Darlin' (The Beach Boys song)

"Darlin'"
Single by The Beach Boys
from the album Wild Honey
B-side "Here Today"
Released December 18, 1967
Format Vinyl
Recorded October 11–October 27, 1967, Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco
Genre Rock, soul, rhythm and blues
Length 2:12
Label Capitol
Writer(s)
Producer(s) Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Wild Honey"
(1967)
"Darlin'"
(1967)
"Friends"
(1968)
Wild Honey track listing
Music sample
"Darlin'"

"Darlin'" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. It was first recorded by the American rock band the Beach Boys with lead vocals by Carl Wilson and released on their 1967 album Wild Honey. It was also released as a single, backed with "Here Today" from the 1966 album Pet Sounds.[1] The single peaked at number 19 in the United States and number 11 in the United Kingdom.

It has twice returned to the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching #51 for Paul Davis in 1978, and two years later #68 for the Milwaukee-based band Yipes! with lead vocalist Pat McCurdy.[2]

Recording

The instrumental and vocal track was recorded under the production of Brian Wilson on October 27, 1967. After the song had been re-written as "Darlin'", Brian was planning to give it and "Time to Get Alone" to a band called Redwood (later to be known as Three Dog Night) as Danny Hutton was a friend of Brian's around that time. Hutton laid claim to inspiring the title for "darlin'", it being frequent in his vocabulary at the time. Redwood only got as far as recording a guide vocal before Mike Love insisted that Brian focus his attention on producing work for the Beach Boys.[3][1] Accompanied by piano, bass, tambourine, strings, and horns, Carl Wilson sings lead vocals.[4]

Personnel

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Release history

The "Darlin'" single, backed with "Here Today", was issued by Capitol Records in the United States in December 1967. The single peaked at the number 19 position on the Billboard charts, but it placed at number 10 on the Cash Box sales chart. Radio station playlists indicated high popularity in Santa Barbara (#1), Los Angeles (#2), Baltimore and Norfolk (#4); Washington, Boston, Honolulu (all #5); San Diego, Fresno, Portland, Milwaukee, Louisville (all #6); Vancouver (#7), Toronto (#9), and New York (#14).

In the United Kingdom the single was issued in January 1968 with the B-side "Country Air". The single peaked at the number 11 position. In New Zealand the single peaked at the number 10 position. In Sweden it placed number 15, and in the Dutch single charts the song peaked at number 21.

Variations

The instrumental track of the song was later released on the 1968 album Stack-O-Tracks. In 2012, "Darlin'" received its first stereo mix in the compilation Fifty Big Ones. Live versions were released on three of their albums: Live In London (1970), The Beach Boys In Concert (1973) and Good Timin': Live At Knebworth England 1980 (2002). As a solo artist, the song appeared on Brian Wilson's live album Live at the Roxy Theatre (2002).

Sharon Marie version

"Thinkin' 'Bout You Baby"
Single by Sharon Marie
Released June 1, 1964
Recorded April 1964
Length 2:35
Writer(s)
  • Brian Wilson
  • Mike Love
Producer(s) Brian Wilson
Sharon Marie singles chronology
"Runaround Lover"
(1963)
"Thinkin' 'Bout You Baby"
(1964)

The song was initially written as "Thinkin' 'Bout You Baby" by Wilson and Love years earlier, and was first recorded in April 1964 and released as a single two months later by Sharon Marie[6] — a previously unrecorded teenager who had informally auditioned for Wilson and Love by singing opera standards after a Sacramento Beach Boys concert — with production by Wilson himself.[4] The song later appeared on the 2004 compilation Pet Projects: The Brian Wilson Productions.

Cover versions

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Badman 2004, p. 208.
  2. Joel Whitburn, Top Pop Singles 1955-1999 (Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research, 2000), 747.
  3. Priore 2005, pp. 153–55.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Badman 2004, p. 203.
  5. Priore 2005, p. 153.
  6. Doe, Andrew Grayham. "GIGS64". Endless Summer Quarterly. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
  7. Robbins, Ira. "BMX Bandits". Trouser Press. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
Sources

External links