You can’t say the words “The Beach Boys” without instantly conjuring up images of California sun, surf, infectious harmonies and sophisticated musical arrangement.
The band’s indelible catalog has sold more than 100 million records over the last six decades and their ubiquitous album, Pet Sounds from 1966, is widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of all time. Even Paul McCartney, who knows a thing or two about the craft of songwriting, once proclaimed a track from that album, “God Only Knows,” as being the perfect song.
The Beach Boys arsenal of music includes nearly 40 Top 40 hits like “Good Vibrations,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “California Girls,” Surfin’ USA,” “Little Deuce Coupe,” and “Kokomo,” to name but a few.
Fans of the legendary group can relive the magic, music and memories when The Beach Boys bring their Sounds of Summer Tour to Easton’s historic State Theatre on Sunday, at a special time of 3 p.m.
I recently spoke with Mike Love about The Beach Boys upcoming performance in Easton, the band’s timeless career and more in this new interview.
What can СŷƵ fans expect from your upcoming performance in Easton?
Mike Love: A lot of music. We do a two-hour show: an hour followed by a 20-minute intermission and then another hour. In the first hour we like to get retro, so I like to do the “surfer” and “car” songs like “Don’t Worry Baby” and “I Get Around.” After intermission we get a little more introspective. We’ll do some Pet Sounds stuff like “God Only Knows,” “Sloop John B” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” I like to do songs I wrote with my cousin Brian [Wilson] and tell stories about the songs. I remember in November of 1963 we wrote this beautiful song called “The Warmth of The Sun” and were awakened the next morning to the news that President Kennedy had been taken to the hospital in Dallas. We recorded that song about a month later with a tremendous amount of emotion.
Of course we have to do “Good Vibrations” and wouldn’t want to leave the area without doing “California Girls,” “Fun Fun Fun,” “Barbara Ann,” and “Help Me Rhonda.”
Speaking of getting around, the music of The Beach Boys has been around for more than 60 years. What thoughts come to mind when you think about that milestone?
It’s a miracle. Our career really started as a family. I grew up in a household with a grand piano, organ and a harp. Harmonizing together was a way of life in our family and there’s never been a time in my life when it wasn’t about music.
There was a rumor back in the ’60s that The Beach Boys and the Beatles were always trying to sort-of “one-up” each other on albums. Was there any truth to that?
We were both on the same record label, Capitol, so there was some competition there for a while. We were rivals but it wasn’t a negative thing. There was mutual admiration more than anything. We liked the songs they did and they liked ours. In fact, Paul McCartney once said our song, “God Only Knows” was the perfect song.
At shows we always favor the songs people know, but we also do things that are special to us. George Harrison and I were born around the same time and I do a song I wrote called “Pisces Brothers” about a trip to India we took in 1968 that includes some of the footage from back in the day. It’s very emotional because it was a special time and place with very special people.
What was your songwriting process like with Brian?
A lot of times it was just he and I at the piano. No one is more brilliant than Brian with chord progressions and harmonies. Lyrics didn’t always come easily to him so that’s where I came in. I was his co-writer and the two of us wrote a lot of top 40 songs that people still love to this day. Every album we ever did always had some special gems on them.
Of all the highlights of your career with The Beach Boys what stands out to you as most memorable?
It would probably be in the mid-80s when we had done some July 4th concerts. One of those years we did Philadelphia in the afternoon and Washington, D.C., in the evening. That day The Philadelphia Inquirer said that there was 900,000 in the streets of Philly during the day and three quarters of a million that evening in D.C. around the Washington Monument grounds. It was an amazing thing.
When all is said and done how would you like the Beach Boys to be remembered?
A huge honor for me is the fact that our music has reached around the world. Next year will be the 250th anniversary of the U.S. and I hope we can be a part of celebrating through our music. It transcends borders, boundaries, ethnic groups and philosophies and it’s always something positive. Those harmonies and accentuating the positive in the lyrics has been making people feel good for over 60 years.
James Wood is a freelance writer. You can contact him at jimmywood@gmail.com
