Do It Again (Beach Boys song)
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| “Do It Again” | |||||
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.JPG/200px-Beach_Boys_-_Do_It_Again_(single).JPG) |
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| Single by The Beach Boys from the album 20/20 |
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| Released | July 15, 1968 | ||||
| Format | Vinyl | ||||
| Recorded | June, 1968 | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Length | 2:25 | ||||
| Label | Capitol Records | ||||
| Producer | Brian and Carl Wilson | ||||
| The Beach Boys singles chronology | |||||
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"Do It Again" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American pop band The Beach Boys. It was first released as a single by The Beach Boys in 1968 on Capitol Records. The song was recorded in May and June of 1968 and was included on the bands 1969 album 20/20. On the song there are some hammering sounds at the end of the track that originated from the Smile workshop session. The B-side of the single release was "Wake the World". The song was produced by Brian and Carl Wilson. It features Mike Love on lead vocals
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[edit] Composition
The lyrics to the song, originally entitled "Rendezvous", were inspired after a day Mike had spent at the beach in which he had gone surfing with an old friend named Bill Jackson.[1] Mike then showed the lyrics to Brian, who succeeded to write the music to Mike's lyrics of nostalgia. Brian has stated in the past that he believes the song was the best collaboration that he and Mike ever did.[1]
Many critics and fans noted the return to the surfing style, which the band had generally avoided since 1964. Carl later explained the transition back to their old style in Melody Maker:
"Yes, I suppose it has got the old Beach Boys surfing sound. It's back to that surfing idea with the voice harmony and the simple, direct melody and lyrics. We didn't plan the record as a return to the surf or anything. We just did it one day round a piano in the studio. Brian had the idea and played it over to us. We improved on that and recorded it very quickly, in about five minutes. It's certainly not an old track of ours; in fact it was recorded only a few weeks before it was released. We liked how it turned out and decided to release it."[1]
[edit] Recording
After six weeks of very little or no work done in the studio (as the band was busy touring), the band got back to work on May 26, 1968 when they first began working on "Do It Again" at Brian's home studio in Bel Air, California. The session, produced by Brian and Carl, first listed the song as being called "Rendezvous". After Brian had run the band through a demonstration of the song, the band begun recording the track using guitar, organ, bass and drums, with Mike singing his vocal during the initial takes of the track. At first Mike sings the lyric "and surf again", however this is later amended to "do it again". After the band records the basic track, they overdubbed backing vocals as well as adding a guitar and organ insert and a new guitar solo. Further vocal work by Brian, Carl & Dennis Wilson and Bruce Johnston and Al Jardine was done on the track on June 6 again at Brian's home studio in Bel Air, California.
Further overdubs to the instrumental track are made at Brian's home studio on June 10. John Guerin playing drums, tambourine and wood blocks on the overdubs, Ernie Small provided saxophone overdubs and John E. Lowe provided woodwind overdubs.
Reportedly, during the mixdown Stephen Desper, the engineer on the album came up with the drum effect heard at the beginning of the track. Many believe that this sound added to the commercial success of the single. Desper explained that he had:
"commissioned Phillips, in Holland, to build two tape delay units for use on the road (to double live vocals). [he] moved four of the Phillips PB heads very close together so that one drum strike was repeated four times about 10 milliseconds apart, and blended it with the original to give the effect you hear."
On the fade of the song there are some hammering sounds which originated from the Smile workshop session.
[edit] Single release
The "Do It Again" single backed with "Wake The World" was released in the United States on July 8, 1968. The single version was slightly different from the album version in that it didn't have the hammering sounds at the fade out of the song. The single hit the charts on July 27 and peaked at the number 20 position on September 14. It would be the band's last single to peak in the top twenty on the charts until "Rock And Roll Music" in 1976 (which is a total of 14 singles without charting inside the top 20), which peaked at the number 5 position.
Released on July 19 1968 in the United Kingdom the single, forty days after its release, peaked at #1 on the chart on August 28 1968, and thus becoming the band's second number one hit in the United Kingdom after "Good Vibrations" two years earlier. The single had knocked "Mony Mony" by Tommy James and the Shondells off the top position. However, the single only remained at the top position for one week after it was knocked off by the song "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" by The Bee Gees. Due to the single's success many years earlier, Capitol Records decided to re-issue the single in Britain in June 1991. The single, which featured both "Do It Again" and "Good Vibrations" (the band's only two number one hits in Britain) on the A-side and an extended version of "The Beach Boys Medley" on the B-side, peaked at number 61 on the charts.
In Australia the song became the band's first number one hit single. In Germany the single peaked at the number 4 position on the charts. On the Dutch, Norwegian and Rhodesian (now known as Zimbawbe) charts the single peaked at number 5. And on the New Zealand chart the single peaked at the number 14 position.
As a solo artist, Brian Wilson also released a cover version off his 1995 album I Just Wasn't Made For These Times as a single in Britain. The single also featured his cover of 'Til I Die, which was also from the I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, and a rare B-side "This Song Wants To Sleep With You Tonight". The single however failed to make any impact on the charts.
[edit] Promotional film
A promotional film, directed by Peter Clifton, was shot in Los Angeles. The film, shot in colour, features the group pulling up in a van and visiting a surfing shop. The band then drives to the beach in their van and begin surfing. The first screenings of the promotional film were shown on BBC-1's Top of the Pops during broadcasts of the show on August 8, 22 and 29. In Germany the promotional film was shown in September during broadcasts of the Hits A Go Go show on ZDF TV. The clip was later featured in the 1969 Peter Clifton Australian surfing film Fluid Journey.[2] An alternate promotional film for "Do It Again" was planned with the idea to feature special guest, Beatles member Paul McCartney as a clerk. However the idea was abandoned due to his hectic schedule.[3]
[edit] Critical reception
After the release of the "Do It Again" single, many critics welcomed the return back to the band's former style. Penny Valentine noted the transition back to their former ways and gave a glowing review of the single in Britain's Disc & Music Echo:
"This is a vast improvement on The Beach Boys' last single, and thank goodness for it. It sounds like bees humming on a summer breeze and is so completely solid; there isn't room for a fly to creep in. It goes on very gently and easily and is very, very pleasant. In a way it reminds me of one of the tracks off Pet Sounds, which is nice to say the least, and a hit it will most certainly be. I can imagine a few people will be muttering, 'Well, she said they were finished,' but I didn't. I said they should get back to their competent, commercial sound and they have. So there."[2]
[edit] Album and alternate releases
The song was first released on an album in 1969 on the band's 20/20 album. The song's backing track was released on the 1968 album Stack-O-Tracks. On the 1998 compilation album, Endless Harmony Soundtrack, an early incarnation of the song was released with slightly different lyrics. This early version of the song featured no drum intro and obviously wasn't as produced as the final version. Brian is also more prominent in the vocal mix on the chorus. The song is only available in mono (or rechanneled mono on the 20/20 LP) because the true stereo master was lost in the making of Stack-O-Tracks.
The song frequently appears on many of the groups Greatest Hits compilations including the 1975 compilation album Good Vibrations - Best of The Beach Boys; The single mix of the song, which doesn't feature the woodshop sounds on the fade out of the song, was released on the 1999 greatest hits compilation The Greatest Hits - Volume 2: 20 More Good Vibrations.; the 2003 compilation Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys as well as the 1993 box set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys.
[edit] Live versions
The band performed a lip-synched version of the song on the Dick Cavett Show on August 12, 1968. Later that month on August 26, the band performed the song with a live vocal over a pre-recorded track on the Mike Douglas Show. The footage of this appearance was broadcast nationally in America on August 28. The band also performed the song soon after on the Ed Sullivan Show on October 13, 1968. The band sung live vocals over a pre-recorded track. The footage was shot in colour in a special blue matte video montage. The footage from the show can be found on the DVD Sights of Summer which was included with the special 2004 edition of Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys.
The first officially released live recording of the song was released on the 1970 live album Live In London. Brian Wilson, who sings falsetto on the studio track, had retired from touring by this time and in concert his part was replaced by horns as evident on the Live In London album version. In 1980, a live rendition was recorded, though not released until 2002 on the Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980 live album. Footage from the concert was also released on video and DVD format. The footage was also released on the 1998 documentary "Endless Harmony" with the sound re-mixed by Mark Linett into Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
Brian Wilson performed a live version of the song which was released on his 2000 live solo album Live at the Roxy Theatre. Brian Wilson also performed the song at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City on March 29, 2001 along with his nephew Justyn Wilson (Carl's son) guesting on guitar on the song. The concert, billed as "An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson", was filmed and later released on DVD.
[edit] Cover versions
A Taste Of Honey and Ronnie Aldrich were the first artists to cover the song in 1969 just a year after the song had been released. Papa Doo Run Run later covered the song in 1983. Twist covered the song in 1985. Wall of Voodoo covered the track on their last studio album, Happy Planet in 1987. The band also recorded a promotional film for the song which featured a guest appearance by Brian Wilson himself.[4] Trygve Thue also covered the song in 1994. More recently, John Hunter Phillips covered the song on his 2000 album Diamonds On The Beach.
[edit] Cultural references
The song was first featured on the 1986 film One Crazy Summer. The song was also featured in the 1996 film Flipper and the 2005 film Life on the Longboard. More recently the song was featured in the 2006 movie Happy Feet and subsequently was featured on the film's soundtrack. It was also the first song to be played after WCBS-FM reverted from the Jack FM format back to their oldies format on July 12, 2007.
[edit] Charts
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| Preceded by "Mony Mony" by Tommy James and the Shondells |
UK number one single 28 August 1968 (one week) |
Succeeded by "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" by The Bee Gees |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio, 221.
- ^ a b Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio, 223.
- ^ Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio, 224.
- ^ Wall of Voodoo video clip featuring Brian Wilson
- ^ Australian Singles Charts. mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved on 13 November 2007.
- ^ Dutch Singles Charts. mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved on 13 November 2007.
- ^ German Singles Charts. mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved on 13 November 2007.
- ^ New Zealand Singles Charts. mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved on 13 November 2007.
- ^ Norwegian Singles Charts. mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved on 13 November 2007.
- ^ Rhodesian Singles Charts. mountvernonandfairway.de. Retrieved on 13 November 2007.
