You are right about their voices still being dang good for septuagenarians. It is painful, however, to see Brian Wilson singing here -- the drugs really did take their toll....

3) The Wikipedia discussion on the original song reveals that Al Jardin brought the song idea to Brian, and had assumed he would get the lead. Wilson made the group "audition" for it, and decided that he would take the first and third verse for himself, with Mike Love taking the second verse (i.e., Jardin was shut out of the lead). What do they do 50 years later? Give Jardin the lead, with Wilson taking the second verse. Nice.

4) I also noticed the change very last line. While they do sing, "This is the worst trip I've ever been on" in the last verse (as in their original), the change to "best" in the final chorus must be a personal statement by Wilson and Jardin (after all, they both sang it... it was no faux pas). Nice circle of life.

Reply
Robert J Elisberg
11/20/2018 08:30:40 pm

Dr. Buzz, thanks for the note -- and yes, I agree with all the points.

There's another video where the "backup" singers have the lead, and it's terrific, but I wanted to post one that focuses on Wilson and Jardin.

It *is* tough to watch Wilson, because it just shines a light on what he went through. On the other hand, there's something joyous about it because it shows how wonderfully he was able to come through it and survive. Though his vice is shaky, it's impressively good. And Jardin is terrific.

That's a wonderful story about the group's history with the song, and it adds much texture to the video.

And yes, no question that change of the last name is intentional (as you note, they both sing it), and there's no question it's a personal statement of where they are now after everything.

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    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
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