I Get Around

"I Get Around"
Single by The Beach Boys
from the album All Summer Long
B-side "Don't Worry Baby"
Released May 11, 1964 (1964-05-11)
Format 7" vinyl
Recorded April 2, 10, 1964
Studio United Western Recorders, Hollywood
Genre
Length 2:12
Label Capitol 5174
Songwriter(s) Brian Wilson, Mike Love
Producer(s) Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Fun, Fun, Fun"
(1964)		 "I Get Around"
(1964)		 "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)"
(1964)
Endless Summer track listing
20 tracks
Side one
  1. "Surfin' Safari"
  2. "Surfer Girl"
  3. "Catch a Wave"
  4. "The Warmth of the Sun"
  5. "Surfin' U.S.A."
Side two
  1. "Be True to Your School"
  2. "Little Deuce Coupe"
  3. "In My Room"
  4. "Shut Down"
  5. "Fun, Fun, Fun"
Side three
  1. "I Get Around"
  2. "Girls on the Beach"
  3. "Wendy"
  4. "Let Him Run Wild"
  5. "Don't Worry Baby"
Side four
  1. "California Girls"
  2. "Girl Don't Tell Me"
  3. "Help Me, Rhonda"
  4. "You're So Good to Me"
  5. "All Summer Long"
Audio sample
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"I Get Around" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for American rock band the Beach Boys. It was released as a single in May 1964 with "Don't Worry Baby" as its B-side and became the group's first number-one charting song in the United States. In the United Kingdom, it charted at number seven and was the band's first top ten single there. It was included as the opening track on their studio album All Summer Long in July 1964.

An autobiographical narrative, "I Get Around" begins with a multi-part a cappella introduction that quickly shifts into rock-style verses sung by Mike Love and a pop chorus sung in falsetto by Brian Wilson, who also produced and arranged the song. During its recording session, Wilson's father Murry was relieved of his duties as the group's manager.

In 2017, "I Get Around" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[4]

Composition

Excerpt of vocal arrangement in chorus

The song was originally credited to Brian Wilson alone until Love v. Wilson, a 1994 lawsuit by Mike Love which amended the song's copyright to include him as a co-writer.[5] In an interview with Goldmine, published September 18, 1992, Love insisted that he and not Wilson "came up with 'round round get around'".

Rolling Stone writer Anthony DeCurtis referenced the song as an example of Wilson's ability to "be very complex and have every single thing you do have an emotional impact, and have the hearer not even be aware of it—just hear it the first time and get it. That's hard."[6]

Recording

The instrumental track for "I Get Around" was recorded on April 2, 1964, at United Western Recorders in Hollywood, along with "Little Honda". According to biographer Steven Gaines, manager Murry Wilson was in the control room "criticizing the song and Brian's production techniques ... rambl[ing] on about what a loser Brian was, how poor the music was, and how only Murry had the real talent in the family. At one point he insisted that Brian end the [recording] session because something was wrong with the bassline." The disagreement eventually resulted in Brian relieving him of his managerial duties.[7][8] Brian would later say, "We love the family thing – y'know: three brothers, a cousin and a friend is a really beautiful way to have a [rock] group – but the extra generation can become a hang-up."[9] The vocals were recorded during a session eight days later on April 10.[10]

Personnel

Track details courtesy of session archivist Craig Slowinski.[10][11]

The Beach Boys
Session musicians and production staff

Single release

"I Get Around", backed with "Don't Worry Baby", was released as a single in the United States on May 11, 1964. The single entered the Billboard chart on May 23 at #76.[12][13] The song reached the #1 spot on the Billboard charts on July 4, replacing "A World Without Love" by Peter and Gordon and becoming the band's first #1 hit in the United States. The song remained at #1 for two weeks before being replaced by "Rag Doll" by The Four Seasons. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 5 song of 1964. The single also reached #1 on the United States Variety charts on July 1.[12]

Released in June 1964 in the United Kingdom the single peaked at #7 on the Record Retailer chart and thus becoming the band's first top ten hit in the United Kingdom. According to some sources, Mick Jagger, when appearing on the UK television show Ready Steady Go!, stated that he thought the song was a great record. This most likely played a part in boosting the single's success, while also helping the band become more popular in the United Kingdom.

In Germany the single peaked at #38 on the Hit Bilanz chart,[14] which was only the band's second single to chart in Germany.[15] The single was the band's first charting single in the Netherlands, charting at #38 on the Netherlands singles charts.[16] The single reached the top 10 in both the Canadian and Swedish singles charts, peaking at #10 in both countries.[17][18]

Charts

Weekly charts

Album and alternate releases

The song was first released on an album in 1964 on the band's All Summer Long album. Despite the album being available in both mono and stereo formats, "I Get Around" along with the title track "All Summer Long" were never mixed in stereo for the original album release for unknown reasons. In the following year, the band re-recorded the song as a medley along with "Little Deuce Coupe" for their 1965 Beach Boys' Party! album. The medley was a send-up of the original recording. The mock recording replaces lyrics such as "we always take my car cause it's never been beat" with "we always take my car although it's a heap". On the 1996 country styled studio release Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 the band re-recorded the song for the album which featured country band Sawyer Brown as guests on the track who played several of the instruments on the recording as well as featuring a lead vocal by band member Mark Miller.

The instrumental track of the song without any vocal overdubs was released on the 1993 five-disc box set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys.

The song received its first official stereo mix on the 2012 reissue of All Summer Long. Due to multitrack session tapes for the second vocal and guitar solo overdub being missing, the remix was created by utilizing new DES (Digitally Extracted Stereo) technology to isolate instruments and vocals directly from the mono master. The basic instrumental track and first vocal overdub were released on the rarities compilation Keep an Eye on Summer – The Beach Boys Sessions 1964 in 2014.

Live versions

After the song became the band's first United States number one hit song, it immediately became a regular in the Beach Boys' live set. During the band's first British tour in 1964, they performed this song as well as "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" on their first television appearance in Britain on Ready Steady Go!.[23] The band performed I Get Around on the Ed Sullivan Show on September 27, 1964.

Several live renditions of the song have been officially released on various Beach Boys releases such as Beach Boys Concert (1964), Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980 (2000), and Songs from Here & Back (2006). In 2013, The Beach Boys released a music video for a live performance of "I Get Around" during their 50th anniversary tour.[24]

Cover versions

References

  1. ↑ Howard, David N. (2004). Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-634-05560-7.
  2. ↑ Richie Unterberger, Samb Hicks, Jennifer Dempsey. Music USA: The Rough Guide. ISBN 1-85828-421-X. p 383.
  3. ↑ Hoffmann, Frank W.; Bailey, William G. (1990). Arts & Entertainment Fads, Volume 1. Binghampton: Haworth Press. pp. 61–62. ISBN 9780866568814.
  4. ↑ "RECORDINGS BY MERLE HAGGARD, BILLIE HOLIDAY, NIRVANA, N.W.A, ELVIS PRESLEY, PRINCE, AND R.E.M. AMONG 2017 GRAMMY HALL OF FAME® INDUCTIONS". GRAMMY.org. Retrieved 2016-11-29.
  5. ↑ Doe, Andrew G. "Album Archiveq". Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly. Archived from the original on 2012-03-24.
  6. ↑ Sellars, Jeff, ed. (2015). God Only Knows: Faith, Hope, Love, and The Beach Boys. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-4982-0767-6.
  7. ↑ Gaines, Steven (1986). Heroes and Villains: The True Story of The Beach Boys. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 112–113. ISBN 0306806479.
  8. ↑ Timothy White, The Nearest Faraway Place (New York: Holt, 1996) pp. 230–236.
  9. ↑ Taylor, Derek (October 5, 1966). ""The Beach Boy Empire"" (JPG). Hit Parader: 13.
  10. 1 2 Slowinski, Craig (2014). Keep an Eye On Summer 1964 (Digital Liner). The Beach Boys. Capitol Records.
  11. ↑ Black, Frank (2014-12-03). "FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS: The Beach Boys 1964: Keep an Eye on Summer - new copyright extension release". Fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  12. 1 2 Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio. p. 59.
  13. ↑ Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits. New York: Billboard Books. p. 151. ISBN 0823076776.
  14. ↑ Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio. p. 62.
  15. ↑ "German Singles Charts". Mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  16. ↑ "Dutch Singles Charts". Mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  17. ↑ "Canadian Single Charts". Mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  18. ↑ "Swedish Singles Charts". Mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
  19. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  20. ↑ "Beach Boys". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  21. ↑ "The Beach Boys awards on Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  22. ↑ "Year End Charts - Year-end Singles - The Billboard Hot 100". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  23. ↑ The Beach Boys Live on Ready Steady Go! in 1964 on YouTube
  24. ↑ "The Beach Boys - I Get Around (Live/2013)". YouTube. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
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